Why Are Flamingos Pink?: Questions and Answers About Amazing Animals

By Luke Seguin-Magee, William Potter and Clare Hibbert

What is a "living fossil?" Can jellyfish live forever? What is the deadliest animal on the planet?

Find out the answers to these questions and much, much more in this fascinating fact book. With clear, engaging text and vibrant illustrations, kids can dive into the amazing animal kingdom in an accessible and engaging way. Perfect for children aged 7+.

ABOUT THE SERIES: Big Ideas! is a dynamic, high-energy "fun fact" series for children. Packed with surprising facts, stats, and records that kids will just love to share, this series really has the "wow" factor. It's like a roller-coaster ride for your brain!

• Language: English
• Publisher: Arcturus Publishing
• Release date: Sep 1, 2022
• ISBN: 9781398823655

Luke Seguin-Magee

Luke Seguin-Magee is an artist of children's books and comics. In the course of his career he has also designed, made graphics, illustrations and animations for computer games, websites and apps for a wide range of clients in Denmark, Canada and USA. He hails from Montreal, Canada, and now resides in Copenhagen and Stockholm. He studied fine art in Canada and multimedia design in Denmark. He is married with four children - ranging in age from 6 to 22.

Book preview

WHERE DO SHARKS LIVE?

There are around 375 species of shark. They live in all the world’s oceans, from icy polar waters to warm, tropical seas. They also live at all levels of the ocean, from the shallows to the deep.

ARE SHARKS SMOOTH?

A shark’s skin looks smooth—but if you stroked it the wrong way, it would feel like sandpaper. It is covered by tiny overlapping scales, called dermal denticles, that reduce drag. Throughout the shark’s life, old denticles drop off and are replaced by new ones.

DO SHARKS NEVER SLEEP?

Sharks never fall deeply asleep like humans. They need to keep swimming all the time to move water through their gills. They have resting times, though, when they let one half of their brain switch off.

HOW MANY TEETH DO SHARKS GROW IN A LIFETIME?

Sharks’ teeth are replaced every couple of weeks, so they are always in peak condition. They are arranged in rows in the mouth. As one tooth or row of teeth falls out, new ones move forward to take their place. Over their lifetime, sharks may grow and use over 20,000 teeth!

WHAT DO SHARK TEETH LOOK LIKE?

Shark teeth come in different shapes to suit their owners’ diets. Spearlike teeth are good for catching slippery fish and squid, while blunt teeth can crush shells. Great whites have triangular cutting teeth for slicing into seals.

WHICH SHARK HAS THE BIGGEST JAWS?

The great white has the largest jaw span. Its bite is three times as strong as a lion’s and exerts 20 times more pressure than a human bite can.

DO WHALES HAVE MELONS ON THEIR HEADS?

Toothed whales have a round mass of tissue on their foreheads called a melon. They use these for echolocation, mapping a picture of the ocean around them using sound waves to track and locate their prey.

ARE KILLER WHALES WHALES?

No! Orcas, sometimes known as killer whales, are actually a large species of dolphin.

HOW DO BUBBLES HELP WHALES HUNT?

Some whales trap their prey by blowing bubbles around them. The creatures can’t swim through the little pockets of air and get stuck in the bubble net.

HOW BIG IS A BLUE WHALE?

The blue whale isn’t just the biggest animal on Earth right now, it’s the biggest animal ever recorded! They are 25–30 m (82–98 ft) long, weigh 180 tonnes (198 tons), and their tongue weighs as much as a female elephant.

WHO ARE THE BIGGEST BABIES ON EARTH?

Unsurprisingly, this is also the blue whale. Known as calves, blue whale babies are bigger than most fully-grown animals, measuring 7.62 m (25 ft) long at birth. They also grow faster than almost any other animal, until they reach their enormous adult size at around 18 months old.

WHICH MAMMAL LIVES THE LONGEST?

The bowhead whale, a type of whale found in the Arctic, can live for more than 200 years.

DO DOLPHINS ONLY LIVE IN SALT WATER?

Most of them do, but there are also four species of river dolphin that live in freshwater rivers across South America and Asia. The Amazon River dolphin, sometimes called the boto or pink river dolphin, is easily recognized by its long beak and pink skin.

DO DOLPHINS HAVE A LOT OF TEETH?

It depends on the species of dolphin. Spinner dolphins can have over 200 teeth, which they use to catch and hold their prey. Risso’s dolphins can have as few as four teeth on their lower jaw.

WHAT IS THE MOST ENDANGERED DOLPHIN?

Māui’s dolphins, which live in the waters around New Zealand, are threatened by humans fishing and mining in their habitat. It’s estimated that there are only around 60 Māui’s dolphins left.