December 12, 2011

Here’s a cool idea. Daniel and his teacher, Ms. Vega, have created a game called "Fishing for Sharks." The paper sharks in the tank all have questions taken from my book. The student "catches" the shark on his fishing line, and answers the question about sharks.

Nice job, Daniel!

July 23, 2011

                    Want to see the world’s largest type of shark up close and personal? The Georgia Aquarium down in Atlanta has placed an underwater camera in their huge tank to give us a live feed of everything that’s going on. What will you see? Click on the pic below to see the live video stream and see if you can spot the following creatures:

The Whale Shark

Despite its name, this animal is a shark and not a whale.  But, it is considered the largest fish in the world.  (Remember: whales are not fish, they are mammals) It is mostly grey and its skin is marked with a checkerboard of pale yellow spots and stripes.

The Manta Ray

            The graceful swim of the manta ray is a beautiful sight indeed. These creatures flap and glide their way through the water with their wing-like fins that can span up to 23 feet long. The Georgia Aquarium has its very own manta ray called Nandi – learn more about her and her journey from South Africa to Atlanta here.

 The Sand-Tiger Shark

This shark looks scary because it has a mouthful of sharp teeth that protrude in all directions. However, the fish is not aggressive at all. It is the only shark in the world that can remain absolutely still in water as it waits for its prey (it’s desired fish food for the day!) to approach.

Golden Trevally

These bright yellow fish travel as part of large schools (large groups of fish). They are known to swim closely to sharks and other large fish, probably for protection from their predators (other fish that are hunting them). See if you can spot them in the tank!

 There are lots more fish in the tank – check out this page for the full list of creatures and see which ones you can see swimming around.

Interested in learning more about sharks? Find out more cool stuff in Seymour Simon’s book SHARKS.

Images: Georgia Aquarium

March 25, 2011

I very much enjoyed my Skype session this morning with some of the students at Cavallini Middle School in Upper Saddle River, New Jersey. They have been studying non-fiction writing, and 20 students were well-prepared with good questions. Nice job, and a great way to start my day!

I thought I’d share one of the answers with you. A student asked me: if I had not become a writer, what would I have done?

Thinking back to my studies, I always loved science. I fell in love with space first, and then animals. In college, I studied Behavioral Psychology, which is really the study of animal behaviors. If I had it to do all over again, I think I would have become a marine biologist. This is probably why I have written so many books about whales, sharks, dolphins, and even keeping saltwater aquariums!

I like doing Skype sessions because they allow me to connect with more students. I get many more requests for school visits than I can accept, as I need to spend at least some time at my desk, researching and writing books! If you are interested in booking me for a Skype session with your school, click on this link on my website to put in your request.

March 13, 2011

Noah from Hamilton, Ohio, wrote recently with a good question. He asked: "What is the biggest shark?"

I told Noah that the Whale Shark (Rhincodon typus) is the largest shark in the world. In fact, it is the largest living fish species.

Then, I suggested to Noah that he do some research and come up with some more interesting information about the whale shark. Here is part of what he wrote:

"I found a lot of good facts about Whale Sharks. One is they have no known predators. Another fact is they use their stripes and dots as camouflage through disruptive coloration." 

Noah is correct. "Disruptive coloration" is a common type of camouflage that we see in nature. The mix of different patterns (in the case of the whale shark, both stripes and dots) is thought to hide the overall shape of the animal’s body, making it more difficult to spot in the water.

When I say that a whale shark is big, I mean really BIG! The whale shark can grow as long as 41 feet and weigh as much as 15 tons.

 To understand just how large that is, look at this drawing from Wikipedia, which shows the size of a Whale Shark compared to the size of an adult human. These huge fish are found in tropical and warm water oceans, and have been known to live as long as 70 years.

There is no reason to be afraid of whale sharks. They are not predators; rather, they are slow-moving filter feeders.  Animals who are filter feeders simply open up their mouths and take in whatever food happens to be in the water, while filtering out the undesirable debris. Whale sharks feed mainly on tiny bits of food like plankton, as well as microscopic plants and animals.

If you want to read more about sharks, you can probably find one or more of my books in your school library. There is a Smithsonian book called SHARKS and a SeeMore Reader called INCREDIBLE SHARKS, which is also available en Español: TIBURONES FABULOSOS. Some of you may have ordered my book SHARKS: 3D from the Scholastic Book Club.

If you are wondering why I have written so many books about sharks, it’s because they are fascinating to me, just as they are to you!

Note to Parents, Teachers and Librarians: There is a free, downloadable Sharks Teacher Guide on my website, which I invite you to use to enhance the reading experience of students who are reading these books.

Whale Shark Photo: Zac Wolf

January 21, 2011

Ever wonder how the hammerhead shark can see where it’s going when its eyes are on the sides of its head? Marine biologist Dr. Michelle McComb of Florida Atlantic University has been studying hammerheads and she found that these strange-looking creatures have incredibly good binocular vision. “Binocular vision” simply means that you use both of your eyes at the same time and see one image. We humans have good binocular vision, too, at least straight in front of us. But hammerheads, with their widely spaced eyes, have clear binocular vision above, below and even behind themselves! That is very useful when your diet depends on catching fast-moving prey, and it is probably why the species evolved in this way.

Ironically, the only place that hammerheads don’t have great vision is straight in front of them. However, they have nostrils near each of their eyes, and Dr. McComb says they use “enhanced stereo smell” to make up for that blind spot.

Image: SharkDiving.us

August 11, 2010

There’s a fascinating story in today’s Science News.

An international team of scientists and a British University are building a new computer program that they believe will enable them to identify every great white shark on the planet. The University of Bristol is developing software that will automatically recognize and record individual dorsal fins of the most powerful predators that cruise the world’s oceans - the individual fins of great white sharks are as identifiable as our human fingerprints.

The project is based on the work of Swiss marine biologist Michael Scholl, founder and director of the White Shark Trust, who has spent a decade photographing over 1,500 great whites. He and his colleagues hope that once we have a record of the sharks and their territories, scientists will be able to develop a true record of how many great whites are out there and observe behaviors never before witnessed - like great whites mating or giving birth.

Look at this wonderful picture. This is Dr. Scholl trying to photograph a great white, who took a bite out of his camera!

June 9, 2010

We received a photo from last Saturday’s appearance at the New York Aquarium, along with this note from his mother:

"Conor met his favorite author at the NY Aquarium for the special events.  He was shy,  but he was glad to meet him.  He learned so much about sharks and other creatures from him. It was a great experience."

Thanks to Conor and everyone, children and adults, who came out to the FISH TALES day at the Aquarium. I enjoyed meeting all of you! Happy Fish Tales!

March 25, 2010

One of the most exciting things we saw at the CTIA Wireless convention this week was today’s Keynote address. The panel speakers included Aneesh Chopra (the White House Chief Technical Officer or CTO); Biz Stone (co-founder of Twitter) and James Cameron (director of AVATAR). 


When the moderator asked Cameron what is most on his mind when it comes to wireless, he (predictably) said "Be thinking about your 3D apps, because this stuff is coming."


Then Cameron said something that blew my mind - I don’t know why I didn’t think of this myself. He said that you don’t need 3D glasses for a single-viewer experience on a small screen like a smartphone. You simply tilt the screen until the image comes into 3D focus for you.

I’ve written ten 3D books for Scholastic Book Clubs, and they have been very popular with kids. The idea that I can do 3D phone apps, or 3D eBooks, is very exciting. For those reading this who are teachers, Scholastic’s Lucky Book CLub is featuring "See in 3D: SHARKS" and "See in 3D: UNDER THE SEA" this month, and will offer "See in 3D: WILD WEATHER" in their April 2010 flyer.

March 19, 2010

My grandson Jeremy never outgrew his love of dinosaurs and other prehistoric animals….in fact,  at 11 years old he is the one of the most knowledgeable people I know on this topic. The other night he was telling me about a recent discovery of Ice-age Fossils at the La Brea Tar Pits In Los Angeles, including the first intact skeleton of a mammoth. He knew the names of all the animals involved and many details of this important find.

This story,  from today’s Live Science news, is for Jeremy (and all the kids, both young and grown-up, who love dinosaurs). A shark attack that took place 4 million years ago has just been reconstructed from the extinct hunter’s fossilized victim - a dolphin.  Prehistoric Shark Attack Reconstructed

LiveScience.com: Ribs of a dolphin that lived some 4 million years ago shows bite marks made by the teeth of an ancient shark called Cosmopolitodus hastalis during an attack. Credit:  Giovanni Bianucci.