# Animal Friends

> A free, source-backed animal encyclopedia and magazine helping young readers care about every animal.

## Core resources
- [Animal encyclopedia](https://animal-friends-iota.vercel.app/animals): Species pages with photographs, facts, conservation information and sources.
- [Animal stories](https://animal-friends-iota.vercel.app/blog): Long-form, cited features for readers aged 10–14.
- [Sources](https://animal-friends-iota.vercel.app/sources): Source registry and evidence policy.

## Recent stories
- [Axolotl: The Underwater Salamander With Feathery Gills](https://animal-friends-iota.vercel.app/blog/axolotl): Meet the axolotl, a remarkable salamander of Mexico City’s waterways that keeps its gills, lives underwater, and needs clean canals to thrive.
- [Clownfish: The Tiny Reef Neighbour With a Stinging-Flower Home](https://animal-friends-iota.vercel.app/blog/clownfish): Meet the clownfish, a bright reef fish whose closest neighbour is a sea anemone—and whose family life holds a remarkable surprise.
- [The European Garden Spider: A Wheel-Weaver at Work](https://animal-friends-iota.vercel.app/blog/european-garden-spider): Meet the European garden spider, a patient orb-weaver whose pale cross and round silk web can turn an ordinary garden corner into a tiny theatre of nature.
- [The Laughing Kookaburra: A Big Voice in the Treetops](https://animal-friends-iota.vercel.app/blog/laughing-kookaburra): Meet the laughing kookaburra, a large land-hunting kingfisher whose famous chorus rings through Australian woodland, parks and gardens.
- [Great White Sharks: The Ocean’s Powerful, Misunderstood Neighbours](https://animal-friends-iota.vercel.app/blog/great-white-shark): Meet the great white shark, a warm-bodied ocean traveller with remarkable senses, a constantly renewing smile, and a vulnerable future.
- [Red Kangaroo: The Evening Hopper of Australia’s Open Country](https://animal-friends-iota.vercel.app/blog/red-kangaroo): Meet the red kangaroo, the world’s largest marsupial: a powerful plant-eater whose remarkable journey begins as a jellybean-sized joey in a pouch.
- [Chicken Conversations: Meet the Clever Friends in the Flock](https://animal-friends-iota.vercel.app/blog/domestic-chicken): Chickens are alert, social birds with friendships, family calls, and a lively way of exploring the world.
- [Western Honey Bees: The Flower-Finding Friends of the Hive](https://animal-friends-iota.vercel.app/blog/western-honey-bee): Meet Apis mellifera, the western honey bee: a small, striped insect whose busy colony life links flowers, food, and careful communication.

## Content principles
- Treat animals as feeling individuals, never villains or commodities.
- Prefer authoritative sources and preserve uncertainty.
- Clearly distinguish real photography from generated supporting illustrations.
- Encourage compassionate, plant-forward choices without shame or medical promises.