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The California condor, Gymnogyps californianus, is one of the largest flying birds in the world. When it soars, the wings spread more than nine feet from tip to tip. Condors may weigh more than 20 pounds. The male Andean condor of South America is even larger than our California condor. Both are endangered species. The spectacular but endangered California condor is the largest bird in North America. These superb gliders travel widely to feed on carcasses of deer, pigs, cattle, sea lions, whales, and other animals. Pairs nest in caves high on cliff faces. The population fell to just 22 birds in the 1980s, but there are now some 230 free-flying birds in California, Arizona, and Baja California with another 160 in captivity. Lead poisoning remains a severe threat to their long-term prospects. Read their story here.
For the bestselling miscellany market, an NPR librarian's compendium of fascinating facts on history, science, and the arts How much water do the Great Lakes contain? Who were the first and last men killed in the Civil War? How long is a New York minute? What are the lost plays of Shakespeare? What building did Elvis leave last? Get the answers to these and countless other vexing questions in a All Facts Considered. Guaranteed to enlighten even the most seasoned trivia buff, this treasure trove of "who knew?" factoids spans a wide range of intriguing subjects. Written by noted NPR librarian Kee Malesky, whom Scott Simon has called the "source of all human knowledge" Answers questions on history, natural history, science, religion, language, and the arts Packed with valuable nuggets of information, from the useful to the downright bizarre The perfect gift for every inquiring mind that wants to know, All Facts Considered will put you at the center of the conversation as you show off your essential store of inessential yet irresistible knowledge.
The California condor has been described as a bird "with one wing in the grave." Flying on wings nearly ten feet wide from tip to tip, these birds thrived on the carcasses of animals like woolly mammoths. Then, as humans began dramatically reshaping North America, the continent's largest flying land bird started disappearing. By the beginning of the twentieth century, extinction seemed inevitable. But small groups of passionate individuals refused to allow the condor to fade away, even as they fought over how and why the bird was to be saved. Scientists, farmers, developers, bird lovers, and government bureaucrats argued bitterly and often, in the process injuring one another and the species they were trying to save. In the late 1980s, the federal government made a wrenching decision -- the last remaining wild condors would be caught and taken to a pair of zoos, where they would be encouraged to breed with other captive condors. Livid critics called the plan a recipe for extinction. After the zoo-based populations soared, the condors were released in the mountains of south-central California, and then into the Grand Canyon, Big Sur, and Baja California. Today the giant birds are nowhere near extinct. The giant bird with "one wing in the grave" appears to be recovering, even as the wildlands it needs keep disappearing. But the story of this bird is more than the story of a vulture with a giant wingspan -- it is also the story of a wild and giant state that has become crowded and small, and of the behind-the-scenes dramas that have shaped the environmental movement. As told by John Nielsen, an environmental journalist and a native Californian, this is a fascinating tale of survival.
This book leads you down the not-so-hallowed halls of law enforcement of four decades ago. It gives you an extra set of eyes and ears in the roll call lineups, in the patrol cars and detective cruisers, on the radio calls, in the streets and in the interview rooms, in the chases, arrests, gunfights, fist fights, hostage situations, and investigationsnot on a movie set but the real thing. You experience the sights, the sounds, the smells of a cops days and nights. You hear their words and those of the victims, witnesses and suspects when theyre not reading from a screenwriters script or posturing for the cameras of a reality show. It is populated not with fictional creations but real characters, by every definition of those words. The events, emotions and language are all served rawno dressing, no garnish. The rookies enthusiasm and optimism, the experienced veterans cynicism, the boredom of routine, the thrill of the pursuit, the satisfaction of a job well done, the frustration when events go bad, the anger, the hilarity, the dark and irreverent sense of humor, all pathways to the Ph. D. in Human Nature every street cop receives in a big city.
Mother Nature's more aesthetically challenged children have been neglected for too long. The plight of the panda is known the world over because of its teddy-like good looks, but most species are not so lucky. This book, however, aims to shine a light on some of the many ignored and unloved wonders of the animal kingdom. Their hideousness hides their incredible biology and means that we may not have noticed that they need our help. It is time to celebrate the Ugly Animals.
In this awkwardly-paced thriller the future has gone amuck. A Christian group terrorizes the west. Boy Scouts are listed as a subversive hate group. Whooping cranes come back with a vengeance and are eating the Ridley turtles. The poles shift and the North Pole ends up in Libya. U.S. capitalists seek political asylum in Russia. Most Americans are in a stupor from their implanted entertainment systems/GPS locators. NASA mistakenly uses centimetres instead of astronomical units in a major space program. Some outlaw Linton clones accidentally knock a hole in the fabric of time and space. Finally a war breaks out between computers that completely gridlocks all electronic communication. Rapture comes but the massive amount of electronic noise interferes with the transmission so that most people are missed on the first try. What the future holds is unsettling and perhaps dangerously familiar! But in spite of all this, we still have the right to life, liberty and to file suit for unhappiness.
Deputize students as "Research Bureau Detectives", and assign them to exciting cases! The book describes each mystery and provides clues on reproducible pages. It's up to your young research detectives to solve a series of "crimes" by checking the facts using basic reference books, such as an almanac, atlas, biographical and standard dictionaries, general encyclopedias and the Guinness Book of World Records. Contains 24 different crimes, eight each at easy, intermediate and advanced levels.
Traces the name origins of forty-eight familiar birds found in North America and relates anecdotes, legends, and superstitions connected with each bird.