It's Monday, What Are You Reading?

It’s Monday! What Are You Reading, is where we gather to share what we have read this past week and what we plan to read this week. It is a great way to network with other bloggers, see some wonderful blogs, and put new titles on your reading list.

Witness to Extinction: How We Failed to Save the Yangtze River Dolphin

I finished up The Search for the Giant Squid last week, as evidence by my review post. And since then I've picked up Witness to Extinction by Samuel Turvey. It's a book about the Baiji, or Yangtze River Dolphin, which was driven to functional extinction in the last century. Turvey was actually the lead author of the report that declared that probable extinction back in 2006.

I'm only about 30 pages in to the book, but so far its been a really fascinating read. It's hard to use positive adjectives to describe a situation that is so sad, but the book is interesting and well written, and tells the tale of an amazing animal with a tragic history.

On a happier, lighter note, I'm also looking at Is a Blue Whale the Biggest Thing There Is? and What's Smaller Than a Pygmy Shrew?, both by Robert E. Wells. I technically read them last week, since they are children's books that take about ten minutes to go through. However, I haven't written up reviews for them yet, so that's one of my plans for the week. I also need to get my darn bibliography page restructured, but that's a whole other issue entirely. Baby steps... baby steps.

Bornean Orangutan

The Bornean Orangutan is one of two extant Orangutan species in the world. It is the third largest primate (after Gorillas) and is the largest primarily tree-dwelling animal in the world. Males are substantially larger than females, and average at around 165lbs. Bornean Orangutans are largely solitary. A handful might live within a small range but they will seldom interact with one another. Males and females only meet up to breed, which happens only once every several years. A young Orangutan will stay with it's mother for about five years, and the females tend to go about eight years between births. That is the longest interim period of any animal! Sadly, the Bornean Orangutans are in a lot of trouble. They need large forests in order to thrive, and deforestation and habitat degradation has left many homeless. They are also hunted for meat and for traditional medicines. Conservation areas are being established to help these guys in the wild, and it is believed that there are a

10 Years?!

My goodness! It's been 6 years since I went on hiatus, and now more than 10 years since AaD was born, and what a world we've moved in to! Animal a Day is coming back- but in the meantime, check us out on Facebook, for your daily dose of #BIRDNEWS

Four!

For anyone who was counting, yesterday was our birthday-- four years! Four years filled with animals from A to Z, more than 1,100 of them! I can't thank my readers enough, it's been wonderful! And in celebration of that milestone... I'm taking a break. Hopefully not forever, but for a little bit at least. In the mean time I plan on getting a new layout out, along with some updates to some of the older articles. I'll post updates here and on the Facebook page, I'm also brainstorming some new animal-related projects, so keep an eye out! Thanks again for four awesome years!

Animal A Day!

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