When Elephants Listen with their Feet

Finished September 15

When Elephants Listen with their Feet: Discover Extraordinary Animal Senses by Emmanuelle Grundmann, illustrated by Clemence Dupont, translated by Erin Woods

This advanced picture book goes through each of the senses, giving an overview of the sense for humans, and then looking at how they are different in various other creatures. In addition to the five senses of sight, hearing, smell, taste, and touch, other ways of learning about the world around us are included. These are vibrations, and the sensing of the earth's magnetic field or the electrical impulses of other creatures. There is also a section for special qualities that some animals have, like a lizard that can walk on water, or the suction cup-like toes of geckos. 

There are additional text boxes with facts related to that sense. For instance, sight includes facts on light, a physical description of the eye and how it works, the largest eye found on an animal, and how some animals see better in the dark.

Each sense has several pages of information, with many illustrations to help convey specific animal examples. 

One of my favourite tidbits of information was that the blue-tongued skink's tongue reflects ultraviolet light, helping it defend itself from predators. 

The book has an index near the back, containing a list of all the animals discussed and the pages they are mentioned on. There is a second index on the topics covered in the book. 

I learned a lot from reading this book myself, and it is a perfect choice for any child curious about animals.