Mammals - Golden Nature Guide

I have owned and loved this book for as long as I can remember, from when I would just look at the pictures and study the maps, and I still have it now, so it is by far the oldest book I have owned continuously. As a kid, it was endlessly fascinating and I wondered if indeed someday I would head down to Southern California and maybe Mexico and actually see kangaroo rats like those hopping on page 92:

 We did eventually get to Southern California, though most of the kangaroo rats we saw were in the nocturnal area of the marvelous San Diego Zoo. They have a special feeling for Kangaroo Rats there, and continue to study their conservation in a very thorough going way:

How We're Helping to Save Kangaroo Rats

 

 We spent whole days at the San Diego Zoo and once at closing time we passed by the cheetah enclosure and noticed a small dog running around in there! 

Our first thought: "OH NO! THEY ARE FEEDING THE CHEETAHS STRAY DOGS!" But there was a zookeeper standing by and so we asked him, and he said that after hours they put a stray dog in with the cheetah for company. 

Surprisingly, they do become friends, and apparently the little dog becomes the dominant one. The zookeeper said that when the cheetah would start its obsessive pacing back and forth, it was as if the little dog said, "ENOUGH ALL READY!", grabbed the cheetah by the ear and drag him off! You can read more about these unlikely friends...

Dogs And Cheetahs Living Together At The San Diego Zoo