Dive deep into the world of sharks, the most fascinating and misunderstood marine animals on the planet, in this stunning new edition of The Shark Handbook, written by Shark Week expert, Dr. Greg Skomal. Did you know that a whale shark's spots are as unique as a fingerprint? Or that sharks can go into a trance when flipped upside down? Or that the Megallodon's mouth was 6 feet across? With The Shark Handbook, jump into brand new facts about these fierce sea creatures! Explore all of the orders of sharks, such as: - Ground sharks - Great white sharks - Mackerel sharks - Carpet sharks - and more! Learn about over 400 profiles of every shark in existence, from the first sharks living about 445 million years ago to the ones lurking in the ocean deep today. Starring spectacular, full-color photography that makes these jaw-dropping sharks come to life, this is the perfect gift for the shark enthusiast in your life. Dr. Greg Skomal, PhD is an experienced aquarist and Marine Fisheries Biologist at Martha's Vineyard Fisheries, Division of Marine Fisheries, Massachusetts. He's been keeping saltwater aquariums since childhood and has shared his extensive knowledge with viewers of National Geographic, the Discovery Channel, NBC's Today, and other media.

Seaweed is so familiar and yet its names - pepper dulse, sea lettuce, bladderwrack - are largely unknown to us. In this short, exquisitely illustrated portrait, the Dutch poet and artist Miek Zwamborn shares her discoveries of its history, culture and use, from the Neolithic people of the Orkney Islands to sushi artisans in modern Japan. Seaweed troubled Columbus on his voyages across the Atlantic, intrigued von Humboldt in the Sargasso Sea and inspired artists from Hokusai to Matisse. Covering seaweed's collection by Victorians, its adoption into fashion and dance and its potential for combating climate change, and with a fabulous series of recipes based around the 'truffles of the sea', this is a wonderful gift for every nature lover's home.

Tony Hutson illuminates the nocturnal world of bats and examines how they have adapted to habitats in every corner of the world. Beginning with the fossil record and what it reveals about their relationship to other mammals, Hutson discusses their unique aerodynamics and their extraordinary feats of echolocation. He discusses their life cycle, diet and foraging strategy, breeding, roosting, and migration patterns as well as their predators, parasites, and man-made threats to their ecosystem. Bats are long-lived mammals which can form enormous colonies containing tens of millions of creatures, a concentration of mammals paralleled only by human cities. Topically, the book looks at the viruses harboured and tolerated by bats and their impact on humans. The book also contains an appendix of bat families and subfamilies and gives details of the number of genera or species, distribution, size, roost habitat and diet.

A transporting exploration of the deep sea, and how our planet’s strangest, most ancient and astonishing creatures have urgent relevance to cutting-edge science today.

Hundred-year-old giant clams, coral kingdoms the size and shape of cities, and jellyfish that glow in the dark: ocean invertebrates are among the oldest and most diverse organisms on Earth, seeming to bend the rules of land-based biology. Although sometimes unseen in the deep, these incredible spineless creatures contain 600 million years of adaptation to problems of disease, energy consumption, nutrition, and defence.

Marine ecologist Dr Drew Harvell takes us diving from Hawaii to the Salish Sea, from the Caribbean to Indonesia, to uncover the incredible underwater ‘superpowers’ of spineless creatures: we meet corals many times stronger than steel or concrete, sponges who create potent chemical compounds to fight off disease, and sea stars who garden the coastlines, keeping all the other nearby species in perfect balance. As our planet changes fast, the biomedical, engineering and energy innovations of these wondrous creatures hold ever more important secrets to our own survival.

The Ocean’s Menagerie is a tale of biological marvels, a story of a woman’s passionate connection to an adventurous career in science and a call to arms to protect the world’s most ancient ecosystems.

Lizards of the World is ultimate book on these fascinating creatures, featuring the all the different types of lizard worldwide. As survivors from the time of the dinosaurs, lizards are scaly, cold-blooded, living fossils - relics from a prehistoric world that remain alive and well in ours. Lizards exert a morbid fascination, in many mythologies they are dark creatures, symbolizing death and misfortune. From chameleons and skinks to geckos and iguanas, Lizards of the World brings these creatures firmly into the light, to reveal their extraordinary diversity Found in almost every type of terrain globally, there are almost 6,500 species of lizard, including lizards with frills, horns or wings, those that drop their tails, and others that squirt blood from their eyes. Here, the lizard family and subfamily profiles, organized phylogenetically, are illustrated with stunning photography. Each profile includes a population distribution map, a table of essential information and a fascinating commentary revealing notable characteristics, fresh scientific understanding and the diversity of species. Written by world-renowned herpetologist Mark O'Shea, Lizards of the World is a magnificent showcase of the natural history and beauty of these remarkable reptiles.