Tips for Researching Your
Endangered Animal
The library has lots of resources about animals, but
finding information about YOUR animal can be tricky.
Here are some ideas of places to look.
BOOKS:
Try one of these encyclopedia-type
books in the Reference Section. There
may be only a page or a paragraph
about your animal, but it will give you all
the facts:
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Amazing Animals of the World (J REF 590 AMA)
E.encyclopedia: Animal (J REF 591.4 EEN)
Two general books that may have information about your animal
are:
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Chances are there won’t be a whole book about your species.
Instead, find a book that may have a page or two about your
species, or will tell you things about similar animals. Try:

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A book about the larger category your animal is in. For
example, instead of a book on “spectacled bears,” find a
book about “bears.”
A book about animals of the place where your animal
lives. Jungle animals? Arctic animals? Australian animals?
Animal books are in the nonfiction section between 590-599.
You can browse both the children’s and young adult sections, or
search directly in the catalog. Ask a librarian if you need help.
Precious creatures A to Z by Stuart A. Kallen
(J 591.529 KAL)
Will We Miss Them? by Alexandra Wright (J 599.7 WRI)
There are more resources in the adult section downstairs that
cover a wider variety of animals:
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
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The Encyclopedia of Animals (590.3 ENC)
The Atlas of Endangered Animals by Paula Hammond
(591.68 HAM)
Going, Going, Gone? by Malcolm Tait (599 TAI)
Reference books cannot be checked out. But because so many
people are working on this same project, please treat the other
encyclopedia-like books on this page as reference books, too.
Take notes on the pages about your animal while you’re here at
the library, then return the books to the cart by the desk.
DATABASES:
WEBSITES:
A database is a special online encyclopedia or search engine
which you can access with your library card. Unlike websites,
which aren’t always reliable, you can count on the information in
databases to be as accurate and up-to-date as possible. Here’s
how to access them:
A-Z Animals (http://a-z-animals.com/) is a great online
encyclopedia with an article on nearly any animal you can think
of. This would be the best place to start your search.
Go to the library’s website, http://www.franksarrislibrary.org/ .
Click “Online Resources.”
Here choose “POWER Library Network,” then enter your library
card number.
SIRS Discoverer (under Children’s Resources, General
Resources, or Newspapers/Magazines) will search many articles
and websites for you at once. You can browse by topic by clicking
“Animals” and then “Endangered & Threatened Species” in the
“Topics/Subtopics” column on the right, or you can search for
your species in the search box.
The Internet Public Library has a whole page of websites devoted
to Endangered Animals:
http://www.ipl.org/div/pf/entry/48466#internet Many of these
websites are North American animals only. The best of these, if
you have a North American species, is
http://www.fws.gov/endangered/ , run by the U.S. Fish and
Wildlife Service.
EE-Link’s Species Highlights page covers a wider variety of
animals. Browse this list to see if your species is on it:
http://eelink.net/EndSpp/specieshighlights-mainpage.html
Animal Info is another site to search at
http://www.animalinfo.org/ Search for your specific animal in the
box, or browse through the lists of animals in the
“Individual Species Index” or “Species Group
Index.”
The Animal Fact Guide at
http://www.animalfactguide.com/animalfacts/ has articles on 39 different
threatened or endangered species. Check
if yours is here!
If you haven’t found your animal anywhere else, your best bet is
National Geographic’s Animal Facts page,
http://animals.nationalgeographic.com/animals/facts/