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I remember reading a book about 20 years ago, containing lots of short stories (each one being only a couple of pages long). The stories were not connected to each other at all.

Each story have a different animal as the main character / protagonist, and I remember multiple of them being written in first person. The stories were not for kids but somehow realistic (the animals did not talk, dress, etc).

I can remember only a few more details:

  • One of the stories was about a buffalo herd migration.
  • One of them was about a trapped lynx biting off their leg to set himself free.

The title of the book was something like "The great book of animals" or something along those lines if I'm not wrong.

EDIT to answer some questions/add more details:

  • It was written in Spanish, I don't know if it was a translation. The original title was "El gran libro de los animales"
  • The book was large (around comic-size), hard covered and maybe 100-120 pages long, containing about 30-35 stories or so.
  • I think there were animals from all over the world
  • I read it in a public library, I already tried to go there again and asking about it but had no luck.
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    Welcome to Literature! Can you remember anything more about this book, like where did you read it, what language was it in, how big was the whole book / how many stories were in it? Were the animals from all over the world, or were they all North American animals like lynx and buffalo?
    – Rand al'Thor
    Aug 9, 2021 at 11:08
  • Thank you for your questions, I edited the question answering them even if my memory is blurry.. hoping it helps!
    – Wrykoulaka
    Aug 10, 2021 at 8:08
  • Do any of the books in this search of the Spanish title ring a bell?
    – bobble
    Aug 10, 2021 at 18:01

1 Answer 1

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Even though exact plot details do not check out, this looks much like short stories by Ernest Thompson Seton.

The titles of two, probably, most famous of them are "Animal Heroes" and "Wild Animals I Have Known".

The animals are the protagonists in these stories. The author narrates their thoughts and actions, but the stories are realistic.

The one about the lynx: The Boy and the Lynx

The one about the badger biting off her leg: The Story of the Kindly Badger

Meanwhile the mother Badger, coming home at dawn, was caught by one foot. Strain as she might, that deadly grip still held her; all that night and all the next day she struggled. She had little ones to care for. Their hungry cries from down the burrow were driving her almost mad; but the trap was of strong steel, beyond her strength, and at last the crying of the little ones in the den grew still. On the second day of her torture the mother, in desperation, chewed off one of her toes and dragged her bleeding foot from the trap.

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