Review by: Brian Clair

Animal Planet takes it’s name from the new cable channel from the Discovery Channel and is not a game. Animal Planet is more of a multimedia encyclopedia which contains detailed information over 1,100 different animals. The program uses video for windows to create an active “world” for you to explore. You manuver your eagle cursor over a part of the landscape and when you click on your mouse you “swoop” down to take a closer look. This brings you to a close-up screen from which you can then click on the moving world before you to get information on that animal.

Each animal brings up a screen which contains what habitat the animal lives in, it’s life span, enemies, and other information like whether it’s endangered, eating habits, living habits, etc. Some of the animals also contain video footage which shows you the animal in it’s environment and relay’s other information to you. From here the program allows you to exit back to the main habitat screen where you came from, to a screen where you can look at information from related animal species, or to a main system menu. There is even a report “generator” that will help you to write a report about a particular animal.

The main system menu, called the “cool tools”, contains an animal tracker which allows you to quickly find information on an animal or topic using the program’s search engine, field notes – which allows you to copy both text and pictures into your word processor, Bio Web – which allows you to connect to over 1,000 different websites if you have an internet connection running which are dedicated to that animal, and the help screen.