ACTIVITY BOOK
SAVERS Shark Savers was founded by divers who came to know and love sharks. Their mission is simple: save sharks. Shark Savers programs empower people to make a difference and take a stand in their communities worldwide. Join Shark Savers at www.sharksavers.org, like us on Facebook and follow us on Twitter.
REEF Blacktip Reef Sharks are one of the most common reef sharks throughout the Indo-Pacific and can be found cruising through shallow water. They are very important alive to dive tourism, but are threatened by inshore fisheries and destructive reef fishing such as reef bombing.
GREAT SHARK Great White Sharks have torpedo-shaped bodies that are streamlined with powerful tails that propel them at estimated speeds of 15-20 miles per hour. As an element of surprise when hunting, they often breach, sometimes leaping entirely out of the water.
THE Sharks are cleverly colored to blend into their surroundings, like camoflauge. The dark pattern of a Wobbegong Shark blends with coral and rocky reefs, and Great White Sharks have counter-shading, a dark top and light bottom. When a Great White is below its prey, it blends in with the ocean depths; when it s above, it blends in with the light of the surface.
A Sharks and their relatives have been around a very long time: over 450 million years. Dinosaurs lived 230 million years ago and died out 65 million years ago, and yet sharks survived, adapted and evolved through 5 major extinctions.
SCRAMBLE Some species of sharks have very high brain-to-body-mass ratio, a typical standard of measurement for intelligence. Shark intelligence is estimated to be like mammals and birds. Studies have shown that sharks can learn through experience and use their knowledge to adjust their behavior.
THE Sharks live in all the oceans of the world. Some stay in shallow waters and do not travel very far, some live very deep in the ocean, and others like to migrate, traveling far distances across open ocean. Bull Sharks can even survive in fresh water.
SHARK Sharks come in all shapes and sizes. Some are large like the Whale Shark, and some are small like the Dwarf Lantern Shark, who only reaches about 6 inches in length. Mako Sharks are torpedo-shaped while Angel Sharks have flat bodies, with eyes on top of their head and pectoral fins splayed out like wings.
SHARK Sharks have an abundance of teeth. They shed old teeth continuously. New teeth are formed in consecutive rows, so as one falls out, another is rotated forward to take its place. A Tiger Shark may lose as many as 30,000 teeth in a lifetime.
MAZE Sharks use their electrosensors to navigate the oceans. They are able to sense electrical currents by moving across the Earth s electromagnetic fields, serving as a map. Some sharks make migrations thousands of miles long, just to return to the same exact spot they left months earlier.
SCRAMBLE As apex predators, sharks keep the ocean ecosystem in a healthy balance. They control the populations of other fish species by removing weak and sick ocean animals, ensuring that only the fittest and strongest survive to reproduce.
A The Bull Shark is able to live in both salt and freshwater. They have been found in some lakes and miles up rivers. Most sharks can only live in saltwater because they cannot control the salt in their body when the amount of salt changes in the water where they swim. But Bull Sharks have evolved to handle just that.
THE Fossilized shark teeth are very important for scientists to study prehistoric sharks. Shark skeletons are made of cartilage and do not fossilize well, therefore the teeth are often the only parts of the shark to survive as fossils.
SHARK Sharks have unique receptors in their head known as the Ampullae of Lorenzini, which are filled with a jelly-like substance that lets the shark feel tiny changes in electric currents. This is known as electroreception, and this sixth sense allows sharks to find prey in the dark or buried in the sand.
SHARK Most sharks have to swim continuously with their mouths open to move water across their gills to breathe. But some species of sharks, like Nurse, Angel and Leopard Sharks, have developed special muscles that pump water over their gills, allowing them to rest on the ocean floor.
SCRAMBLE Sharks need our help! Because of overfishing, sharks are now in danger of going extinct. Join Shark Savers and find out how you can help sharks!
SHARK Shark Savers is a non-profit organization founded by divers who witnessed the decline of the oceans and sharks. Shark Savers: Educates people about why sharks are important to healthy oceans Campaigns to end shark fin soup consumption Works to create sanctuaries and other protections for sharks and rays Leverages the grassroots power of the diving and conservation communities to save sharks Please help sharks. Donate at: www.sharksavers.org/donate www.sharksavers.org 2012 Shark Savers Inc. All rights reserved.