Introduces the sea horse by describing its habitat, behaviors, and physical characteristics including its prehensile tale.

Introduces the sea horse by describing its habitat, behaviors, and physical characteristics including its prehensile tale.

A fascinating journey with the sea creature that has captured human imagination for thousands of years Poseidon's Steed trails the seahorse through secluded waters across the globe in a kaleidoscopic history that mirrors man's centuries-old fascination with the animal, sweeping from the reefs of Indonesia, through the back streets of Hong Kong, and back in time to ancient Greece and Rome. Over time, seahorses have surfaced in some unlikely places. We see them immortalized in the decorative arts; in tribal folklore, literature, and ancient myth; and even on the pages of the earliest medical texts, prescribed to treat everything from skin complaints to baldness to flagging libido. Marine biologist Helen Scales eloquently shows that seahorses are indeed fish, though scientists have long puzzled over their exotic anatomy, and their very strange sex lives — male seahorses are the only males in the animal world that experience childbirth! Our first seahorse imaginings appeared six thousand years ago on cave walls in Australia. The ancient Greeks called the seahorse hippocampus (half-horse, half-fish) and sent it galloping through the oceans of mythology, pulling the sea god Poseidon's golden chariot. The seahorse has even been the center of a modern-day international art scandal: A two-thousand-year-old winged seahorse brooch was plundered by Turkish tomb raiders and sold to the Metropolitan Museum of Art in New York. A book that is as charming as the seahorse itself, Poseidon's Steed brings to life an aquatic treasure. Seahorses lead quiet lives, tucked away out of sight on the seafloor. It is rare to catch a glimpse of a seahorse in its natural habitat. But even if few have seen one live, these exotic, seemingly prehistoric creatures exist quite vividly in our imaginations and they have mesmerized scientists, artists, and storytellers throughout time with their otherworldly rarity. Poseidon's Steed is a sweeping journey that takes us from the coral reefs and seagrass meadows of Indonesia where many seahorses makes their natural habitat to the back streets of Hong Kong where a thriving black market seahorse trade is concealed. Throughout history, seahorses have surfaced in some unexpected places and Scales also follows the seahorse back in time, from our most rudimentary seahorse imaginings six thousand years ago on cave walls in Australia, to the myths of ancient Greece. Scientists have long puzzled over seahorses' unusual anatomy and their very strange sex lives. And male seahorses are the only males in the animal world that experience childbirth! Seahorses are not what scientists call a "keystone" species. They rely on a healthy ocean to survive, but the marine ecosystem does not rely on them. But their delicate beauty reminds us that we rely on the seas not only to fill our dinner plates, but also to feed our imaginations.

The Looking Into series of science resource books enables the teacher to develop an integrated theme using a specific topic. These worksheets provide information, varied activities and simple practical experiments which are easily done in the classroom.

Meet the seahorse! Learn about how this ocean animal eats tiny zooplankton. Elementary-aged readers will discover how seahorses use camouflage to hide from predators. Full color images and clear explanations highlight the habitat, diet, and lifestyle of these fascinating sea creatures. A Mexican folktale explains how the seahorse became a fish.

In the female empowering world of Terrene, a world very much like our own, but where young girls can have real power, a new story has arisen. Set on the beautiful Queensland coast in northeast Australia, four thirteen-year-old girls - and a boy this time - are all riders of the waves: they each have the power to call up a seahorse drawn from the crystal blue waters of the Coral Sea. But a life on the ocean waves leaves them all at sea when Petra Kerr, the Oil Baroness, starts pumping illegal oil in the area, threatening the precious ecosystem. It’s up to twins Melbourne and Sydney Fisher, Indonesian cousin Memberi Bambang, and friends Adelaide Brewer and native Australian Darwin Tonkin, to find a way to stop her. Their safe plan seems to be working - until Petra Kerr learns who they are, and decides to stop them before they can stop her. Like its predecessor Cloud Fighters, this is a top-of-the-line story aimed at middle-graders and young teens.