n LEARNING L I B R A R Y Creatures of the Waters Encounter fascinating animals that live in and around water CHICAGO LONDON NEW DELHI PARIS SEOUL SYDNEY TAIPEI TOKYO n i c ® a B r i t a PROJECT TEAM Charles Cegielski INFORMATION MANAGEMENT/ Judith West, Editorial Project Manager Mark Domke INDEXING Christopher Eaton, Editor and Educational Michael Frassetto Carmen-Maria Hetrea Consultant James Hennelly Edward Paul Moragne Kathryn Harper, U.K. Editorial Consultant Sherman Hollar Marco Sampaolo Marilyn L. Barton, Senior Production Michael R. Hynes Sheila Vasich Coordinator Sandra Langeneckert Mansur G. Abdullah Gene O. Larson Keith DeWeese Editors Michael I. Levy Catherine Keich Theodore Pappas Robert Lewis Stephen Seddon Anthony L. Green Tom Michael Mary Rose McCudden Janet Moredock EDITORIAL TECHNOLOGIES Andrea R. Field Steven Bosco Michael J. Anderson DESIGN Gavin Chiu Colin Murphy Steven N. Kapusta Bruce Walters Locke Petersheim Carol A. Gaines Mark Wiechec Indu Ramchandani (Encyclopædia Cate Nichols Britannica India) COMPOSITION TECHNOLOGY Bhavana Nair (India) ART Mel Stagner Rashi Jain (India) Kathy Nakamura Kristine A. Strom MANUFACTURING Design and Media Specialists Nadia C. Venegas Dennis Flaherty Nancy Donohue Canfield, Design Kim Gerber Megan Newton-Abrams, Design ILLUSTRATION Karen Koblik, Photos David Alexovich INTERNATIONAL BUSINESS Joseph Taylor, Illustrations Christine McCabe Leah Mansoor Amy Ning, Illustrations Thomas Spanos Isabella Saccà Jerry A. Kraus, Illustrations Michael Nutter, Maps MEDIA ASSET MANAGEMENT Jeannine Deubel ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, INC. Copy Editors Kimberly L. Cleary Barbara Whitney Kurt Heintz Jacob E. Safra, Laura R. Gabler Quanah Humphreys Chairman of the Board Dennis Skord COPY Jorge Aguilar-Cauz, Lisa Braucher, Data Editor Sylvia Wallace President Paul Cranmer, Indexer Jennifer F. Gierat Glenn Jenne Michael Ross, Mary Kasprzak Senior Vice President, Corporate Development ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA Thad King PROJECT SUPPORT TEAM Larry Kowalski Dale H. Hoiberg, Joan Lackowski Senior Vice President and Editor EDITORIAL Dawn McHugh Linda Berris Julian Ronning Marsha Mackenzie, Robert Curley Chrystal Schmit Managing Editor and Director of Production Brian Duignan Sarah Waterman Kathleen Kuiper © 2008 BY ENCYCLOPÆDIA BRITANNICA, INC. Kenneth Pletcher Jeffrey WallenfeldCtover photos (front): Robert Yin/Corbis; (back): Royalty-Free/Corbis. Cover insert photos (left): Royalty-Free/Corbis; (center): Royalty-Free/Corbis Anita Wolff International Standard Book Number: 978-1-59339-516-2 No part of this work may be reproduced or utilized in any form or by any means, electronic or mechanical, including photocopying, recording, or by any information storage and retrieval system, without permission in writing from the publisher. BRITANNICA LEARNING LIBRARY: CREATURES OF THE WATERS 2008 Britannica.com may be accessed on the Internet at http://www.britannica.com. (Trademark Reg. U.S. Pat. Off.) Printed in U.S.A. Creatures of the Waters I N T R O D U C T I O N How did the “dabbling duck” get its name? What fish can leap up waterfalls? Is a sponge a plant or an animal? What animals can live both in water and on land? To help you on your journey, we’ve provided the following guideposts in In Creatures of Creatures of the Waters: the Waters, ■ Subject Tabs—The colored box in the upper corner of each right-hand you’ll discover answers to page will quickly tell you the article subject. these questions and many ■ Search Lights—Try these mini-quizzes before and after you read the article and see how much—and how quickly—you can learn. You can even more. Through pictures, make this a game with a reading partner. (Answers are upside down at the articles, and fun facts, bottom of one of the pages.) you’ll learn about the great ■ Did You Know?—Check out these fun facts about the article subject. diversity of animal life With these surprising “factoids,” you can entertain your friends, impress found in waters around the your teachers, and amaze your parents. world. ■ Picture Captions—Read the captions that go with the photos. They provide useful information about the article subject. ■ Vocabulary—New or difficult words are in bold type. You’ll find them explained in the Glossary at the end of the book. ■ Learn More!—Follow these pointers to related articles in the book. These articles are listed in the Table of Contents and appear on the Subject Tabs. n LEARNING L I B R A R Y Have a great trip! © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. n i c ® a B r i t a © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. Creatures of the Waters TABLE OF CONTENTS INTRODUCTION . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 3 Salmon: Leaping Up the Waterfall . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 34 WATERBIRDS Sharks: Predators of the Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 36 Albatrosses: Forever Gliding . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 6 Ducks: Dabblers, Divers, and Perchers. . . . . . . . . . . . 8 MOSTLY MARINE MARVELS Geese: Fine-Feathered Travelers . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 10 Coral: Builders in the Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 38 Gulls: The Ocean’s Cleanup Crew . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 12 Deep-Sea Life: Flashing Lights!. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 40 Penguins: Well-Dressed Swimmers . . . . . . . . . . . . . 14 Jellyfish: Boneless Blobs of the Sea . . . . . . . . . . . . . 42 Swans: Birds of Beauty, Grace, and Speed . . . . . . . . 16 Mollusks: Shell-Dwelling Animals . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 44 Octopuses: Eight-Armed Wonders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 46 WATER-WISE AMPHIBIANS AND REPTILES Sponges: Plants or Animals? . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 48 Amphibians: The Land-and-Water Dwellers . . . . . . . 18 Frogs: Amazing Changing Amphibians . . . . . . . . . . 20 AQUATIC MAMMALS Alligators and Crocodiles: Modern Dinosaurs . . . . . . 22 Buffalo: Water-Loving Beasts. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 50 Anacondas: A Tight Squeeze . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 24 Hippopotamuses: Kings of the River . . . . . . . . . . . . 52 Turtles: Taking Their Time . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 26 Manatees: Mermaids of Yore?. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 54 Muskrats: The Town Builders . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 56 FRESH FISH! Walruses: The Whale Horses . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 58 Fish: Citizens of the Waters . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 28 Whales: The Biggest Animals of All . . . . . . . . . . . . . 60 Carp: The Fishy Survivor . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 30 GLOSSARY . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 62 Piranhas: Frightening Little Fish. . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 32 INDEX . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . . 63 n LEARNING L I B R A R Y © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. n i c ® a B r i t a H Which of the following can be said about an albatross? a) It spends most of its time on land. b) It eats other birds. c) It goes to land only to lay eggs. Albatrosses use their long wings to soar and glide on air currents. They can stay in the air for hours without flapping their wings. The black-browed albatross, shown here in flight, has a dark marking around the eye that makes it look as though it is frowning. © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. I L G H T S E A R C A L B A T R O S S E S e n The albatross is an amazing seabird. It spends most of its life soaring above the water. The only time albatrosses ever go ashore is when they lay eggs and raise their chicks. Groups (called “colonies”) of the birds build nests on isolated Antarctic islands. A single large white egg is laid in a bowl-shaped nest built from plants and soil. Sometimes the nest is just a patch of bare ground. A young albatross grows slowly. It takes at least four months for it to develop all the feathers it will need to fly. Once it’s able to fly, the albatross will spend the next five to ten years Scientists measuring an albatross’ wingspread. out at sea. The albatross can glide for © Wolfgang Kaehler/Corbis hours at a time, without flapping its long narrow wings. To stay in the air like this, it needs windy weather. In calm weather the albatross has trouble keeping its heavy body in the air, so it rests on the water and floats like a cork. It feeds on small squid and fish. But it will also follow fishing boats and eat scraps that are thrown overboard. DID YOU Some kinds of albatrosses are brown, but most of them are white KNOW? with some brown or black markings on their bodies or wings. Albatrosses are the largest of all flying birds. In fact, the wandering In the past, albatross has the largest wingspread among living birds. The wings of sailors believed albatrosses had a wandering albatross can measure 11 feet from tip to tip. special powers. Albatrosses live very long lives and are one of the few species of They believed birds that die of old age. that killing the bird would bring LEARN MORE! READ THESE ARTICLES… bad luck. DUCKS • GULLS • PENGUINS 7 © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. er G l i v d i © Peter Johnson/Corbis Answer: c) It goes to land only to lay eggs. ★ o F r g H Unscramble these words A male wood duck is easily identifiable by his that have to do purple and green head, his reddish-brown breast with a duck. flecked with white, and his bronze sides. wsmimre © Gary W. Carter/Corbis nblbiadg dlwaed 8 © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. I L G H T S E A R DID YOU KNOW? Ducks make their feathers waterproof by rubbing oil on them. They get the oil from special glands on their chests and rub it on their feathers with their bills. C D U C K S a v e Ducks are champion swimmers and are at home almost anywhere near water. Some feed and nest in streams and ponds. Others live near deep wide lakes. Some make their homes on rocky cliffs by the ocean. There are three kinds of ducks: “Dabbling ducks” put their heads underwater to eat plants that grow there. This way of feeding is called “dabbling.” They build their nests in hollows near the water. There they also eat plants and insects found near the shore. Dabbling ducks can fly very fast. “Diving ducks” dive deep down into the water to find things to eat. They mostly eat fish. They are very strong swimmers. “Perching ducks” make nests in trees and hold on to the branches with their long-clawed toes. This is called perching. Some may perch on the tall stalks that grow over marshy ponds. All ducks are graceful fliers and swimmers. But on the ground they waddle from side to side, moving slowly in a funny, jerky way. You usually don’t see a duck waddling too far away (Top) A dabbling gadwall duck; from water. (bottom) young girl holding a fluffy In winter many ducks fly south, where the duckling. water is warmer and there’s more to eat. But icy cold water doesn’t bother them. A thick inner layer of soft fluffy feathers called “down” keeps them warm. And their bigger outer feathers help too. They’re waterproof. Feathers are a duck’s raincoat. Every year ducks lose their old feathers, and new feathers grow in. This is called “molting.” Until the new feathers grow, ducks can’t fly. So they hide in the grass or on the water to keep safe from enemies. LEARN MORE! READ THESE ARTICLES… GEESE • GULLS • SWANS 9 © 2008 Encyclopædia Britannica, Inc. D D i © Roger Wilmshurst—Frank Lane © Royalty-Free/Corbis Picture Agency/Corbis Answer: wsmimre = swimmer nblbiadg = dabbling dlwaed = waddle ★ b l e rs, e , h a c n d Per b s r r s