Running Wild: Awesome Animals in Motion

Slither, leap, whirl, twirl or swirl on over to Running Wild: Awesome Animals in Motion. Filled with scientific information about how animals move on the ground, underground, in the air, and in the water, Running Wild: Awesome Animals in Motion is sure to engage students who are just beginning to discover the variety of animals in nature as well as students who are ready to dig deeper into the methods and reasons animals move as they do.

For example, the topic “Shape-shifter” looks at amoeba. After a brief explanation of why amoebae are named after the Greek word for change, author Galadriel Watson and illustrator Samantha Dixon use simplified scientific terms and illustrations to explain how amoeba use pseudopodia to move towards food they like and away from food they don’t.

The tiny amoeba has only one cell: the basic building block of life. (In contrast, the human body is made up of about 37 trillion cells!) Some of its body can be firm like jelly and some of it can flow like liquid. To travel, it needs to use and overcome forces like thrust and friction just like any animal – but on a much smaller scale. Like a snail or snake, the amoeba doesn’t have legs and feet. Instead, it extends parts of its body forward into “false feet,” or pseudopodia. Its insides then flow into this space, emptying and bring forward its rear end. Human white blood cells also move in this way.

Running Wild: Awesome Animals in Motion begins with a brief explanation of biomechanics and the forces that affect movement: gravity, lift, drag, and thrust. With a touch of humour, Watson titles the chapters “Land Crossings”, “Keeping a Low Profile”, “Going Up!”, “Staying Sky-High”, “No Sinking Allowed”, and “Underwater Experts”. That same style of humour is used throughout the text to make complex concepts and terms accessible for young readers.

Animals used for examples include “Slow-Mo Movers” (tortoises), “Full Slither Ahead” (snakes), “Sticky Stuff” (gecko), “Let’s Brachiate” (gibbons), “Fling that Flea” (fleas), “A V-ery Great Way to Fly” (Canada geese), “A Pro at Staying Put” (hoverflies), “Big Mouth, Bigger Liver” (basking sharks), and many more.

The final chapter, “Conclusion: The Next Step”, (pun intended I’m sure), challenges young readers to use their new knowledge of biomechanics to observe the animals around them more closely to discover their amazing and differing abilities.

In fact, check out whatever animals are around you, whether you live on a mountain, in a city, or by the ocean. Consider why they’re moving – to feed? to flee? Do they go about it in ways you haven’t paid attention to before? Do they have unique body parts? How are they creating lift or producing thrust? What forces are working for and against them?

Running Wild: Awesome Animals in Motion ends with the directions “Keep wondering…keep watching…keep learning”. Watson and Dixon have created a book that is sure to inspire all three – wondering, watching, and learning. Well done.