Talk with the Animals

Animals are a familiar sight to babies who see lambs on their lullaby mobiles and cuddly teddy bears in their cribs. From an early age, children have ducks and bunnies on their clothes, eat animal crackers, imitate farm animal sounds, play with the family pets, go up and down on merry-go-round horses, and ride real ponies. The fast, smart, and surprising activities of animals make fascinating reading in a book such as Steve Jenkins' The Animal Book. And the games, stencils, stickers, and crafts in The National Geographic Kids: Animal Creativity Book provide another fun way for children to learn about animals.

     The natural affinity children have for animals provides a ready segue to an interest in the countries where animals live. Like the extinct dinosaurs that fascinate boys and girls, every species cannot adapt to every country's environment. A trip to the zoo demonstrates how the environments of countries around the world are not the same; some are suitable for some animals and some are not. In its Children's Atlas of World Wildlife, Rand McNally offers a comprehensive explanation of how climate, food, terrain, and isolation influence where different animals live, and, by inference, how countries differ. Reindeer, penguins, and polar bears found in most zoos live on flat tundras and ice flows in very cold climates. By contrast, giant pandas are only in a few zoos, because they seek privacy by hiding in China's dense mountain forests. Unlike the rare solitary pandas, zoo visitors are likely to find a town of prairie dogs and herds of buffalo from North America's grassland plains. The Lion King prepares children to see lions, zebras, giraffes, and elephants at water holes in the zoo's imitation African veld. For the zoo's hippopotamuses, large pools simulate the African rivers and lakes where they like to swim. The zoo's rhinoceroses, whether they come from Africa, India, Borneo, Java, or Sumatra, also like pools that represent the rivers and wetlands of their natural homes.

     The zoo's monkeys, apes, chimpanzees, gorillas, baboons, and orangutans come from tropical rain forests and dense jungles where they live with parrots and other colorful birds. Children familiar with Jungle Book also know the home habitats of the zoo's tigers, panthers, and snakes. Most interesting, as Charles Darwin observed in the Galapagos Islands, is the unique way animals develop when their environments are confined to an island country such as Madagascar or the island continent of Australia. These are the homes of the ring-tailed lemur, koala bear, kangaroo, wombat, and platypus.

     Just as zoo animals provide an awareness of different foreign habitats, pet origins can do the same. The tailless Manx cat, children learn, comes from the Isle of Man in the Irish sea. Thailand, formerly called Siam, produced the Siamese cat, while the long-haired Angora originated in Ankara, Turkey. Persian cats trace their ancestors to Afghanistan and today's Iran. What also could send children to a map are their first encounters with a wide variety of dogs, including a Mexican Chihuahua, English Sheep Dog, Dutch Keeshond, German Dachshund, Russian Wolfhound, Siberian Husky, Chinese Shar-Pei, Tibetan Lhasa Apso, and Japanese Chin.Parents who field requests for ponies could send their sons and daughters to a map to see how far they would have to go to find one in the Shetland Islands. These children may have to settle for a pony ride at the zoo or petting massive Scottish Clydesdales or French Percherons at a state fair.

Culture creatures

Some countries consider animals such an important part of their cultural identity that they include them on their national flags. Indigenous birds, for example, fly on the flags of Bolivia, Dominica, Ecuador, Guatemala, Kiribati, Papua New Guinea, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. The eagle soars on the flags of Albania, Mexico, Egypt, Zambia, and Moldova. A variety of animals appear on other national flags. Andorra's flag includes cows; Bolivia's, an alpaca; Peru's, a llama; and Sri Lanka's, a lion. Vanuatu uses the curved boar's tusk on its flag to symbolize power and riches. Some British dependencies and independent Commonwealth members continue to display England's golden lion on their flags, and, although the French flag is the official one flown by France's overseas departments, Martinique's unofficial flag has snakes, and leopards grace the unofficial flag of St. Pierre and Miquelon.

      In a country's culture, frequently seen animals also can begin to take on meaning. The Chinese and Japanese zodiacs associate those born in certain years with the traits of 12 animals: rat, ox, tiger, rabbit, dragon, snake, horse, sheep/goat, monkey, rooster, dog, and pig. Many museum stores carry the Japanese netsukes that are little statues of the animal zodiac signs. Children born in the Year of the Dog, 2006, for example, might like to own a dog netsuke to remind them that they are thought to be excellent confidants because they are loyal friends who know how to keep secrets. Different cultures also assign different traits and meanings to the same animal. In India devout Hindus, who consider the monkey god, Hanuman, a symbol of wisdom, righteousness, and strength, believe primates should be free to roam cities not live in forests or zoos. Some cultures consider horses work animals, while others focus on their beauty and racing speed. All may see the turtle as a symbol of security and long life, while pigs may be seen as dirty or food.

Animal activists

If children could talk with gorillas, whooping cranes, and manatees, they would learn that all is not well in the animal kingdom. According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature and Natural Resources, one out of every four mammals is in danger of disappearing forever. The same is true for one out of every eight birds and one-third of all amphibians. What is promising, however, is a growing awareness of the need for animal protection and recovery programs. Advocacy organizations, such as the World Wildlife Fund (worldwildlife.org), help the public understand the role each species plays in keeping various ecosystems in balance. They urge governments to crack down on wild animal poachers, the sale of ivory elephant tusks, the exotic bird trade, and the hunt for Atlantic bluefin tuna. On May 6, 2015, New York's Supreme Court will even consider whether or not nonhuman animals that are "sufficiently intelligent," such as chimpanzees, great apes, elephants, whales, and dolphins, can be considered property and held legally.

     There are a number of ways children are involved in animal preservation. Magazines, such as National Geographic Kids, Zootles, and Zoobooks, introduce young people to what wild animals do and how their habitats are disappearing. For a donation to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), a lucky girl or boy can choose a plush version of 100 species of wild animals. Youngsters who ride the carousel at a zoo in Madison, Wisconsin, come face to face with animals threatened with irreversible extinction. Rather than the typical, colorfully decorated merry-go-round horses, they each go up and down sitting atop an endangered, protected, vulnerable, or threatened animal. National Geographic (shop.nationalgeographic.com) offers an Endangered Animal Discovery Game and the Safari Rush Hour Game.  With a bit of help from adults, all students who are informed about the need to protect vanishing species can write letters or send emails to government officials in the United States and elsewhere. (In its "Nations of the World" section, The World Almanac lists the addresses of foreign embassies in the United States.) As activist and Body Shop founder, Anita Roddick, used to say, "If you think you're too small to have an impact, try going to bed with a mosquito."

     Advocacy campaigns have paid off in the adoption of recovery programs for a limited number of species. In South America, a capture, shear, and release program has managed to both provide coveted fleece and save vicunas from the brink of extinction. Other countries have moved to protect animals by imposing fines for killing endangered animals and setting aside sanctuaries and pristine habitats. Governments also have compensated farmers for losses caused by protected predators, as the United States has done in the case of wolves. To save the bald eagle, the U.S. responded to the admonitions of Rachel Carson in her book, Silent Spring, by banning the use of the DDT pesticide that weakened shells before birds could hatch. Consequently, the bald eagle went from 417 breeding pairs in 1963 to an estimated 10,000 today. As a result of these programs, both the wolf and the bald eagle have been removed from the endangered list in some states.

Spotlighting special concerns

Even more than campaigns to save endangered species, circuses and zoos can cause children to face the reality of cruelty to animals removed from their native countries. Since a trip to the big top is an honored family tradition, the treatment of animal performers is a topic best approached by raising questions rather than by issuing inflammatory pronouncements. To that end, the first question is: How are circus animals trained? Are they like poodles, parrots, dolphins, and chimps whose natural abilities to learn tricks respond to positive reinforcement?

     Now, consider what the circus's lions, tigers, and elephants are asked to do. Has their natural animal behavior in Africa and Asia been suppressed by using electrical devices, bullhooks, and whips and by withholding water, food, sleep, and exercise? How are animals transported from city to city every four or five days? Do they have enough space to assume their normal postures and to move around freely or are they confined in cages or chained in ventilated, but not heated or air conditioned, trucks and railroad boxcars? Based on the considerations raised by these questions, Bolivia's government, for one, passed a law prohibiting the use of animals in circuses. On October 23, 2013, the Los Angeles City Council joined two counties in Florida and two in Georgia that banned bullhooks used to train circus elephants by inflicting pain on tender parts of their skin.

     Natural behavior provides a useful frame of reference for the treatment of zoo as well as circus animals. Bears are too curious to live where they see the same surroundings day after day. What do elephants do in the wild? In groups of as many as 20, African and Asian elephants roam up to 30 miles a day, eat, and bathe in water holes and dust. When only one or two elephants are confined in a zoo, they get bored and develop arthritis and joint disease from standing with all their weight in one place, especially in winter when they stand on concrete floors indoors. Other heavy animals, such as hippopotamuses and rhinoceroses, also develop foot problems unless they have large pools to buoy up their bulk. Giraffes and gazelles share the elephants' need to cover long distances.

     The big cats and primates, on the other hand, seem relatively well suited to zoo life. In the wild, after catching their prey, lions, leopards, jaguars, pumas, and tigers enjoy napping much of the day. The activity level of monkeys and chimps is just the opposite, but if they live in groups and have a stimulating play area where they can use their minds and fingers, they, too, are satisfied zoo dwellers.

     Children who want the best for the circus and zoo animals that come from all over the world will be happy to know that legislators, organizations, and zoo executives are working to eliminate abuses. In the United States, the Animal Welfare Act sets minimum standards for confined, warm-blooded animals. Congress needs to be asked to do more, however, since the number of government inspectors is insufficient and cold-blooded animals are excluded from the Act's protection. Animal behaviorist, Dr.Patricia McConnell, also points out that although there are federal requirements for protecting the psychological wellbeing of primates, there are no such standards for dogs used for research. She finds veterinarians and animal care technicians in laboratories focus on air flow, cleanliness, and food storage but neglect their needs for social bonding, intellectual enrichment, and a stable environment. Instead of relying on government funding, the Performing Animal Welfare Society (PAWS) uses contributions from individuals and community support to operate three California sanctuaries for abused, abandoned, and retired performing animals and animals rescued from the exotic animal trade. The PAWS website, pawsweb.org, invites donations and sells books, t-shirts, artwork, and travel packages to benefit elephant and other animal victims.

     Many zoos have decided to stop exhibiting elephants, and some cities have prohibited circuses from including elephant acts when they come to town. There is a proposal to confine elephants to a limited number of national zoos, just as a limited number of theme parks satisfy children. Tourists already are willing to go all the way to Kenya to see lions, giraffes, and other animals in the wild; to Costa Rica to see the famous blue Morpho butterflies, and to New Zealand for a chance to see an emperor penguin. Once young people realize the animals they love are abused or endangered, they will think of even more ways to support and publicize the countries and activities that protect their friends. As one student's science fair project demonstrated, based on natural behavior, some animals are best suited for the circus, others for the zoo, and most for the wild in the countries where they are born.