children's nonfiction - elephants, life as an elephant scientist

Lovely large pictures balance out the informative text; reading this book was a breezy experience (learning was interesting and even exciting, and never felt like a chore) and I can easily see why this series is so well acclaimed. The brief summary of how Caitlin became an elephant researcher also made science careers seem very accessible (maybe I myself can become an elephant scientist!) ( )

599.67

Summary: This book explores elephants in all aspects.It features scientists and their journey working and learning about elephants. The book incorporates images, maps, comparisons, research, and other visuals of both elephants and scientist working with elephants.
Thoughts: I really loved this book because it was very informative and featured female scientist!!! Similar to other books, this book was long so I suggest using it in sections, or just picking out parts to teach and explore. I would also suggest doing a jigsaw with students so that the information doesn't feel too overwhelming.
Use/Strategy:
- Teach about exploration
- Teach about the aspects of discovery
- Teach about species, order, families
- Talk about poaching, elephant safety, extinction
- Talk about the different aspect of research and the importance of pictures and writing in detail
-Explore terms and vocabulary associated with the book
- Talk about the cycle of elephants and the impact they have on our lives and habitat (what would life be like without elephants?) ( )

Caitlin O'Connell is an elephant scientist who has always had a love for animals. She always had an interest in vibration tracking and started off by using it with frogs nd grasshoppers. After graduate school she was offered a job to study wild elephants in Africa. Her assignment was to figure out a way to prevent elephants from eating all of the local farmers' crops. The book then goes into describing elephants size and diet. Although elephants weigh 7,000-14,000 pounds they can run up to 15 mph. Their diet consists of different foliage and gallons of water. The elephants' trunk and tusks are necessary in helping them find foliage to eat. Their wrinkles help them stay cool but they are susceptible to sunburns so they cover their skin in mud and dirt to protect it. They have much larger brains than most mammals resulting in better memory. They are highly social and form lifelong friendships. Caitlin takes measurements of the perpetrating elephants after they ate a villagers crops. She first puts an electrical fence around the crops. She also used alarm systems that were triggered by the elephants when they came too close to crops. Villagers were first weary of Caitlin but she gained their trust. She then experiments with different sound vibrations to see elephants' reactions. Caitlin went back to Africa each year to study more about elephants' communication through sound vibration.

This book is filled with information about elephants! A scientist traveled to Namibia to study African elephants, and learned amazing things about the way in which elephants communicate. The book is filled with beautiful photographs, and talks about Caitlin O'Conell journey and process used to study the elephants.