Open Wide!: Jaw-dropping Mouths of the Animal World

Mouths. All living creatures have them, right? I was amazed at the variety of types of mouths, teeth, and various mouth parts that animals use for feeding when I read this book. Can you see a snail licking a lollipop? Well, I guess they could rub the sweet treat up against the tooth like projections on their radula... if they had tiny hand to hold it! And platypi don't have teeth at all; they have grinding pads after their baby teeth fall out! Each of the colorfully illustrated pages are packed with information like this that will delight readers who enjoy the Nat Geo Kids Weird But True books.

This is broken up into different chapters that cover topics like spit, tongues, tusks, and bills and beaks. The side bars with "Spot the difference" are quite fascinating, and offer valuable insights into how to tell crocodiles and alligators apart, notice the similarities and differences between tooth and claw, and compare mastodons, wooly mammoths, and elephants. There are "Not for the squeamish" tags that also offer a lot of stuff that I didn't know... and perhaps didn't want to! (Rat poison is so effective because rats can't vomit!) One particularly fun addition to the pages are teaser questions like "Why are beaver teeth orange?" that are answered on the next page. (Their teeth are partly made of iron, and the orange color is rust!)