Beaver Believer with Beaver Fever

I am newly obsessed with beavers. Aquatic rodents, ecosystem engineers. They are fascinating animals. I keep coming back to the same thought, “Apes don’t do this stuff! I am a primate person and a rodent is blowing my mind!” They are social, monogamous, cooperative. Busy and eager, sure. They are efficient builders, eating, constructing with,Continue reading “Beaver Believer with Beaver Fever”

International Macaque Day: Preschool Edition

It was International Macaque Day 2018 in the Brown Bears (three-year-old) classroom. I showed my students pictures of different kinds of macaque monkeys and told them about how I lived across the world and took pictures of animals who ate fruit that people grew in their gardens. I showed them an article in a kids’Continue reading “International Macaque Day: Preschool Edition”

When Encouraging Kids to Love Nature Backfires…or Does It?

One day I heard from a teacher (I’ll call her Ms. Kasey) at the preschool where I used to work. She told me that one of my former students (I’ll call him Cody) was stung by a wasp while trying to pet it on the playground. I immediately felt guilty. I am the one whoContinue reading “When Encouraging Kids to Love Nature Backfires…or Does It?”

Merry Christmas, fellow primates!

I like listening to Christmas music. It puts me in a good mood and brings back good memories. I have a handful of favorites, that I listen to on repeat every December, that includes: “Christmas for Cowboys” by John Denver The Smoky Mountain Christmas version of “I Saw Three Ships” James Taylor’s version of “GoContinue reading “Merry Christmas, fellow primates!”

Thanksgiving Scaremonkeys

American scarecrows are adorable. These days they seem to be used for decorative purposes in the fall, but I assume they once functioned to scare actual crows (and other critters). Do they still? If so, acting as stand-ins when farmers are absent, scarecrows are literally and metaphorically the middlemen when it comes to human-crow interactions. ThisContinue reading “Thanksgiving Scaremonkeys”

Mourning on the Metro

I just finished the book Endangered by Eliot Schrefer. I have become recently aware of his work and inspired by the way he challenges young adult readers to think differently about their relationships with nonhuman animals, especially other primates. (The book was promptly added to my list of recommendations for children’s books about human relationships withContinue reading “Mourning on the Metro”