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Runt
In a group of animals (usually a litter of animals born in multiple births), a runt is a member which is significantly smaller or weaker than the others. Owing to its small size, a runt in a litter faces obvious disadvantage, including difficulties in competing with its siblings for survival and possible rejection by its mother. Therefore, in the wild, a runt is less likely to survive infancy. Even among domestic animals, runts often face rejection. They may be placed under the direct care of an experienced animal breeder, although the animal's size and weakness coupled with the lack of natural parental care make this difficult. Some tamed animals are the result of reared runts. Not all litters have runts. All animals in a litter will naturally vary slightly in size and weight, but the smallest is not considered a "runt" if it is healthy and close in weight to its littermates. It may be perfectly capable of competing with its siblings for nutrition and other resources. A runt i ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Watership Down
''Watership Down'' is an adventure novel by English author Richard Adams, published by Rex Collings Ltd of London in 1972. Set in Berkshire in southern England, the story features a small group of rabbits. Although they live in their natural wild environment, with burrows, they are anthropomorphised, possessing their own culture, language, proverbs, poetry, and mythology. Evoking epic themes, the novel follows the rabbits as they escape the destruction of their warren and seek a place to establish a new home (the hill of Watership Down), encountering perils and temptations along the way. ''Watership Down'' was Richard Adams' debut novel. It was rejected by several publishers before Collings accepted the manuscript; the published book then won the annual Carnegie Medal (UK), annual Guardian Prize (UK), and other book awards. The novel was adapted into an animated feature film in 1978 and, from 1999 to 2001, an animated children's television series. In 2018, a drama of the ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Dick King-Smith
Ronald Gordon King-Smith OBE (27 March 1922 – 4 January 2011), was an English writer of children's books, primarily using the pen name Dick King-Smith. He is best known for '' The Sheep-Pig'' (1983). It was adapted as the movie '' Babe'' (1995) and translations have been published in fifteen languages. He was awarded an Honorary Master of Education degree by the University of the West of England in 1999 and appointed Officer of the Order of the British Empire (OBE) in the 2010 New Year Honours. Early life, military service King-Smith was born on 27 March 1922 in Bitton, Gloucestershire and grew up in the West Country, his father was Captain Ronald King-Smith DSO MC, who ran several paper mills. King-Smith was educated at Beaudesert Park School and Marlborough College. He was a soldier in World War II, serving with the Grenadier Guards in Italy, and a farmer for 20 years before he became a teacher at Farmborough Primary School and author. King-Smith's first book was ''The ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
One Hundred And One Dalmatians
''One Hundred and One Dalmatians'' (also simply known as ''101 Dalmatians'') is a 1961 American animated adventure comedy film produced by Walt Disney Productions and based on the 1956 novel '' The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' by Dodie Smith. The 17th Disney animated feature film, it was directed by Hamilton Luske, Clyde Geronimi and Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Bill Peet, and features the voices of Rod Taylor, Cate Bauer, Betty Lou Gerson, Ben Wright, Lisa Davis, and Martha Wentworth. The film's plot follows a litter of Dalmatian puppies who are kidnapped by the villainous Cruella de Vil ("deVille"), who wants to make their fur into coats. Their parents, Pongo and Perdita, set out to save their puppies from Cruella, in the process of rescuing 84 additional ones that were bought in pet shops, bringing the total of Dalmatians to 101. The film was originally released in theaters on January 25, 1961, and was a box office success, pulling the studio out of the financ ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Charlotte's Web
''Charlotte's Web'' is a book of children's literature by American author E. B. White and illustrated by Garth Williams; it was published on October 15, 1952, by Harper & Brothers. The novel tells the story of a livestock pig named Wilbur and his friendship with a barn spider named Charlotte. When Wilbur is in danger of being slaughtered by the farmer, Charlotte writes messages praising Wilbur such as "Some Pig" and "Humble" in her web in order to persuade the farmer to let him live. Written in White's dry, low-key manner, ''Charlotte's Web'' is considered a classic of children's literature, enjoyed by adults as well as children. The description of the experience of swinging on a rope swing at the farm is an often-cited example of rhythm in writing, as the pace of the sentences reflects the motion of the swing. In 2000, ''Publishers Weekly'' listed the book as the best-selling children's paperback of all time. ''Charlotte's Web'' was adapted into an animated feature by Hanna-Ba ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Silverwing (novel)
''Silverwing'' is a best-selling children's novel, written by Kenneth Oppel, first published in 1997 by HarperCollins. It tells the story of a colony of silverwing bats. The tone and artistic ambition of this series of bestsellers has been compared to the classic animal novel ''Watership Down''. ''Silverwing'' is the first installment of the Silverwing series, though it is chronologically the second novel in the sequence after '' Darkwing''. Plot Part I Shade is a young Silverwing bat whose father disappeared before he was born. He lives with his mother, Ariel, and is bullied by other newborns, especially Chinook and his friends, for being the runt of his colony. Shade challenges Chinook to look at the sun, an act forbidden by the owls. When Chinook backs down from the challenge, Shade looks at the sun, attracting the attention of an owl. Four elders, Bathsheba, Aurora, Lucretia and Frieda, try to discipline Shade at Tree Haven, the Silverwings' roost. Instead, Frieda takes Sh ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Babe (film)
''Babe'' (also known as ''Babe the Sheep-Pig'' in the working title) is a 1995 comedy-drama film directed by Chris Noonan, produced by George Miller and written by both. It is an adaptation of Dick King-Smith's 1983 novel '' The Sheep-Pig'', which tells the story of a farm pig who wants to do the work of a sheepdog. The film is narrated by Roscoe Lee Browne and the main animal characters are played by both real animals and animatronic puppets. ''Babe'' was filmed in Robertson, New South Wales in 1994 and released theatrically on 4 August 1995, going on to become a critical and commercial success, with several Academy Award nominations. A sequel, '' Babe: Pig in the City'', was released on 25 November 1998 and failed to achieve the same success as the first film. Plot After being used in "guess the weight" contest at a county fair, orphaned piglet Babe is brought home to the farm of the contest winner, Arthur Hoggett. There he is taken in by Border Collie Fly, her irascibl ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Litter (animal)
A litter is the live birth of multiple offspring at one time in animals from the same mother and usually from one set of parents, particularly from three to eight offspring. The word is most often used for the offspring of mammals, but can be used for any animal that gives birth to multiple young. In comparison, a group of eggs and the offspring that hatch from them are frequently called a clutch, while young birds are often called a brood. Animals from the same litter are referred to as litter-mates. Litter A species' average litter size is generally equal to one half of the number of teats and the maximum litter size generally matches the number of teats. Not all species abide by this rule, however. The naked mole rat, for example, averages roughly eleven young per birth and has eleven teats. Animals frequently display grouping behavior in herds, swarms, flocks, or colonies, and these multiple births derive similar advantages. A litter offers some protection from pr ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
101 Dalmatians (1996 Film)
''101 Dalmatians'' is a 1996 American adventure comedy film, which is a live-action adaptation of Walt Disney’s 1961 animated film of almost the same name, itself an adaptation of Dodie Smith's 1956 novel '' The Hundred and One Dalmatians.'' Directed by Stephen Herek and co-produced by John Hughes (who also wrote the script) and Ricardo Mestres, it stars Glenn Close, Jeff Daniels, Joely Richardson and Joan Plowright. Unlike the 1961 animated film, none of the animals speak. ''101 Dalmatians'' was released on November 27, 1996. It grossed $320 million in theaters against a $67 million budget, making it the sixth highest-grossing film of 1996. Close was nominated for the Golden Globe Award for Best Actress – Motion Picture Musical or Comedy, while the film was nominated for a BAFTA Award for Best Makeup and Hair. A sequel, ''102 Dalmatians'', was released on November 22, 2000, with Glenn Close and Tim McInnerny reprising their roles while a reboot, ''Cruella'', dire ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Goliath II
''Goliath II'' is a 1960 American animated comedy short film produced by Walt Disney Productions. Directed by Wolfgang Reitherman and written by Bill Peet, it is narrated by Sterling Holloway and stars the voices of Kevin Corcoran, Barbara Jo Allen and Paul Frees. It was released theatrically in the United States on January 21, 1960 alongside the live-action film '' Toby Tyler'' (also starring Corcoran). The short was the first Disney short cartoon to make full use of xerography, a process of using Xerox technology to transfer animation drawings to cels as part of the traditional animation process instead of utilizing hand-inking. ''Goliath II'' received an Academy Award nomination for Best Animated Short, losing to Gene Deitch's ''Munro''. Elements of this short were later reused in ''The Jungle Book'' (1967). The cartoon is also called "Slonić Ćiro" or "Slonić Ćira" in Serbo-Croatian and was very popular in Yugoslavia during the late 1970s-early '80s. Plot Goliath II is ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
Runt (novel)
''Runt'' is a 2002 children's novel written by Marion Dane Bauer. It tells of a story about a wolf pup who is a runt. Summary One spring day in the forests of Minnesota, a litter of 7 is born into a wolf pack led by King and his mate Silver. The first four pups are named Leader, Sniffer, Runner, and Thinker. Two pups do not survive, and the last pup is much smaller than the others; his disgusted father gives him the name Runt. His mother assures Runt that someday his father will think of a better name. As Runt grows older, he gets bigger, but he is still smaller than the others. At one point in Runt's life, he and Thinker mess with a porcupine, who attacks them with quills. They get back to the pack, badly wounded; Thinker soon dies from a quill through his eye, which angers King. Human wildlife rescuers trap Runt and remove the quills, before releasing him. He later meets their dog, Goldie, and, unable to understand domestication, futilely tries to get her to come with him. ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The White Dragon (novel)
''The White Dragon'' is a science fantasy novel by American-Irish author Anne McCaffrey. It completes the original ''Dragonriders'' trilogy in the ''Dragonriders of Pern'' series, seven years after the second book. It was first published by Del Rey Books in June 1978. In 1987, the magazine '' Locus'' ranked ''The White Dragon'' number 23 among the 33 "All-Time Best Fantasy Novels", based on a poll of subscribers. Origins The first part of the novel was published three years earlier as ''A Time When'', a special publication by the New England Science Fiction Association for its annual convention Boskone in 1975, where McCaffrey was Guest of Honor. Plot summary ''The White Dragon'' follows the coming of age story of Jaxom, the young Lord of Ruatha Hold, who had accidentally impressed the unusual white dragon Ruth in ''Dragonquest'' and ''Dragonsong''. As Jaxom grows up, he has to deal with the difficulty of being both a Lord Holder and a dragonrider, the maturity of Ruth (who ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
The Hundred And One Dalmatians
''The Hundred and One Dalmatians'' is a 1956 children's novel by Dodie Smith about the kidnapping of a family of Dalmatian puppies. It was originally serialized in ''Woman's Day'' as ''The Great Dog Robbery'', and details the adventures of two dalmatians named Pongo and Missis as they rescue their puppies from a fur farm. A 1967 sequel, '' The Starlight Barking'', continues from the end of the novel. Plot Pongo and Missis are a pair of Dalmatians who live with the newly married Mr. and Mrs. Dearly and their two nannies, Nanny Cook and Nanny Butler. Mr. Dearly is a "financial wizard" who has been granted lifelong tax exemption and lent a house on the Outer Circle in Regent's Park in return for wiping out the government debt. The dogs consider the humans their pets, but allow the humans to think that they are the owners. One day, while walking Pongo and Missis, Mr. and Mrs. Dearly have a chance meeting with an old schoolmate of Mrs. Dearly: Cruella de Vil, a very wealthy woma ... [...More Info...] [...Related Items...] OR: [Wikipedia] [Google] [Baidu] |
