RSPB Spotlight Seals

RSPB Spotlight Seals
Author: Frances Dipper
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 226
Release: 2021-03-18
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1472971612

Seals are the sleekest and most agile of all marine mammals, and they are superbly adapted to the watery world in which they spend most of their time. With their whiskery dog-like faces, curious nature and vulnerable pups, they are enduringly appealing animals. Although air-breathing, seals are superbly tuned to hunt, sleep, mate and keep warm while out at sea, but they remain inextricably linked to land. In Spotlight Seals, Frances Dipper explores the intricate lives of the UK's native Grey and Common Seals and their amazing physical and behavioural adaptations to a life split between land and sea. She reveals the complex physiology that allows seals to dive deep and for long periods without coming to any harm. Once exploited for their meat and skins, seals now have protection around the British Isles. Their numbers are increasing, but they still face the danger of plastic litter in their environment. Dipper also explores age-old legends, interactions between humans and seals, and the best places to watch them in the UK. The Spotlight series introduces readers to the lives and behaviour of our favourite animals with eye-catching colour photographs and informative expert text.

Spectacular Britain

Spectacular Britain
Author: Kevin Sene
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 289
Release: 2024-01-18
Genre: Travel
ISBN: 184486636X

From the Northern Lights to whirling coastal birds, and sunken villages to the annual deer rut, the UK is home to some of the world's finest natural spectacles. With this guide and a little luck, you too can experience the magic of seeing something truly extraordinary. Start planning your spectacular year with the help of this practical guide to the UK's most magical natural phenomena. This guide shows you when and where to go, and how to maximise your chances of a sighting, as well as explaining why these amazing spectacles occur in the first place. Sections cover: - Space: meteor showers, eclipses and supermoons, Northern Lights - Weather: hidden currents, mountain waves, named winds - Tides: tidal bores, tidal races, low tide walks - Land: autumn colours, wildflower displays, rutting deer - Rivers and lakes: salmon runs, sunken villages, waterfall wonders - Coast: wheeling waterbirds, seabird cities, seal pups Each spectacle is graded according to how easy it is to spot, and the author gives expert tips on achieving the best sighting. Scientific insights describe the astronomical, meteorological and ecological causes of events, which are brought to life through the stories of the people who know them best, from the glider pilots who ride mountain waves to the King's Guides who help people navigate the dangerous sands of Morecombe Bay. This is your starting point for some truly phenomenal adventures.

RSPB Spotlight Seals

RSPB Spotlight Seals
Author: Frances Dipper
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 128
Release: 2021-03-18
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1472971639

Seals are the sleekest and most agile of all marine mammals, and they are superbly adapted to the watery world in which they spend most of their time. With their whiskery dog-like faces, curious nature and vulnerable pups, they are enduringly appealing animals. Although air-breathing, seals are superbly tuned to hunt, sleep, mate and keep warm while out at sea, but they remain inextricably linked to land. In Spotlight Seals, Frances Dipper explores the intricate lives of the UK's native Grey and Common Seals and their amazing physical and behavioural adaptations to a life split between land and sea. She reveals the complex physiology that allows seals to dive deep and for long periods without coming to any harm. Once exploited for their meat and skins, seals now have protection around the British Isles. Their numbers are increasing, but they still face the danger of plastic litter in their environment. Dipper also explores age-old legends, interactions between humans and seals, and the best places to watch them in the UK. The Spotlight series introduces readers to the lives and behaviour of our favourite animals with eye-catching colour photographs and informative expert text.

Elephant Seals

Elephant Seals
Author: Bernard J. Le Boeuf
Publisher: Cambridge University Press
Total Pages: 195
Release: 2021-10-07
Genre: Science
ISBN: 1316511545

In-depth documentation of the diving, foraging, and migratory behavior of a superlative marine mammal, based on 50 years of study.

Roly-Poly Round Seals!

Roly-Poly Round Seals!
Author:
Publisher: Pie International
Total Pages: 96
Release: 2021-08-03
Genre:
ISBN: 9784756254740

Round like a balloon! Ridiculously cute seals will make you happy! You've never seen animals as round as these seals! The three seals featured in this book, Arare-chan, Yuki-chan, and Moya-kun, live peacefully in Kaiyukan, an aquarium in Osaka, Japan. There, they have charmed visitors, including photographer Chiho Kuwata, with their chubby, round bodies and smiley faces. Kuwata started taking photos of the three seals in 2018. Her photos show the seals swimming leisurely looking relaxed, asking for food with their cute round eyes, sleeping adorably like round balloons, etc. This book showcases a selection of the best shots of Arare-chan, Yuki-chan, and Mayo-kun from Chiho Kuwata's huge photo collection in an appealing small, square format. Full of roly-poly round seal pictures, this charming little book is the perfect gift for your friends, family and loved ones.

RSPB Spotlight Snakes

RSPB Spotlight Snakes
Author: Jules Howard
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 130
Release: 2020-05-28
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1472971671

RSPB Spotlight: Snakes is packed with eye-catching, informative colour photos, and features succinct, detailed text written by a knowledgeable naturalist. Snakes are superbly secretive reptiles, celebrated by many for their highly tuned senses and their complex and mysterious seasonal behaviours. Though some people may be fearful of them, these important reptiles play a crucial role in many habitats. And an encounter with any one of our native snake species is an experience worth cherishing. In Spotlight Snakes, Jules Howard takes readers on a journey through the ecology and lifestyle of Britain's three native snake species: the Barred Grass Snake, the Smooth Snake and our only venomous snake species, the Adder. As well as uncovering their unique hunting styles and courtship rituals, he delves into the myths and legends at the heart of humankind's widespread and sometimes troublesome fascination with these animals. He also charts the conservation challenges our native snakes face in the modern age and explores the solutions conservationists are employing to help these extraordinary predators remain a vital part of British ecosystems for generations to come. The Spotlight series introduces readers to the lives and behaviour of our favourite animals with eye-catching colour photographs and informative expert text.

The Atlantic Walrus

The Atlantic Walrus
Author: Xénia Keighley
Publisher: Academic Press
Total Pages: 359
Release: 2021-06-17
Genre: Science
ISBN: 0128174315

The Atlantic Walrus: Multidisciplinary insights into human-animal interactions addresses the key dimensions of long-term human walrus interactions across the Atlantic Arctic and subarctic regions, over the past millennia. This book brings together research from across the social and natural sciences to explore walrus biology, human culture, environmental conditions and their reciprocal effects. Together, 13 chapters of this book reconstruct the early evolution of walruses, walrus biology, the cultural significance and ecological impact of prehistoric and indigenous hunting practices, as well as the effects of commercial hunting and international trade. This book also examines historic and ongoing management strategies and, the importance of new research methodologies in revealing hitherto unknown details of the past, and concludes by discussing the future for Atlantic walruses in the face of climate change and increased human activities in the Arctic. This volume is an ideal resource for those who are seeking to understand an iconic Arctic species and its long and complex relationship with humans. This includes individuals and researchers with a personal or professional connection to walruses or the Arctic, as well as marine biologists, zoologists, conservationists, paleontologists, archaeologists, anthropologists, historians, indigenous communities, natural resource managers and government agencies. - Provides succinct overviews of the biology of the Atlantic Walrus (Odobenus rosmarus rosmarus) as well as human cultures within the North Atlantic Arctic and the surrounding region by consolidating research which until now has been scattered across fields and academic publications - Editorial team of inter-disciplinary researchers ensuring the breadth, depth and integration of material covered throughout the volume - Thirteen chapters, each authored by leading international researchers and experts on the Atlantic Walrus - Considers the inter-relatedness and complexity of species biology, ecological change, human culture, and anthropogenic pressures onto the Atlantic Walrus, all while remaining accessible to readers from different disciplines or a more generalist audience - Draws upon the latest methods in marine mammal and archaeological research - Assesses historical management of the species, while also considering current and future conservation efforts in light of human activities and climate change - Text supported by striking and insightful new maps and scientific illustrations, ideal for teaching and outreach

The Marine World

The Marine World
Author: Frances Dipper
Publisher: Princeton University Press
Total Pages: 544
Release: 2016-04-29
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 0957394624

The marine world is an immense, three-dimensional living space inhabited by marine life that varies from the mundane to the bizarre. Its salty influence extends up river estuaries, over seashores and inland with brine-laden spray. The Marine World covers all those organisms that live in, on and around the ocean bringing together in a single text everything from the miniscule to the immense. With chapters on marine bacteria, plants, fungi and protozoa, as well as all the major groups of marine invertebrates, plus fish, reptiles, mammals and birds, it provides an insight into the existence and way of life of almost everything living in the ocean. Each animal or plant is found in its own particular place and The Marine World encompasses principal ocean habitats and ecosystems including open water, seashores, deep sea, coral reefs and many more. Written with clear, accessible text and illustrated throughout with photographs and detailed drawings, The Marine World provides in depth information to provide answers for each group on 'what?' 'where?' and 'how?', via sections on identification, distribution, structure, biology, classification and conservation.

RSPB Spotlight Hares

RSPB Spotlight Hares
Author: Nancy Jennings
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 206
Release: 2017-06-01
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1472933656

Spotlight: Hares is packed with eye-catching, informative colour photos, and features succinct and detailed text written by a knowledgeable naturalist. With their wild glare, swift turn of foot and secretive nature, hares are the rabbit's mysterious and untameable cousin. Always a thrilling wildlife spot, the hare has long been a symbol of Britain's sweeping, open countryside. Hares have also been associated with human culture and folklore for many centuries - their associations with spring can be traced back to the druids. Focussing on our two British species, the Brown Hare (found throughout the UK and widely distributed in Europe and Asia) and its more northerly relative the Mountain Hare (found in Scotland, Ireland, Scandinavia and the Russian Federation), RSPB Spotlight Hares offers exciting and up-to-date information on these incredible lagomorphs, with chapters covering their biology, evolution, natural history, behaviour, including courtship rituals, and ecology. Information on some of the more charismatic species of hare found elsewhere in the world and on hares' other relatives, the rabbits and pikas, is also provided. The author discusses in detail Hares' interactions with humans, in agriculture, habitat management, shooting and hunting, as well as in more culinary matters, and reveals why this almost mythical animal of hill and meadow is so sensitive to the changes we make to age-old farming landscapes. The presence and significance of hares in our culture is also discussed, including the Easter hare, Lewis Carroll's mad March hare, and hares as shape-changers. Nancy Jennings also offers useful tips on where and how to see hares for yourself in the wild.

RSPB Spotlight Ducks and Geese

RSPB Spotlight Ducks and Geese
Author: Marianne Taylor
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing
Total Pages: 215
Release: 2020-05-28
Genre: Nature
ISBN: 1472971663

RSPB Spotlight: Ducks and Geese is packed with eye-catching, informative colour photos, and features succinct, detailed text written by a knowledgeable naturalist. This is a detailed 'biography' of ducks and geese that breed in or regularly visit the UK – covering 30 species in all. It will include chapters on the evolution of ducks and geese, their place in the natural world, their anatomy and physiology, various feeding methods, spectacular courtship displays and diverse breeding behaviour. Marianne Taylor reveals their often epic migrations and examine their social interactions with their own and other species, including their unusual readiness to hybridise. She also details their relationships with humankind over the centuries, including their presence in folklore and literature and their role in our lives as both prey and pets. She explores their presence as feral and sometimes invasive species outside their natural ranges, and their current status within their native wild ranges as the group includes several species recently recognised as being of global conservation concern.