Few living things can survive the harsh conditions of the Antarctic region. One plump animal that can is the weddell seal. This unique creature lives farther south than any other mammal. How does it survive? Biologist Terrie Williams has spent the last 25 years making trips to Antarctica to find out. In Weddell Seal: Fat and Happy, kids follow Williams as she studies how this amazing, uncommon animal weathers the most extreme conditions. Large, full-color photos and a narrative text will keep readers turning the pages for more.
Two polar explorers are out to solve a mystery: Where is their special seal, Patches? Scientists Roxanne Beltran and Patrick Robinson set off on a polar adventure, traveling to Antarctica to study the lives of Weddell seals. By finding Patches, a wily seal they’ve been tracking since its birth, they’ll be able to learn a lot about how much the seals get to eat and how many pups they raise. A Seal Named Patches takes young readers into the world at the very bottom of the globe, where they meet the extraordinary animals that live in cold, icy conditions. Through breathtaking photos and real-life stories, young readers will learn about how scientists do fieldwork, the challenges of researching animals in harsh climates, and even what it’s like to fly a helicopter over Antarctica. This engaging story will especially entertain and educate children in grades K-2 (ages 5–8.)
For more than 50 years, the Weddell Seal Science project has been studying the world’s southernmost breeding mammal in its farthest-south location, McMurdo Sound, on the ice-bound edge of Antarctica. This book explores the life history of Weddell seals — surprisingly approachable big-eyed, smiling-faced creatures — and details the science of studying them: the techniques, the motivations, the objectives, and the results. Although science is at the heart of the book, this is also an adventure story about scientists living in a remote field camp, far out on the sea ice, surrounded by glaciers, where you can feel the ocean pulsing beneath your feet. Seals are all around, penguins walk through camp, the weather can be exquisitely beautiful or too severe to step outside. Simply being there would be a wonderful experience on its own but in this case the objective is science — a deeper understanding of our endlessly fascinating planet.
Research scientists camped at the desolate McMurdo Dry Valleys of Antarctica studying the local lakes and streams are one day surprised to find a young Weddell seal in their midst. Tired and hungry, and perhaps lured by the smell of the group's cheeseburger dinner, the young male is a long way from his natural habitat on the sea ice of McMurdo Sound. Bound by the Antarctic Conservation Act, the scientists know they cannot provide it with sustenance, but instead contact seal scientists who, after some thought, decide they can provide assistance so the seal can return to the sea ice. The seal gets the ride of its life back to its natural habitat, and the scientists name one of their newly found streams to commemorate their unlikely campmate. Published in cooperation with the Long-Term Ecological Research Network, which is funded by the National Science Foundation.
This thorough revision of the classic Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals brings this authoritative book right up-to-date. Articles describe every species in detail, based on the very latest taxonomy, and a host of biological, ecological and sociological aspects relating to marine mammals. The latest information on the biology, ecology, anatomy, behavior and interactions with man is provided by a cast of expert authors – all presented in such detail and clarity to support both marine mammal specialists and the serious naturalist. Fully referenced throughout and with a fresh selection of the best color photographs available, the long-awaited second edition remains at the forefront as the go-to reference on marine mammals. - More than 20% NEW MATERIAL includes articles on Climate Change, Pacific White-sided Dolphins, Sociobiology, Habitat Use, Feeding Morphology and more - Over 260 articles on the individual species with topics ranging from anatomy and behavior, to conservation, exploitation and the impact of global climate change on marine mammals - New color illustrations show every species and document topical articles FROM THE FIRST EDITION "This book is so good...a bargain, full of riches...packed with fascinating up to date information. I recommend it unreservedly it to individuals, students, and researchers, as well as libraries." --Richard M. Laws, MARINE MAMMALS SCIENCE "...establishes a solid and satisfying foundation for current study and future exploration" --Ronald J. Shusterman, SCIENCE
The tropical paradise of Hawaii is home to the rarest seals in the West. Hawaiian monk seals look cute and chubby as sleek crescent rolls. But they’re born with Olympic-level diving ability to go deep as submarines. Look inside All About North American Hawaiian Monk Seals to read and learn about this mysterious creature so endangered that only 1,200 remain in the wild. Monk Seals is one of 18 books in our Animals Around the World series. Each title is beautifully illustrated with large, close-up photographs. Be sure to check out all 18!
Published by the American Geophysical Union as part of the Antarctic Research Series, Volume 78. The seas surrounding Antarctica are the least-studied on Earth, yet they figure prominently in both the global climate system and the biogeochemical cycling of such key elements as C, N, Si, and P. The Southern Ocean affects climate directly through the sinking of surface waters via cooling and changes in salt content. Such water near Antarctica moves slowly northward through all major ocean basins. In doing so, it retains a long-lived signature of the physical and biological processes that occurred in Antarctic surface waters lasting many hundreds of years through all phases: sinking, northward flow, and mixing or upwelling into the sunlit ocean thousands of kilometers away. By this process, CO2 that dissolves into the Antarctic seas may be stored in the deep ocean for centuries. In fact, the Southern Ocean is one of the most important regions on Earth for the uptake and subsurface transport of fossil fuel CO2.
An up-to-date synthesis of comparative diving physiology research, illustrating the features of dive performance and its biomedical and ecological relevance.
