Curricula and Additional Resources:

Educator’s Guide with discussion prompts and writing activities.

You can find more ideas on Teachingbooks.

Videos and Additional Information about the Animals in this Book:

ASSASSIN BUG (STENOLEMUS BITUBERUS) AND SPIDER (ACHAEARANEA)
You can watch an assassin bug pluck the spider’s web with its legs, and lure the spider in here. An additional video with more explanation of the behavior can be found here.

TÚNGARA  FROGS (PHYSALAEMUS PUSTULOSUS) AND FRINGE-LIPPED BATS (TRACHOPS CIRRHOSUS)
Dr. Michael Ryan’s lab at the University of Texas (Austin) has been studying túngara frogs and fringe-lipped bats for many years. You can find recordings of the frog’s calls and videos at his lab’s website.

BIG DIPPER FIREFLY MALE (PHOTINUS PYRALIS, ALSO KNOWN AS THE COMMON EASTERN FIREFLY) AND PENNSYLVANIA FIREFLY FEMALE (PHOTURIS SP.)
For more information about different firefly species click here.
To find out how you can participate in a citizen science project investigating firefly populations, click here.

WEAVER ANT (OECOPHYLLA SMARAGDINA) AND GIANT HONEY BEE (APIS DORSATA)
You can see a very brief video of a giant honey bee that is being attacked by weaver ants here. (Sadly for the bees, they aren’t always able to avoid an ant patrol. In the experiment testing the ability of bees to detect the ant trail pheromone scent, the majority of bees avoided flowers that had added ant trail pheromone scent, but some did not.)

BLACK-CAPPED CHICKADEE (POECILE ATRICAPILLUS) AND SHARP-SHINNED HAWK (ACCIPITER STRIATUS)
You can read an informative article about research into alarm call networks in birds here.

NORTHERN PACIFIC RATTLESNAKE (CROTALUS OREGANUS) AND CALIFORNIA GROUND SQUIRREL (SPERMOPHILUS BEECHEYI)
You can watch a video of a squirrel tail-flagging toward a rattlesnake here. For more videos and information on the scientific research on ground squirrel-rattlesnake interactions (and other snake-prey interactions), see Dr. Rulon Clark’s website.

BIG BROWN BAT (EPTESICUS FUSCUS) AND TIGER MOTH (BERTHOLDIA TRIGONA)
The following videos are from the studies on sonar jamming by the tiger moth. In the first video, the moth is able to escape by making its clicks. In the second video, the scientists have “silenced” the moth by altering the sound-producing mechanism. The bat is able to catch the silenced moth.

POISONOUS BUTTERFLIES (ZEBRA LONGWING (HELICONIUS CHARITONIA), MONARCH (DANAUS PLEXIPPUS), PIPEVINE SWALLOWTAIL (BATTUS PHILENOR)) AND CHEATER MIMICS (RED-SPOTTED PURPLE (ADMIRAL) (LIMENITIS ARTHEMIS ASTYANAX))
The American Museum of Natural History has a helpful article (with video) for more information on animals honestly declaring their poisonous nature to their predators.

PEACOCK BUTTERFLY (INACHIS IO), BLUE TIT (CYANISTES CAERULEUS), AND YELLOW-NECKED MOUSE (APODEMUS FLAVICOLLIS)
Here is a video of the peacock butterfly’s warning display during its winter hibernation. You can hear the wings hiss in the dark.

CRESTED ANOLE LIZARD (ANOLIS CRISTATELLUS) AND PUERTO RICAN RACER (BORIKENOPHIS PORTORICENSIS)
Photos and narration of a racer’s attack on an anole lizard, plus a discussion of the studies on the anole’s displays to the snakes.

The Writing Process for the Book

Audio/video interview with my friend and fellow author Andrea Page.

Interview with my friend and fellow author Peggy Thomas on her blog, Anatomy of Nonfiction: Writing True Stories for Children.

A blog post I wrote as part of Today’s Little Ditty’s Classroom Connections series for National Poetry Month in 2019. Today’s Little Ditty has regular poetry prompts and ideas for bringing poetry into the classroom.

Click here for a blog post I wrote as part of Nonfiction Fest 2020 about why I like to write nonfiction in both poetry and prose. Be sure to check out the posts from the other wonderful participating authors for their tips and insights on writing nonfiction.

More Ways to Investigate Animal Behavior

Aside from simply getting outside and watching animals (the best way to start!) there are several online resources where you can explore animal behavior:

I had the great privilege of spending the majority of my time in graduate school at the Macaulay Library at the Cornell Lab of Ornithology. It is the home of a giant archive of animal behavior media, from sound recordings to videos. It has a searchable online database, where you can find recordings of animals from around the world. Another resource for bird songs is xeno-canto, which also has a searchable database.

Want to help scientists? There are many citizen science projects where you can help scientists gather information about the animals around us. Here are just a few:
From the Cornell Lab of Ornithology:

• Celebrate Urban Birds investigates birds found in urban areas.

• NestWatch participants follow nests as birds raise their young.

• Project Feederwatch participants count the birds that visit their feeders and help scientists keep track of bird populations across North America.

Firefly Watch (with MassAudubon) tracks firefly populations across North America.

For more citizen science projects, Scientific American has compiled a listing on its website.

And be sure to check out Loree Griffin Burns’ book, Citizen Scientists (Henry Holt, 2017), for more on how everyone can participate in citizen science.