http://www.bbc.co.uk/nature/wildfacts/

Would you like to learn more about your favorite animal? This excellent BBC: Wildfacts website provides teachers, students and wildlife enthusiasts with useful information and facts about hundreds of animals. Wildfacts website users can perform a Basic Search for a specific animal using common or scientific names or an Advanced Search through categories such as habitat, diet, distribution and more. Individual animal site pages provide photos and concise information in areas such as physical description, behavior, reproduction, and statistics. Animal site pages offer links to related articles and a print version of information as well. [NL]

http://endangered.fws.gov/bats/bats.htm

Did you know that bats are the only true flying mammals? The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service's website on Bats provides educational information about this commonly misunderstood animal. The Bats site includes short sections on the Biology of Bats, Common Misconceptions, Hibernation and Migration, and Reasons for Decline. The site also connects to a Bat Fact Sheet which provides information about bat species that are on the U.S. endangered species list. The Bats site offers links to related sites, however several of the Bat Links are not currently connecting. [NL]

http://www.learner.org/jnorth/fall2003/crane/index.html

This thorough educational website was developed through a partnership of Annenberg/CPB, Journey North, and the Whooping Crane Eastern Partnership. This coalition of non-profit organizations, government agencies, and individuals are "joining forces to bring a migratory flock of whooping cranes back to eastern North America." This site connects to an extensive selection of lessons, activities and information, facts about Whooping Cranes in question/answer format, and background information about the Whooping Crane Reintroduction Study. Users can also connect to highlights from the Year 3 Reintroduction and Migration including maps, video clips, and photos. [NL]

http://anthro.palomar.edu/animal/animal_1.htm

Dr. Dennis O'Neal of Palomar College designed this site to introduce students to a tutorial on the Classification of Living Things. Topics addressed at this site include the Linnaen system of classification, amount of species in our world, the importance of biological diversity, the history of classification, and the relevancy of classification in the present day. There are links to the Main Menu, a Practice Quiz, and the other topics in the tutorial including Principals of Class, Kingdom to Subphylum, Class, and Subclass to Infraclass. Additionally, to link to a comprehensive glossary of relevant terms click on the Ecological Niches or Natural Selection links at the bottom of the site. For users with QuickTime there are several sound files that provide correct pronunciation of key terms. [NL]

http://www.shedd.org/SEA/index.cfm

As the site notes, the Shedd Educational Adventures "contains a treasure trove of aquatic science resources for K-12 teachers and students." And it certainly does. The three main groupings of materials offered here include Lesson Plans, Interactives, and Explorer's Guides. In all, there must be hundreds of resources, searchable by both grade (pre-K through 12) and by topic. As an added bonus, the resources are also searchable by Illinois and national education standards. Thus, if a school is too far away to visit the Shedd aquarium in Chicago itself, this site will definitely help teachers bring aquatic science to their classrooms. [JPM]