Wild Animal Facts 4 KIDS:

THE WONDERFUL WORLD OF SHARKS! Sharks are amazing fish that range in size from 7 1/2 inches to 411/2 feet. Unlike the fish you usually catch, which have bony skeletons, sharks have cartilaginous skeletons that are flexible. Skates, rays and dogfish also have cartilaginous skeletons. Fossils show that sharks have swam the oceans for about 400 million years—long before dinosaurs ruled the planet! Sharks—Up Close and Personal!

The Wildlife World Aquarium just keeps getting bigger and better. Recently, a few female zebra sharks joined the other male zebra shark inhabitants of the Predator building’s main attraction, a 60,000-gallon shark reef tank. The massive saltwater display with its three large viewing panels (one across from the stingray touch tank and two inside the main dining room at the Tiburón Aquarium Restaurant) also holds a white tip and several black-tip reef sharks as well as a variety of reef fish.

As their name implies, black-tip sharks have black tipped dorsal fins. They also have the classic torpedo-like body shape that most of us think of when we think, shark!

With a name like zebra shark, you might expect those animals to have stripes! Well the answer is, they do and they don’t. Actually, zebra sharks are named for the appearance of their young, which are brown with white stripes. As Wildlife World visitors can attest, adult zebra sharks look very different from their namesake—they are mostly tan with brown spots—no stripes at all. Zebra sharks may grow to 10 feet or more and have a distinctively long tail.

Despite their pop culture reputation as man-eating monsters, these and all species of shark have much more to fear from humans, than vice versa. Many species like the zebra shark have relatively small mouths that are positioned on the bottom of their heads. This adaptation allows them to feed only on small sea creatures found living on reefs and along the ocean floor such as shrimp, urchins, crabs and small fish.

Today, many species of shark are on the verge of extinction due to overfishing and habitat loss. As one of the top predators of the sea, healthy shark populations are vital to the long-term survival of our oceans because they help to keep the populations of prey animals in balance. So be sure to check out these and other species of sharks on display at the Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium.

Take the True/False Test to see what you know about sharks!

1. Sharks have been around for only about 1 million years.
2. Sharks have the most powerful jaws on the planet.
3. Sharks keep their same teeth for a lifetime.
4. Almost all sharks are carnivores or meat eaters.
5. The smallest sharks tend to be the most harmless.
6. Sharks can have from 1–100 babies at a time, and their babies are called pups.

Answers at the bottom of the page!

Open All Holidays!

Wildlife World Zoo & Aquarium, in Litchfield Park, is open seven days a week, 365 days a year, including all holidays. Zoo exhibits are open from 9 a.m. to 6 p.m. (last zoo admission is at 5 p.m.) Aquarium exhibits are open from 9 a.m. to 9 p.m. Daytime admission includes access to the zoo and aquarium. Special reduced evening Aquarium-Only admission is available after 5 p.m.

Discount coupons available: www.BearEssential News.com

Teachers...

Schedule your end of the year field trips for your students now and receive special discount pricing for your class and adult chaperones. A field trip will complement any biology curriculum at any grade level. Admission includes access to scheduled lory parrot feeding. Wildlife encounter shows, children’s play area and petting zoo. Lesson plans available online. Call now to reserve your field trip 623-935-9453. www.wildlifeworld.com/educators/outreach.

Answers: 1)F, In some form, sharks have been around for 400 million years; 2) T; 3) F, A shark may grow and use over 20,000 teeth in its lifetime; 4) T; 5) F, The largest sharks tend to be most harmless, 6) T

www.wildlifeworld.com

Is Shaq Sinking Suns?

There's a new big man in town; the Phoenix Suns are betting he's the spark they need to win the playoffs.

One of the biggest stars in the NBA universe, Shaquille O'Neal, is now wearing purple and orange. And both Shaq and the Suns have a lot to prove. Shaq, who just turned 36 and has endured knee and hip injuries, wants to show he's still a big force in the NBA. His critics say that the Diesel is too old and too slow for a high-octane, blazingly fast team like the Suns.

During the regular season, the Suns are one of the toughest teams in the West. And while fans love the Suns' exciting and high-scoring brand of basketball, led by two-time League MVP point guard Steve Nash, the team has never won the NBA Finals.

The Suns believe that Shaq is the piece that's been missing. At 7 feet 1 inch tall and 325 pounds, Shaq gives the Suns a true center who grabs rebounds, plays tough defense and passes the ball well. Up till now, Amare Stoudamire has been stuck playing center for the Suns, even though he's really one of the best power forwards in the game. With Shaq in at center, Stoudamire is freed up to do what he does best!

"Psychologically it really helps us out. Guys are much more willing to go to the boards and fight around the basket with Shaq in there," explains Head Coach Mike D'Antoni.

Fans love Shaq's superstar qualities. The big guy has won four NBA Finals and was MVP for three of them! But the Suns have lost their winning ways since Shaq started playing on Feb. 20. In the trade for Shaq, the Suns gave up All-Star forward Shawn Marion, who said he wanted to be traded at the beginning of the season. For years, Marion had been a clutch scorer. As of press time, the Suns have won just two of their last six games and have fallen to fifth place in the Western Conference. Fans wonder whether it's growing pains with the big guy or could it be a bad fit?

'Doomsday Vault' Opens for Business!

SVALBARD ARCHIPELAGO, Norway-Imagine a bank that's so far north that polar bears outnumber the people living there! The bank is located on Norway's Svalbard archipelago just 620 miles from the North Pole. As you may have guessed, it's cold there. During winter's around-the-clock darkness, temperatures can fall to -22° Fahrenheit.

The bank was blasted into the side of an arctic mountain and has reinforced concrete walls to help protect its valuable deposits from natural disasters, global warming and even a nuclear explosion. Welcome to the Svalbard Global Seed Vault-also called the "Doomsday Vault" by the press!

You can find seedbanks all over the world. Native Seeds/SEARCH is a seedbank here in Arizona. Its mission is to protect the diversity of local seed used in farming and their wild relatives. "We have nearly 2,000 varieties in our seedbank, mainly corn, beans and squash," explains Carolyn Owens, who works on grants for the seedbank. "Just like the seedbank in Norway, the seeds need to be kept cold, so they're stored in a freezer," she says. Seeds for the bank come from southwestern states and northern Mexico.

Seedbanks help protect our food supply from the "what ifs" in life-like what if there's drought; what if a disease attacks a certain kind of wheat, or what if global warming changes what can grow around here?

Modern farming has led to fewer and fewer varieties of crops. This has brought about many varieties of food crops being lost forever, and Owens says it's alarming. "It's just more cost effective to grow a single variety...but you don't know what disease is going to come along down the road," she says. A disease could wipe out an entire variety of a crop, leading to food shortages. But if there are enough other seed varieties, like wheat for instance, one of those types of wheat may turn out to be resistant to the disease.

Owens points out that a lot of seedbanks are in politically unstable areas like Somalia, Afghanistan and Iraq, and have been looted or destroyed. In the Phillipines, a flood wiped out the country's seedbank.

That's why the Svalbard Global Seedbank was created-to protect the diversity of seeds no matter what happens in the world. Countries can "deposit" different varieties of seeds. If a disaster jeopardizes crops, the country can make a "withdrawal" of seeds.

The vault was built by Norway at a cost of about $3 million. Because seeds are so small, the "Doomsday Vault" can hold up to 2 billion seeds!