Kay de Silva - Sharks : Amazing Pictures & Fun Facts on Animals in Nature: / Our Amazing World Series Book 5

SHARKS Amazing Pictures & Fun Facts on Animals in Nature Our Amazing World Series Kay de Silva Copyright Notice Sharks - Our Amazing World Series Copyright 2012 by Kay de Silva - All rights reserved Please respect the author's copyright of this work. You may use this e-book for your personal enjoyment. Like a printed book you may share it with family and friends. In so doing please do not change the format or modify the content in any way. In addition, your license to enjoy this work does not extend to re-selling, using or re-distributing this work wholly or partially for any other commercial endeavour. In all other respects, as a licensed owner of this e-book you are invited to enjoy and benefit from this work.

Please support the author, by spreading the word about this work to those who could benefit by it and encouraging them to obtain a personal license to enjoy the book. Image Credits: Royalty Free images reproduced under licence from various stock image repositories. Images produced under a creative commons licences are duly attributed. Books in the Our Amazing World Series Marine Life Four-Pack Dinosaurs Tigers Sharks Snakes Spiders Bears Horses Dolphins Sea Turtles Whales Penguins Marsupials Sharks Sharks are a type of fish. These fierce warriors of the sea have been around for over 400 million years. This makes them older than dinosaurs.

Anatomy Just like other fish, sharks have strong, streamlined bodies. Unlike other fish, sharks skeletons are not made of bone. They are made of cartilage. Cartilage is tough, yet light and flexible. This enables sharks to be great swimmers. Sharks also do not have scales.

Instead they are covered in spikes. Although sharks look smooth, their bodies feel rough, just like sandpaper. They have 5 to 7 pairs of gills on the sides of their heads that help them to breathe. Sharks livers are large, fat, and oily, helping them to keep afloat. Habitat Sharks are found in warm waters across the world. Most sharks prefer to live in the sunlit zone , which is the top 600 feet (180 meters) of the ocean.

This water is warm and flowing. Some sharks such as the Bull Shark may live in freshwater. Migration Sharks can easily change their habitat. They are known to swim thousands of miles to find food. They also migrate to mate and give birth. Sharks are cold-blooded.

This means that they do not have a constant body temperature. They take on the temperature of the water in which they live, so when it gets too cold for comfort, sharks will migrate to keep warm. Senses Sharks are said to be far-sighted. They are able to see better from a distance than close-up. Their eyes are sensitive to light. Their pupils open and close as the light changes, just like the pupils of humans.

This does not happen in most other fish. Sharks have excellent hearing. Sharks ears cannot be seen, as they are inside their heads. They can pick up low frequency sounds and vibrations. Electro-Sensors All animals emit electrical signals. Sharks have electro-sensors that can pick up these signals.

They are more sensitive to electrical signals than any other animal. These extraordinary senses are useful when hunting. They can detect electrical currents created by the muscles of other fish swimming in the ocean. Some sharks are able to sense tiny pressure changes created by injured fish struggling to swim. Jaws Sharks have awesome jaws. Their jaws are lined with several rows of teeth.

They may have thousands of teeth at a time. These teeth are made of bone. Sharks lose thousands of teeth during a lifetime. Their teeth wear out or drop off. When sharks lose teeth, other teeth will move up immediately from a back row to replace them. This is why shark teeth may be found washed up on beaches.

Feeding Most sharks are carnivores. This means they eat the flesh of other animals. Their food is called prey. Some sharks eat only plankton and small fish such as anchovies and sardines. These sharks eat a few times every day. Other sharks may choose to prey on bigger animals such as seals and other sharks.

These sharks can go for many weeks without food. Hunting Sharks use their excellent senses to hunt. Their best tool when hunting is their bodies. Sharks have strips of nerves along their bodies called lateral lines. These enable sharks to pick up scents, just like a hunting dog uses its nose. These giant noses can pick up not just the scent, but also the shape of the animal emitting the scent.

Sharks also have the ability to camouflage themselves. This means that they can blend in with their environment as they hunt. In this way they remain hidden, ready to pounce when the time is right. Shark Packs Most sharks swim and hunt alone. Hammerhead Sharks swim in packs or groups. They sometimes swim in groups of over 100 during the day.

At night they hunt for food alone. Baby Sharks Baby sharks are called pups. Some sharks hatch from eggs, like birds. Others grow inside their mothers, like humans. Sharks can have 1 to 100 pups at a time. Shark mothers look for safe places to lay their eggs or give birth.

However, they do not care for their pups after they are born. Black Tip Reef Sharks Black Tip Reef Sharks are found in the warm waters of the Pacific and Atlantic oceans. Clear black markings on their fins make them easy to spot. These sharks are not very large, but are aggressive and fast. Their favorite prey includes sardines and stingrays. Like dolphins and whales, they, too, are often found breaching or leaping out of the water.

Bull Sharks Bull Sharks are commonly found on tropical shores. They often travel inland and live in fresh water. Bull Sharks get their name from their short, blunt snout and tubby appearance. They are also known to head-butt their prey before they attack. Despite their appearance, these sharks are fast and agile. They eat anything they see.