The Secret Lives of Animals
Like Duolingo, but for The Secret Lives of Animals. Tomo turns the whole topic into a game you play five minutes a day, until it actually sticks.
For the part of you with thirty open tabs that never became anything.
Free forever · No credit card · iPhone & Android
Key ideas in The Secret Lives of Animals
- Animals move primarily to find food, water, and shelter
- Animal camouflage is designed to hide their specific features
- Predictable patterns are formed by the search for these three resources
- Natural environments are chaotic, so geometric or solid shapes stand out
- The three basic needs that drive animal movement in a backyard
- Why looking for specific animals is less effective than looking for disturbances
- Animals prefer moving along linear features for navigation
- The 'edge' where two habitats meet offers both food and quick escape
- Cover is essential for safe travel between 'restaurants'
- Biodiversity is highest at transition zones
- Movement and silhouettes are the primary triggers for animal flight
- A solid backdrop prevents you from being 'skylined' or easily seen
- Birds use 'alarm calls' to alert others to a stationary predator
- Identifying likely wildlife highways in a yard
- Mobbing behavior points directly to the location of a threat like an owl or cat
- The value of 'edge habitat' for spotting wildlife
You've tried the other tabs
Thirty open tabs. Four facts you actually kept.
You watched. You nodded. By Sunday it was gone.
One answer, then back to scrolling.
Eight weeks. You meant to finish. You didn't.
Tomo gives The Secret Lives of Animals the Duolingo treatment: levels, streaks, and quick quizzes that test what you just learned. That game loop is what the tabs above never had, so it's the one you actually finish.
Here's what playing it feels like
A real question from this course. Take your best guess.
What is the main job of an animal's camouflage when it is hiding in the bushes?
Get it right to open this lesson and 169 more in the app.
Where The Secret Lives of Animals takes you
Go from an animal lover to a wildlife expert. Learn how to track creatures in the wild, decode their strange behaviors, and understand the hidden connections that keep our planet alive.
- 1
Spotting Wildlife Like a Pro
- How to Find Animals in Your Backyard
- Reading the Clues: Tracks and Scat
- Using Your Senses to Hear the Unseen
- The Best Times of Day to See Action
- 2
Decoding Animal Body Language
- What a Wagging Tail Really Means
- Warning Signs: When to Back Away
- The Language of Ears and Eyes
- Play vs. Fighting: Telling the Difference
- How Birds Talk Without Singing
- Scent Marking: The Forest's Message Board
- 3
Survival Skills and Superpowers
- Mastering the Art of Hiding
- Extreme Eaters: How Teeth Match the Meal
- Living in the Freezer: Arctic Survival
- 4
The Social Lives of Groups
- Who's the Boss? Hierarchy in the Wild
- Raising Babies: From Solo to Village
- The Benefits of Living in a Crowd
- Animal Friendships and Alliances
- Migration: The Ultimate Road Trip
- 5
Sorting the Animal Kingdom
- Mammals, Birds, and Reptiles: The Big Split
- The Weird World of Invertebrates
- Amphibians: Life on Land and Water
- Fish: Breathing Under the Surface
- 6
How Bodies are Built
- Skeletons: Inside vs. Outside
- The Science of Fur, Feathers, and Scales
- Warm-Blooded vs. Cold-Blooded Living
- How Hearts and Lungs Vary by Size
- The Evolution of Flight
- 7
The Big Picture: Ecosystems
- Food Chains: Who Eats Whom
- Keystone Species: The Glue of Nature
- How Animals Shape the Landscape
- 8
Protecting Our Wild Neighbors
- Why Some Animals Disappear
- Success Stories: Bringing Species Back
- How You Can Help Wildlife Today
- The Future of Zoology and Discovery
8 sections · 34 units · 170 levels. Built to play, not to enroll.
You pick the voice
The Secret Lives of Animals is taught in the Explain Like I'm 5 style: no big words. promise.. Want a different feel? In the app you can spin up the same topic in any of Tomo's teaching styles. Same facts, totally different vibe.
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Start The Secret Lives of Animals today.
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