Big Cats – a wiki non-fiction book for upper elementary

This is a non-fiction book about big cats for upper elementary age children. The book makes a great research source for school projects about big cats or for a bedtime read for inspiring young zoologists (I just wish they had one on dolphins for my aspiring marine biologist to read or listen to at bedtime!).

It was rather difficult to find the full list of pdfs on wiki, so I’ve included here the links to their pdf content:

https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Wikibooks:PDF_versions – provides a clear list of the few pdfs available for children, and https://en.wikibooks.org/wiki/Category:Books_with_PDF_version has a full list of all the pdfs available.

As with our other creative commons contributors (MustardSeed, Bookdash, Storyweaver/Pratham, Saita and a few others), just like with a bookstore, the aim here in re-publishing this here is to create more visibility and help more people find the books. The nice thing about our online bookstore is it’s more like a free library that you can keep online and offline, which is why we are very happy to see that wiki is providing downloadable content now.

Wiki is slowly getting around to putting all their books in pdf. Why is this so cool? Because they are great online only when you have 24-7 internet. Being able to download for offline use makes them a good resource for study offline. So now that the amazing resources of wiki are available for offline use, we’re posting them 🙂 So kids can find them easier.

Sample Text from Big Cats

The Big Cats

In Africa, they say that a male lion roars Ha inchi na yanni? Yangu, yangu, yangu! (Whose land is this? It is mine, mine, mine!). It is hard to listen to this ancient challenge without edging a little closer to the campfire. But what is behind that remarkable call?

Certainly, to some degree, cats are cats around the world. You look at one of the neighborhood tabbies stalking a squirrel and you can see in miniature a tiger stalking deer on the meadows of Rhanthambore. And yet partly because they are so majestic these big cats are different from the neighbor’s feline. For one thing they are the lords of their kingdom and travel confidence where small creatures scurry and hide. For many years, all they had to fear was each other, but the invention of gunpowder threatened to destroy this kingdom and send its feline lords to extinction. Fortunately there are more people like you that see big cats more as a companion to be admired rather than an enemy to be destroyed. Learn more about these great cats and their remarkable world. After all, we appreciate what we understand, and save what we appreciate.

Superb Predators
Big cats are among nature’s grandest predators. A grizzly bear may have a slight size advantage over a siberian tiger, but the tiger is far more agile and quick. A wolf may have a better sense of smell than a jaguar, but a jaguar can handle large prey alone. Cats have excellent night vision, sharp hearing and enormous physical strength. Their strong yet graceful movements and camoflage colors help them sneak up on their prey.

On the Menu
Cats hunt because they need to survive. Animals that eat grass and leaves have special stomachs that allow bacteria time to break down complex plant sugars into the simpler sugars animals can digest. Cats have a very short digestive tract that quickly breaks down and extracts its energy and building materials. Cats cannot survive on a of grass.

Intelligence
Big cats are among the most intelligent species on Earth. In intelligence they are ranked just behind primates (monkeys and apes) and cetaceans (whales and dolphins). Lions use group strategies to tackle large and dangerous prey. All cats are very curious and can learn quickly. Large predators require intelligence to be successful as hunters. Mother cats spend a long time (one to two years) teaching their offspring the many things they need to know in order to survive.

Found Everywhere But Safe Nowhere
Big cats are found on all continents but Australia and Antarctica. And yet everywhere they are found, they are endangered. Big cats are often hunted for their fur or as a trophy. They are also killed by people who want the animals that big cats hunt. Still other people hunt big cats for sport. Just as bad, the healthy environment that big cats need to survive is not being treated the respect it deserves. To keep these superb predators in the world our children and grandchildren will live in, we must learn to make room for other living things to use Earth’s limited resources.

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