Thursday, August 1, 2013

The WPA: Still Teaching Us Today

(A drawing of a Colugo, from the WPA book "Who's Who In the Zoo.") 

The WPA was very focused on education. The WPA taught art to children, offered a variety of free courses to adults, trained young men & women in the National Youth Administration, wrote a variety of books, and more.

The WPA book, "Who's Who In The Zoo," which enjoyed at least six printings through 1965, still has interesting information. For example, I learned about an animal that I had never heard of before: Flying Lemurs (also called Colugos, Cobegos, Taguans, and Kagwangs). Flying Lemurs are not actually lemurs, but apparently more closely related to bats. In any event, the WPA is still teaching us today. Just open one of their books and you're bound to learn something new.
  


(2-minute video of a Colugo, from a BBC documentary. Original YouTube link here.)

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