Leatherback Turtles, Giant Squids, and Other Mysterious Animals of the Deepest Seas

* Reviews *

Probably from the first time a person peered over the side of a crude boat, humankind has been fascinated with the deep oceans. Whats down there? How far down is the bottom? What all lives down there? Certainly, Jules Verne focused on this question with his imaginative Twenty Thousand Leagues Under the Sea, published in 1869. History was definitely made in 1930 by William Beebe and Otis Barton when they explored in depths of over a thousand feet in a steel submersible bathysphere. But it seems that the more scientists know, the more they want to know and the deeper they want to explore. This book, part of the Extreme Animals in Extreme Conditions series, discusses the conditions and challenges of deep water life, animals that make deep habitats their home and ocean dwellers that may visit. What are temperatures like? How far down can sunlight go? How does sound travel in water? One especially intriguing question is where does the water come from? The book is stuffed with information about living under extreme conditions: predator-prey interaction, dealing with frigid temperatures, and water pressure. It also introduces the young reader to new vocabulary words: endotherms (animals that make their own heat), benthos organisms (animals living on the sea floor), nektons (animals that swim powerfully enough to overcome water currents) and so on. Especially interesting is the feature about leatherback sea turtles, the largest sea turtle, which can dive deeper than any other. The book includes a hands-on activity, chapter notes, glossary, book list, internet sites and index., Children's Literature