This top-selling series introduces the wild creatures of the world and examines the natural world. Good general introductions for ages 10+, these volumes contain the knowledge, personal experiences, and research of leading naturalists and scientists, accompanied by stunning photography. Unless otherwise noted (*), all volumes are sturdy paperback.

Well over 300 freshwater fish species found in the region’s rivers, lakes and dams feature in this fully revised third edition of Freshwater Fishes of Southern Africa. Updated and expanded, this definitive guide includes newly described species, the latest taxonomic changes, new photographs and illustrations, and updated distribution maps.

An in-depth introduction, supported by explanatory illustrations and photographs, covers:

• a short history of fish science in the region
• ecoregions in which species occur
• anatomy, biology and ecology of fishes
• human impacts on fishes
• conservation status
• new understanding of evolutionary relationships between different fish groups.

The book also includes:

• succinct descriptions of large taxonomic groups of fish, with global distribution charts
• detailed species accounts covering size, identification features, distribution, biology, ecology, conservation, and uses by humans
• full-colour illustrations and up-to-date distribution maps for each species.

An invaluable tool for anglers, students and academics in the field, and conservationists

Investigate shipwrecks where scorpionfish hide, dive down to the Mariana trench to meet a dumbo octopus, marvel at ocean giants and dart in between manatees in mangrove forests to find out why oceans are magnificently mega! Did you know lobsters keep their teeth in their tummies? Or that you can find rivers and lakes beneath the ocean? And did you know that sea stars have no brain or blood? Explore the wonders of our underwater worlds on every page, from coral reefs, sharks and the deep to shipwrecks, weird fish and frozen seas, there's so much to discover! With fun and colourful illustrations and bursting with facts, Do You Love Oceans? is perfect for readers who want to dive down and explore Earth's spectacular seas, discover the wildlife that lives there and find out why our oceans need protecting. Matt Robertson is the award-winning illustrator of Do You Love Bugs?, Do You Love Dinosaurs? and Do You Love Exploring?

Manatees are among nature's strangest-looking, gentlest animals. They're among America's most endangered mammals and were the basis for ancient tales of mermaids, legendary creatures that were half-fish and half-human.

For author M. Scotty Lamkin, a conventional lifestyle at a traditional job was a horribly mundane way to approach life. On January 16, 1979, he arrived in Alaska with fifty dollars in his pocket, two duffel bags, and a backpack. A long way from his Kentucky homeland, Lamkin journeyed to Alaska expecting adventure, and he was not disappointed. Chance Is the Providence of Adventurers narrates many of Lamkin's true-life escapades in Alaska's remote bush country.

In this half-travelogue, half-memoir, Lamkin tells the sometimes funny, sometimes deadly, stories of his experiences as a professional guide and adventurer-waking up a brown bear at close range, sinking a boat in frigid Alaska waters, crashing bush planes, throwing rocks at bears, and experiencing some of the most beautiful landscapes on Earth.

"Chance Is the Providence of Adventurers" offers a glimpse into the flavor of Alaskan life, provides a firsthand view of the wonders of untamed nature and wildlife, and demonstrates the results of taking a chance to change your life.

Pete the green sea turtle begins his morning floating in the endless, blue ocean. But this day in the warm, life-giving heat of the Florida sun will end in crippling tragedy. A passing boat strikes Pete, and his days of swimming free in the open ocean now appear to be over forever. How will Pete survive the life-threatening injuries he has sustained?

"A Home for Nickel" is the true story of a lovable green sea turtle's struggle for survival and the people who make it happen. After Pete is rescued from impending death, his story stretches across the continent from the Florida Keys to Hawaii, Canada, and Chicago, Illinois. Throughout Pete's journey, Jim Gamlin shares fascinating tidbits about turtles and the people who love them. This rich text is a moving tribute to those who care for nature, and how nature cares for them in return.

Join Pete as he begins his life buried under the sand, rushes to the ocean, and launches into his incredible journey. The chain of events that happen next are serendipitous and miraculous. Get ready to be inspired by this amazing shelled survivor.

In this intimate portrait of an island lobstering community and an eccentric band of renegade biologists, journalist Trevor Corson escorts the reader onto the slippery decks of fishing boats, through danger-filled scuba dives, and deep into the churning currents of the Gulf of Maine to learn about the secret undersea lives of lobsters.This P.S. edition features an extra 16 pages of insights into the book, including author interviews, recommended reading, and more.

Much can be learned about the condition of the planet’s environment by looking at sea turtles. They have existed for over 100 million years, and they travel throughout the world’s oceans. Suddenly, however, they are struggling to survive - largely because of things people are doing to the planet’s oceans and beaches. But what does this mean for the human species? It is possible that a world in which sea turtles cannot survive may soon become a world in which humans struggle to survive. If, however, we learn from our mistakes and begin changing our behaviour, there is still time to save sea turtles from extinction. In the process, we will be saving one of the earth’s most mysterious and time-honoured creatures. We might just be saving ourselves too. South Africa has played an active role in this, protecting its own seaturtle populations and researching turtle populations in neighbouring countries. An early pioneer in conservation techniques, South Africa has assisted many countries and researchers, and the sea turtles of south-east Africa are now extensively protected, with positive signs of recovery. Between the Tides tells this remarkable story, as seen through the eyes of the author, whose interest in sea-turtle research has taken him all over the world and involved him in exciting expeditions, scientific controversy, political unrest, the companionship of wonderful people, both scientific and conservationist, and survival by sheer luck. His lasting reward has been his association with beautiful beaches and the wonderful family of sea turtles.

The most comprehensive reference guide to the world's sharks-now fully revised and updated Sharks of the World is the essential illustrated guide for anyone interested in these magnificent creatures. Now fully revised and updated, it covers 536 of the world's shark species and is packed with colour illustrations, colour photos and informative diagrams. This comprehensive, easy-to-use reference guide incorporates the latest taxonomic revisions of many shark families, featuring many species that were only described in recent years. It also includes a completely revised and expanded introduction and updated line drawings throughout. Covers 536 shark species from around the world Features updated species accounts, illustrations and maps Gives an illustrated overview of shark biology, ecology and conservation Includes fin identification guides Provides a colour distribution map for every species

Go Fishing with Minnesota's Famous Identification Guide! Fishing is a perfect outdoors activity for all ages and skill levels, and the Land of 10,000 Lakes is an angler's paradise. Reel in fish, and make identifying your catches a snap. Now in its second edition, the Fish of Minnesota Field Guide by Dave Bosanko features detailed information about 81 species of Minnesota fish. When you're not sure what you caught, grab the handy guide and narrow your choices by family. Then identify your prize with the intricately detailed fish illustrations. Further verify the type of fish using the "Similar Species" comparisons. Book Features: Detailed information about 81 species Professional-quality illustrations-perfect for fish identification Fascinating facts on spawning behavior, feeding habits, and more Fishing tips and inside information for easily locating fishing hotspots Bonus resources such as state fishing records and answers to frequently asked questions This new edition includes updated information about everything from range to state records, as well as the inclusion of six new species. A new section on fishing tips offers pointers to help you catch more fish, and more information on invasive species can help prevent their spread. The Fish of Minnesota Field Guide is essential for every tackle box, beach bag, RV, and cabin. Plus, its convenient size makes it perfect for the dock or boat.

Fly fishing is complex and costly with too much cumbersome gear, right? Well, tenkara's different. Long overlooked in the West, tenkara is economical and simple, productive, and pleasurable This Eastern approach is today taking the fly-fishing world in North America and Europe by storm. Its tool kit is simple: a long, collapsible rod; a length of line tied to the end of the rod; and a fly. Without a reel, casting techniques become easy and intuitive. The gear is inexpensive and easily portable, perfect for hiking and camping. This pioneering book is an ideal guide to tenkara, covering the essentials of gear and rigging, the roots of tenkara, fishing dry flies as well as subsurface fishing and casting--as well as tenkara backpacking and tenkara for women. Tenkara has been the subject of features in Field & Stream, American Angler, and Fly, Rod & Reel magazines, and has been endorsed by the likes of Patagonia CEO and environmentalist Yvon Chouinard. Major retail outlets are now selling tenkara rods.

From the acclaimed author of Fragrance of Grass comes a meditation on water and nature, fishing and growing older. On the Water is a gorgeously written collection of essays that all take place on or near the water and pay tribute to the flora and fauna associated with those ecosystems. There are essays about the finer points of tickling rainbow trout in the streams of Normandy, and of eagles and ospreys fishing for bass while barely breaking the surface of the water. There are stories of droughts and floods, of dogs and boats, of worms and rattlesnakes and even of catching and cooking soft-shell turtles that taste like osso-bucco. There is fishing and diving in the Bahamas, tarpon fishing in the Florida Keys, and fly fishing for sailfish in Central America. And there are larger-than-life personalities that are bigger than the fish tales they tell! On the Water is a finely honed and well crafted collection of tales for the true sportsman and makes for a perfect companion volume to la Valdene's celebrated collection of essays on hunting.

An octopus expert and celebrated artist offer a deep dive to meet the enchanting inhabitants of the world's marine ecosystems. Have you ever walked along the beach and wondered what kind of creatures can be found beneath the waves? Have you pictured what it would be like to see the ocean not from the shore, but from its depths? These questions drive Janet Voight, an expert on mollusks who has explored the seas in the submersible Alivn that can dive some 14,000 feet below the water's surface. In this book, she partners with artist Peggy Macnamara to invite readers to share her undersea journeys of discovery. With accessible scientific description, Voight introduces the animals that inhabit rocky and sandy shores, explains the fragility of coral reefs, and honors the extraordinary creatures that must search for food in the ocean's depths, where light and heat are rare. These fascinating insights are accompanied by Macnamara's stunning watercolors, illuminating these ecosystems and other scenes from Voight's research. Together, they show connections between life at every depth-and warn of the threats these beguiling places and their eccentric denizens face.

Make identifying freshwater fish easy and enjoyable. This field guide by Dave Bosanko features detailed information about 87 types of Georgia fish, and the book's waterproof pages make it perfect for the dock or boat. Identify your catches with the intricately detailed fish illustrations, and verify them using the -Similar Species- comparison features. Then read fascinating facts on spawning behavior, feeding habits and more. Plus, match up your best catches against the state and North American records. With inside information for locating fishing hotspots, this book is essential for every tackle box, beach bag, RV and cabin.

A revealing and authoritative history that shows how Soviet whalers secretly helped nearly destroy endangered whale populations, while also contributing to the scientific understanding necessary for these creatures' salvation. The Soviet Union killed over 600,000 whales in the twentieth century, many of them illegally and secretly. That catch helped bring many whale species to near extinction by the 1970s, and the impacts of this loss of life still ripple through today's oceans. In this new account, based on formerly secret Soviet archives and interviews with ex-whalers, environmental historian Ryan Tucker Jones offers a complete history of the role the Soviet Union played in the whales' destruction. As other countries-especially the United States, Great Britain, Japan, and Norway-expanded their pursuit of whales to all corners of the globe, Stalin determined that the Soviet Union needed to join the hunt. What followed was a spectacularly prodigious, and often wasteful, destruction of humpback, fin, sei, right, and sperm whales in the Antarctic and the North Pacific, done in knowing violation of the International Whaling Commission's rules. Cold War intrigue encouraged this destruction, but, as Jones shows, there is a more complex history behind this tragic Soviet experiment. Jones compellingly describes the ultimate scientific irony: today's cetacean studies benefitted from Soviet whaling, as Russian scientists on whaling vessels made key breakthroughs in understanding whale natural history and behavior. And in a final twist, Red Leviathan reveals how the Soviet public began turning against their own country's whaling industry, working in parallel with Western environmental organizations like Greenpeace to help end industrial whaling-not long before the world's whales might have disappeared altogether.

Relating his experiences caring for endangered whales, a veterinarian and marine scientist shows we can all share in the salvation of these imperiled animals. The image most of us have of whalers includes harpoons and intentional trauma. Yet eating commercially caught seafood leads to whales' entanglement and slow death in rope and nets, and the global shipping routes that bring us readily available goods often lead to death by collision. We-all of us-are whalers, marine scientist and veterinarian Michael J. Moore contends. But we do not have to be. Drawing on over forty years of fieldwork with humpback, pilot, fin, and, in particular, North Atlantic right whales-a species whose population has declined more than 20 percent since 2017-Moore takes us with him as he performs whale necropsies on animals stranded on beaches, in his independent research alongside whalers using explosive harpoons, and as he tracks injured whales to deliver sedatives. The whales' plight is a complex, confounding, and disturbing one. We learn of existing but poorly enforced conservation laws and of perennial (and often failed) efforts to balance the push for fisheries profit versus the protection of endangered species caught by accident. But despite these challenges, Moore's tale is an optimistic one. He shows us how technologies for ropeless fishing and the acoustic tracking of whale migrations make a dramatic difference. And he looks ahead with hope as our growing understanding of these extraordinary creatures fuels an ever-stronger drive for change. For more information on Moore's book and research, please visit his webpage at the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution.

Falcon Pocket Guides are full-color, visually appealing, on-the-go guides for identifying plants and animals and learning about nature.