The Ugly Five

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Their unfortunate looks have earned them a spot in this classification, despite being fascinating birds. Marabous can eat anything, including termites, flamingos and small birds, mammals, and even human refuse and dead elephants. They often share carcasses with other scavengers like vultures or hyenas. Come and visit a prime game reserve in KwaZulu-Natal where you can witness these animals in the wild, including more than 200 bird species and a massive variety of flora. Look at a map of the world and find Africa. Where might these animals live? What different types of habitats might you find there? How are they similar / different to where you live? Their powerful jaws can crush the bones of some of Africa’s largest animals, and their strong stomach acid makes easy work of any meal. Hyenas will eat almost anything, including hoofs and bones. Before Malcolm and I had our three sons we used to go busking together and I would write special songs for each country; the best one was in Italian about pasta.

They feast on carrion that could otherwise spread pathogens and they break through the tough hides of carcasses, making them more accessible to weaker scavengers. 2. Vulture For an unfortunate-looking animal, wildebeests certainly put on a spectacular show. The great wildebeest migration is the greatest movement of terrestrial mammals on Earth. Over a million wildebeest gallop through the Serengeti in search of greener pastures. Catching a glimpse of this action is a coveted safari dream. 4. Hyena Look through the story and sort some of the words that the author uses to describe the animals (e.g. ugly, spindly, graceful, divine). Which ones are positive and which are negative? The Ugly Five’ (2017) is a short, lovely, simple but effective and affecting story – the latest from the accomplished team of writer Julia Donaldson and Axel Sheffler – who provides the usual and wonderful illustrations to accompany the compelling rhyming words of Donaldson. So it is with a heavy heart that I have to report that The Ugly Five was something of a disappointment. For a school librarian, this is as close to sacrilege as you can get.

The Jungle Book | The Bare Necessities Song

It is easy to overlook smaller creatures while on a safari as we are normally on the lookout for the famous Big Five game animals, but this isn’t Africa’s only famous collection of animals to be seen. Allow us to introduce to you Africa’s less glamorous animals, the warthog, hyena, marabou stork, vulture, and the wildebeest, also, unfortunately, known as The Ugly Five. Although these animals aren’t eye-catching, they all have something unique and fascinating to offer. Just like the marabou stork, vultures tend to have bald, scabby looking heads. Often with unfortunate skin folds, and sometimes with unsightly, exposed ears.

This time the story is about some animals in the Savannah who are, shall we say? Less than attractive. I've included some templates again this week. I'm not expecting you to do them like this, but I know some of you like a worksheet. Hope this helps some of you. Still, it pains me to say it, but I thought it was ever so slightly dull. I just don’t think it is destined to be a classic. Hyenas are scavengers (which is starting to seem like a strong predictor of ugliness), making them important players in their ecosystems.Their preferred habitat is open grasslands, with their renowned seasonal migration being an optimised survival strategy giving them access to and use of resources over huge areas, minimising over-grazing during both wet and dry seasons. The book is intriguing because it teaches children about the importance of being kind to each other and working well together as a team, and not to be worried about what others think about you. Warthogs have a wide distribution across sub-Saharan Africa, with a preference for open woodland and savannahs, and are not endangered.

This book sits on two nerves and therefore loses a star. Nominated for the Washington State Children's Choice award, this book requires that the students know about he Big 5 and possibly the Little 5 and therefore the Shy 5. It also requires that the librarian endures rhyming couplets and the kids endure her singing the sing song verses... not winning me over. These requirements are really just my needs. I really enjoy writing verse, even though it can be fiendishly difficult. I used to memorise poems as a child and it means a lot to me when parents tell me their child can recite one of my books. As always, Julia Donaldson’s rhyming is fabulous. It is never forced or awkward and, with its rhythm and wit, is always a pleasure to read. The illustrations by Axel Scheffler are again lovely. His style is instantaneously recognisable and very child-friendly. The message of the book is charming - that beauty is indeed in the eye of the beholder and that we are perfect just the way we are.I got the idea for this book when I was on a safari in South Africa. We had just spotted a herd of wildebeest. The book asks a variety of questions which also encourage children to join in and the book introduced me to animals I had not heard of before like the Marabou Stork. Everyone enjoyed hearing about the Marabou stork, which poos on its legs - apparently to cool itself down - and there was fascination about exactly what the meat was that the hyena and the vulture were eating. One nature-documentary watching child thought that the answer would not please the wildebeest. These animals are normally found in groups and they spend most of their time in search of food. Warthogs are members of the pig family and are widely distributed across Africa. These animals sleep underground in burrows which they steal from other animals such as the aardvark. When running through grass their tails stand up straight, and when in danger these animals choose to run, rather than fight. The hyena also has some peculiar proportions, with all the strength loaded in their forequarters (and jaw), and the weak-looking hindquarters seemingly added as something of an afterthought. The size of a hyena’s clan can dictate the size of a kill or scavenge. A hyena clan can range in size between 12 and 24 hyenas. Some clans are even larger than this.