The Encyclopedia of Sharks - Softcover

Parker, Steve; Parker, Jane

4.19

84 ratings by Goodreads

9781552976388: The Encyclopedia of Sharks

Softcover

ISBN 10: 1552976386 ISBN 13: 9781552976388

Publisher: Firefly Books, 2005

View all copies of this ISBN edition:

Here are the actual facts that dispel the myths and legends surrounding the feared and misunderstood shark. Generous color photographs plus maps and illustrations document every aspect of these beautiful animals, how they evolved, the mythology and misconceptions that surround them, and the threat posed by humans.

The dynamic and authoritative text includes information on:

Anatomy and physiology
Reproduction, courtship, and mating
How they hunt and what they eat
Migration routes
Their extraordinary senses and skills
Shark conservation efforts.

Chapters such as Shark Success, Ecology and Biology, Design for Living and Design for Killing fascinate and encourage readers to learn more about these complex creatures.

"synopsis" may belong to another edition of this title.

About the Author:

Steve Parker worked at the Natural History Museum in London, England, before becoming an author of more than 100 books. He regularly appears on radio and television.

Jane Parker worked at the Zoological Society of London and then became involved in medical research and genetic engineering. She has written books on subjects ranging from insects to ancient Egypt.

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.

"About this title" may belong to another edition of this title.