704429

9781552976388

Encyclopedia of Sharks

Encyclopedia of Sharks
$98.37
$3.95 Shipping
  • Condition: New
  • Provider: gridfreed Contact
  • Provider Rating:
    66%
  • Ships From: San Diego, CA
  • Shipping: Standard
  • Comments: New. In shrink wrap. Looks like an interesting title!

seal  
$51.74
$3.95 Shipping
  • Condition: Good
  • Provider: Bonita Contact
  • Provider Rating:
    0%
  • Ships From: Multiple Locations
  • Shipping: Standard
  • Comments: Access codes and supplements are not guaranteed with used items. May be an ex-library book.

seal  

Ask the provider about this item.

Most renters respond to questions in 48 hours or less.
The response will be emailed to you.
Cancel
  • ISBN-13: 9781552976388
  • ISBN: 1552976386
  • Publisher: Firefly Books, Limited

AUTHOR

Parker, Steve, Parker, Jane

SUMMARY

Amazing Sharks Sharks have been living for over 400 million years. They came through the five great mass extinctions, and competed favorably with the rapidly evolving bony fishes, and today they are among the top predators in the sea. During all that time, sharks have been honed to evolutionary perfection, with a body that yacht and submarine designers can only envy and with wide-ranging sensory systems that military technologists would die for. The archetypal shark is a sleek, torpedo-shaped hunter with a tall, triangular dorsal fin and powerful scythe-shaped tail, but this is only one of many types of shark. There are gigantic filter feeders resembling whales, sluggish and flabby deep sea sharks, flattened bottom-dwelling angel sharks, reef sharks with wedge-shape heads for pushing into cracks and crevices, carpet-like wobbegongs that are camouflaged as coral, parasitic cookie-cutters with sucker-like mouths and enormous teeth, eel-like sharks with frilly gill slits, and epaulette sharks that can walk on their fins like salamanders. Sharks Worldwide They live in all parts of the sea, from the desert-like surface waters to the inky depths of the deep sea, and from the tropics to colder waters. There are sharks inhabiting coral reefs, mangroves, rocky shores, estuaries, and one species -- the bull shark -- that can live in freshwater hundreds of miles from the sea. Another -- the Greenland sleeper shark -- can survive even under the Arctic ice. Throughout human history, however, all sharks have been tarred with the same brush, and have gained an evil reputation. Much of it was based on myth and folk tales, but some was due to the tendency of a few sharks to attack, kill and sometimes devour people. But this negative view is changing. There has been a revolution and now sharks have friends. As shark biology and behavior become gradually clearer, people realize they can share the water with sharks ... as long as it is on the shark's terms. We now know sharks have a personal space that we must not invade or they will treat us like any other intruder and attack. They have a body language that we are beginning to interpret, and a new understanding of why they behave in the way that they do. They are not solitary killers looking for the next human victim, but many are social animals abiding by the rules of their own shark society. New Status for Sharks Understanding sharks in this way has changed attitudes. Shark scientists now dare work with sharks outside shark cages, even with potentially dangerous sharks, such as great white, tiger and bull sharks, which were once feared as insatiable man-eaters. Groups of tourists can attend specially arranged shark banquets on the sea floor. Fear has been replaced with respect. People want to swim with sharks, and some even hug them. But people cannot turn sharks into pets. They are wild animals, and highly efficient predators. In certain circumstances they can be very dangerous, and the press is quick to react when an attack occurs on a person. The world's newspapers still consider sharks as front-page news, and a spate of shark attacks in US waters during 2001 began to tarnish the shark's new image. But those who are beginning to understand sharks realize that many of these attacks are not due to the shark's behavior but to our own. We place ourselves in places where sharks expect to find food, and attacks are often cases of mistaken identity. Sharks are not interested in people as food. There are no rogue sharks with a taste for human blood, just sharks living in their own environment going about their daily lives as top ocean predators.Parker, Steve is the author of 'Encyclopedia of Sharks' with ISBN 9781552976388 and ISBN 1552976386.

[read more]

Questions about purchases?

You can find lots of answers to common customer questions in our FAQs

View a detailed breakdown of our shipping prices

Learn about our return policy

Still need help? Feel free to contact us

View college textbooks by subject
and top textbooks for college

The ValoreBooks Guarantee

The ValoreBooks Guarantee

With our dedicated customer support team, you can rest easy knowing that we're doing everything we can to save you time, money, and stress.