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Alto, allá arriba en los Andes brilla un bosque bordado de bromelias… High up in the Andes blooms a brilliant forest embroidered with bromeliads . . .
Set to be released this spring, ¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! / Olinguito, from A to Z! : Descubriendo el bosque nublado / Unveiling the Cloud Foresttakes readers into the magical world of a cloud forest in the Andes of Ecuador. We discover the bounty of plants, animals, and other organisms that live there as we help a zoologist look for the elusive olinguito, the first new mammal species identified in the Americas since 1978. It has received starred reviews from Publishers Weekly, School Library Journal, and Kirkus Reviews, which called it “a breath of fresh air in the too-often-contrived world of bilingual books.”
We asked Lulu to take us behind the scenes of her exquisite art process to make the cloud forest come alive:
I spent an average of ten days working from eight to ten hours per day creating each spread.
Click for larger image
The first thing I did was to transfer the sketch to the Arches watercolor paper. Then I decided which areas would be collaged printed patterns and which would be painted in flat acrylic colors.
I prepared the patterned backgrounds pressing leaves gathered in the cloud forest dipped in ink and stamped onto rice paper.
Click for larger image
With an X-Acto knife I cut out the shapes of texturized paper and pasted them into the background. I used archival glue and micro tweezers to affix the collage elements in their precise positions.
Click for larger image
Next I prepared all the shades of acrylics that I would need for the spread and stored them in small clear jars. Each section of a color required several thin coats to achieve the rich look I was looking for.
Click for larger image
Once the spread was entirely painted I had fun selecting pressed ferns from the forest to affix to the art. This was a delicate process as some of the pressed leaves and ferns are paper thin.
Click for larger image
The last thing was to create the letters for the spread. I wanted a layered look, recreating the natural layers of flora in the forest, so I drew the letters on vellum paper and cut out them out. I taped the letters onto a vellum square and with careful precision affixed the letter in the spot it was intended to be.
You can purchase a copy of ¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! / Olinguito, from A to Z! : Descubriendo el bosque nublado / Unveiling the Cloud Forest on our website here.
1 Comments on Author/Illustrator Lulu Delacre Take Us Behind the Art of ¡Olinguito, de la A a la Z! / Olinguito, from A to Z! : Descubriendo el bosque nublado / Unveiling the Cloud Forest, last added: 2/3/2016
Did you learn about Mrs Gren at school? She was a useful person to know when you wanted to remember that Movement, Respiration, Sensation, Growth, Reproduction, Excretion, and Nutrition were the defining signs of life. But did you ever wonder how accurate this classroom mnemonic really is, or where it comes from?
“In nature, good defenses can mean the difference between surviving a predator’s attack and becoming its lunch. Some animals rely on sharp teeth and claws or camouflage. But that’s only the beginning. Meet creatures with some of the strangest defenses known to science. How strange? Hagfish that can instantaneously produce oodles of gooey, slippery slime; frogs that poke their own toe bones through their skin to create claws; young birds that shoot streams of stinking poop; and more.” [book jacket]
Review “On Earth the challenge of survival is a real and serious business. In the wild, every living thing is constantly at risk of being eaten by something else.”
Life is a bed of strange abilities as explored in When Lunch Fights Back. These animals—and one plant—have incredible defense mechanisms. You will wonder what other odd defense mechanisms other animals might possess. I do. It also made me wonder why humans have limited natural defense abilities. Hitting, screaming, and kicking are all fine defenses, but wouldn’t it be fantastic to have some of these abilities.
1. Cover your predator with thick, slimy, goo. (Atlantic Hagfish) 2. Extend your fingers so the bones protrude through the skin like sharp claws. (African Hairy Frog) 3. Bulge out your eyes and shoot a deadly stream of blood into a predator’s mouth. (Texas Horned Lizard)
Stuff of science fiction? Nope. When Lunch Fights Back contains animals with these abilities and much more. This nonfiction picture book for older kids is a fascinating read. There is enough “yuck” to entertain kids and the author supplies the science behind those incredible abilities, making this a great adjunct text for science teachers. Author notes, a glossary, index, bibliography, and extra resources are included.
Johnson writes in a manner that should be accessible to most middle grade aged kids. She introduces researchers and scientist in the “Science Behind the Story” sections. There is so much to learn and see it just might develop a child’s interest in the natural word. If the title does not peak a child’s interest, the images will. The color photographs highlight the noxious defenses and info-boxes give additional information about each animal (scientific name, location, habitat, and size).
Still, would it not be terrific if humans could spew putrid contents at a predator, much like a fulmar? Or, and this is a tad gross, turn our other check and “shoot streams of foul-smelling feces” at an attacker, much like a hoopoe chick can do? If you had the ability to slime an attacker, like the hagfish (aka “snot eel”), I doubt anyone would mess with you.
Biology Week is an annual celebration of the biological sciences that aims to inspire and engage the public in the wonders of biology. The Society of Biology created this awareness day in 2012 to give everyone the chance to learn and appreciate biology, the science of the 21st century, through varied, nationwide events. Our belief that access to education and research changes lives for the better naturally supports the values behind Biology Week, and we are excited to be involved in it year on year.
Biology, as the study of living organisms, has an incredibly vast scope. We’ve identified some key figures from the last couple of centuries who traverse the range of biology: from physiology to biochemistry, sexology to zoology. You can read their stories by checking out our Biology Week 2014 gallery below. These biologists, in various different ways, have had a significant impact on the way we understand and interact with biology today. Whether they discovered dinosaurs or formed the foundations of genetic engineering, their stories have plenty to inspire, encourage, and inform us.
If you’d like to learn more about these key figures in biology, you can explore the resources available on our Biology Week page, or sign up to our e-alerts to stay one step ahead of the next big thing in biology.
Headline image credit: Marie Stopes in her laboratory, 1904, by Schnitzeljack. Public domain via Wikimedia Commons.
Video courtesy of ChronicleBooks: With humor and flair, Michael Hearst introduces the reader to a wealth of extraordinary life-forms. Which animal poops cubes? Which animal can disguise itself as a giant crab? These fascinating facts and hundreds more await curious minds, amateur zoologists, and anyone who has ever laughed at a funny-looking animal.
This post stems from the Thought Ripples over on Two Voices, One Song. Sometimes when you change a process for one thing, it sticks and bleeds over into other work, as well. That’s what happened here. I hope you enjoy it.
Once in a while, I take a trip through a zoo or sanctuary. While I gaze upon the residents within the confines of the area, taking note of mundane considerations, my mind focuses on the what-might-have-beens. Those are the natural landscapes and living conditions of whatever animal I’m viewing.
Take this guy, for instance. He was brought into man’s arena very early in his life. He worked for a living, hence his missing horn. And when his work was done, he was fortunate enough to find sanctuary on the Olympic Peninsula with other animal actors that had been retired.
He’s a sweetheart, who likes treats and people’s voices. He’s enclosed to keep him safe from those who would taunt and tease and stress him unduly. I think it’s sad that we have lock up the wild things to keep them safe from us, the civilized ones.
Because he’d not been allowed to be wild, he will never know his ancestors’ natural habitat. Then again, at least here he can live a peaceful existence without fear of someone taking his life, as well as his horn. And without his horn, he could have never survived in his natural habitat anyway.
Herds of elk and fallow deer have free run of many more acres of this wild animal park. The bison keep them company as they watch cars go by, occupants snapping and whirring with their cameras. Thankfully, no one can get out of their cars to aggravate the ones trying to eat or rest.
Peacocks keep order. Rabbits watch from the sidelines. Those in the petting zoo take little hands in stride. And everywhere are the sounds of human voices, rather than those of the residents.
Within the shadows cast by trees lurk yaks and zebras, not usual neighbors, though they seem to get along quite well.
The occasional small scene gives an idyllic glimpse of how life in the wild could be if allowed.
This post stems from the Thought Ripples over on Two Voices, One Song. Sometimes when you change a process for one thing, it sticks and bleeds over into other work, as well. That’s what happened here. I hope you enjoy it.
Once in a while, I take a trip through a zoo or sanctuary. While I gaze upon the residents within the confines of the area, taking note of mundane considerations, my mind focuses on the what-might-have-beens. Those are the natural landscapes and living conditions of whatever animal I’m viewing.
Take this guy, for instance. He was brought into man’s arena very early in his life. He worked for a living, hence his missing horn. And when his work was done, he was fortunate enough to find sanctuary on the Olympic Peninsula with other animal actors that had been retired.
He’s a sweetheart, who likes treats and people’s voices. He’s enclosed to keep him safe from those who would taunt and tease and stress him unduly. I think it’s sad that we have lock up the wild things to keep them safe from us, the civilized ones.
Because he’d not been allowed to be wild, he will never know his ancestors’ natural habitat. Then again, at least here he can live a peaceful existence without fear of someone taking his life, as well as his horn. And without his horn, he could have never survived in his natural habitat anyway.
Herds of elk and fallow deer have free run of many more acres of this wild animal park. The bison keep them company as they watch cars go by, occupants snapping and whirring with their cameras. Thankfully, no one can get out of their cars to aggravate the ones trying to eat or rest.
Peacocks keep order. Rabbits watch from the sidelines. Those in the petting zoo take little hands in stride. And everywhere are the sounds of human voices, rather than those of the residents.
Within the shadows cast by trees lurk yaks and zebras, not usual neighbors, though they seem to get along quite well.
The occasional small scene gives an idyllic glimpse of how life in the wild could be if allowed.
2 Comments on The Zoo Within, last added: 6/26/2012
Claudsy, your last lines are so lovely and so true. I always want to visit these places, (my favorite is Cotswold Wildlife Park in Oxfordshire), but truly what I want is for it to not be…you know, not set the animals free, but for them to have been free, wild and protected in the first place. (also would like to have a few million $ so I could buy acres and acres of meadow and set all the asphalt walking carriage horses of the world’s tourist trade free.) ( I know, I have a pink fluffy heart)
claudsy said, on 6/25/2012 10:42:00 PM
Veronica, I think big pink, fluffy hearts are very good things. I understand how you feel. I have a real problem just walking into a zoo. Sanctuaries are a bit different simply because they are there to protect those that can no long protect themselves from us and can’t return to the wild.
It’s sad all the way around. Glad to know I’m not alone. Glad you liked it.
Those who study modern China know that the Communist government struggles with the yearnings and demands of its 55 ethnic minorities. What immediately comes to mind are the calls from Tibetans for more autonomy, or independence itself, and the complaints of the Uyghur people concerning religious and political discrimination in Xinjiang, the the northwest part of China. The majority Han people have been moving into both Tibet and Xinjiang, thereby changing the native cultures there.
In the last few months, we have been hearing complaints from the Mongolian people in China. Mongols are upset that so many Han have moved into Inner Mongolia and disrupted their pastoral way of life. The Mongols have staged protests against the environmental damage that comes with settled agriculture, the strip-mining of coal, the building of highways, the damming of rivers, and the overgrazing of land.
Inner Mongolian grasslands
Background.The Mongols and Han have a long history of interactions. The nomadic Mongols invaded China many times, attracted to the relative wealth of the more settled Chinese. In fact, the Mongols even ruled China from 1279 to 1368, setting up the Yuan dynasty with its capital at Tatu, which is present-day Beijing. The Yuan dynasty was known for its religious toleration, especially of Muslims, Daoists, and Buddhists. During Mongol rule, the country prospered because the Mongols encouraged foreign and domestic trade. Eventually, the Han Chinese became dissatisfied with Mongol rule and threw them out. Since then, the Han have dominated their Mongol neighbors. Now the Peoples Republic of China rules Inner Mongolia.
A Recent Novel.By coincidence, this spring I read a novel about the Han and the Mongolians in Inner Mongolia. Wolf Totem by Jiang Rong tells the tale of Chen Zhen, a Chinese Han who travels there in the 1960s during the Cultural Revolution and falls in love with the traditional Mongol way of life. He and two other Han young people work and live in a community that raises cattle, sheep, and horses on the steppe. While there, Chen learns from a local wise man of Mongolian lore and spritual life and the important place that wolves play in both.
Sounds like a great book. It reminds me of the Native Americans' respect and facination with wolves. There is much controversy in the US about wolves in some national parks.
Anonymous said, on 6/24/2011 6:57:00 AM
Can someone send a copy of this book to Sarah Palin?
Anonymous said, on 6/24/2011 8:43:00 AM
Communist governments care about their subjects’ yearnings or demands? What’s the world coming to?
Their “re-education” camps and firing squads were so efficient . . .
Today is Friday the 13th, so it makes me think of lucky and unlucky things. Personally, I like this date; but I know some people are uncomfortable with it. So, in keeping with the unlucky theme, I am reminded of a recent article about a very unlucky phenomenon in the marine environment. A level of ecological success that has been very lucky for one fish turns out to be extremely unfortunate for many other creatures in the Caribbean Sea.
The beautiful lionfish, with its red-striped face and body and long dorsal spines, is a native of the Indian and Pacific oceans. But in recent years it has gotten into the Caribbean Sea. How? It is thought that just a few lionfish escaped from a smashed aquarium tank during a hurricane in Florida. Usually an animal that gets loose in an alien environment is at a disadvantage. But the stealthy lionfish is a clever hunter and a successful breeder, producing thousands of eggs every four days. A few lionfish were first spotted in the waters around the Bahamas in 2005. Within three years, they had taken over the reefs, experiencing a population explosion by eating many of the native fish species, as well as shrimps and crabs. Scientists have found that the lionfish can reduce a reef’s native population by 75 to 80 percent in just a matter of weeks -- very unlucky for the local inhabitants. The same problem is now happening around the Grand Cayman Islands as well.
Just why are the lionfish so lucky in their new environment? It appears that, unlike the local reef fish, the lionfish are not infested by parasitic worms. Without parasites or any local predators, their mortality is quite low. And they are voracious predators, able to consume up to 30 times their stomach volume! This has caused a problem for local tourism, since people dive on the reefs to see all the beautiful native fishes--only to see an abundance of lionfish. In addition, their venomous dorsal spines can deliver a painful sting, making them a potential danger to divers who come too close. They are also a threat to the local commercial fisheries, since they are eating up native species.
So, what can be done about this fish invasion? Scientists catching a few here and there have not had an impact on their increasing population. But now, unfortunately for the lionfish, the tables have turned and there is one local predator it does have to worry about. Quite recently it has been determined that the lionfish makes a very tasty dish for humans when fried with nice seasonings. And this is turning out to be lucky for local residents and tourists in the Caribbean. Now the fishermen, not just the scientists, are turning their sights on the not-so-lucky lionfish!
Posted by Carol
0 Comments on A Scary Fish Story for Friday the 13th as of 1/1/1900
As I was walking through my local Barnes and Nobel bookstore, a small book with a fuzzy owl chick on the cover caught my eye. The book was Wesley the Owl: The Remarkable Love Story of an Owl and His Girl by Stacey O’Brien. I thought it was a children’s book (it’s not). As a joke, I showed the book to my son Ed, who is fascinated by owls. He bought the book and read it. As he was reading, he would often stop and read funny incidents to me. I just had to read the book myself.
Biologist, wildlife rescuer, and rehabilitation expert who specializes in owl research, Stacey O’Brien lives in California. When she acquired Wesley, a barn owl, as a four-day-old chick, Miss O’Brien worked at the California Institute of Technology (Caltech) in the Owl Lab. She was asked to adopt him and raise him at home because he had nerve damage in one wing and would never be able to fly well enough to catch an adequate number of mice to support himself and a family in the wild.
Chapter 5: Flying Lessons is one of my favorites. The author describes Wesley’s comical early attempts at flying. She could not help laughing at his antics. She describes how Wesley was embarrassed by her laughter. When she tried to comfort him, he pushed her away with his wings, hissing at her under his breath, faced the wall, and refused to look at her. He would exhibit this behavior whenever anyone laughed at him. Miss O’Brien, fearing the Wesley would become depressed, forbid anyone from laughing at Wesley in his presence. Although she admits to rushing into the bathroom, closing the door, and bursting out in laughter.
There are many comical, heartwarming, and touching parts to Wesley’s story. I enjoyed this book so much I may break my rule about not rereading a book. If you love animals and birds in particular, I recommend this book to you. High school science teachers might also consider adding it to students' summer reading lists.
1 Comments on Wesley the Owl, last added: 4/21/2011
One of my favorite things this year was to work on the development of these two lovable characters... Mountain and Jingles. You can imagine that it makes for a fun client as well...lots of freedom and lots of creativity. This is their Christmas Card and focus on the simple things in life, like being with the ones you love...appreciating every minute. And they just want peace for this crazy world of ours. To a happy, healthy and creative 2008!
0 Comments on Happy Holidays! as of 12/28/2007 4:01:00 PM
Wow! I loved seeing the steps in Lulu’s illustrations. I’m definitely reading this book!