What does an animal conservationist do?

Life in the Wild

Written by: Lizzie Daly @lizziedalywild

Illustrated by: Chiara Fedele

Published by: Dorling Kindersley @dkbooks @DK_Learning

Published on: 5th September 2024

Price: £14.99

First line: Polar bear 20741 is a healthy, adult female weighing in at more than 220 kg (485 lb), who calls the Alaska Besufort Sea coast her home.

Genre: Non-fiction, Animals, Conservation

Age: 10+

Thanks to the UKLA for the review copy, and a fuller review can be found in their 4-11 magazine.

What’s it all about? This, for me, is quite a unique take on a non-fiction animal book (of which I’ve read many in the past). It focuses mainly on the scientific approach to discovering information about animals that conservationists and scientists use: from tracking their journeys; to looking at their behaviour; to studying their bodies, all with the aim of making this world a better place for them, by us helping them to co-exists alongside us. The book focuses on 10 key animals, from a jaguar to a tiger shark to an albatross. Each animal’s section is split into about three double pages, starting with information about a particularly amazing journey that a specific named animal went on, then beautifully drawn labelled pictures with key features of the animal highlighted and finally extra information about the conservation approaches made for this particular animal.

Why should I read it? The best thing about this book, is definitely that, there are mysteries left unexplained, because, they are currently unexplainable. Hopefully, this will encourage some readers to one day find the answers. This could easily be used by children for examples of non-fiction writing, or for research, or as a general addition to a school library.