Stay-at-home Read-aloud: Shark Patrol, by Ron Hirschi, illustrated by Tammy Yee

Fisheries biologist Ron Hirschi reads from our new book, "Shark Patrol," that follows the S.S. Scoutabout on its voyage in the Pacific to learn about sharks! Perfect read-aloud for kids curious about the ocean.

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Ocean Literacy Day at the Waikiki Aquarium

Join me at the Waikiki Aquarium for Ocean Literacy Day this Saturday, Sept. 14 from 9am to noon. The focus will be on sharks, so I'll be displaying my hammerhead shark painting and a few other ocean-related original watercolors from my children's books...and I'll bring along some fish origami for the keiki. Fellow children's book illustrators Elizabeth Oh and Ruth Moen Cabanting will also be showing some of their paintings.

There will be keiki arts and crafts, storytelling and more as books about the ocean come to life with costumed characters. Shark experts from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) and Pacific Islands Ocean Observing System will also be on hand to teach families about shark biology and how scientists track them during research.

Sponsored in part by Aqua Hotels and Resorts and NOAA.


http://www.waquarium.org/news-events.html

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Hawaiian Monk Seal Recovery Plan

The National Marine Fisheries Service (NMFS) proposes moving weaned female monk seal pups to mainland Hawaiian Islands, where there are less predators, to improve the survival rate of sexually mature females:

"According to NMFS, 60 to 90 percent of NWHI (North West Hawaiian Islands) seals die by the age of three. However, research has shown that MHI (Main Hawaiian Islands) seals do well, with 60 percent surviving to adulthood. Jeff Walters, of the NMFS, said a reason for this could be that there are less predators and competitors on MHI."

Read the full article here, detailing concerns the local community has on the impact relocating seal pups may have on fishing:The Molokai Dispatch~Save Our Seals

Locals swim alongside KP2, an abandoned monk seal pup raised by humans

KP2's friendliness was of concern. Officials worried his playfulness might injure people as he matured.

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freaky frogs...the Surinam toad

The Surinam toad is one nature's most unusual creatures. It's actually a frog, which spends its entire life cycle in tropical South American rivers and canals.

With its flattened body and triangular head, it can easily be mistaken for leafy debris while waiting patiently for a meal to swim by--unsuspecting fish, worms and bugs are sucked into its large mouth with surprising speed.




What makes them unique is their reproduction. After the female lays her pea-sized eggs, the male places them on her back and pushes them into her spongy skin. The eggs incubate as mom's new skin slowly develops and covers them, keeping them safe and out of sight.





Eventually the eggs hatch inside the skin pockets, and the babies develop through the tadpole stage. In 70 to 120 days, fully formed froglets pop out of mom's back!







Here's a video of a Surinam "toad" giving birth:







©2009 Tammy Yee
All rights reserved.

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national geographic: pacific barreleye fish

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Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008

Clash of eagles, Poland. By Antoni Kasprzak, Wildlife Photographer of the Year 2008.



An adult Southern Right Whale, (Eubalaena australis) encounters a diver on the sandy sea bottom at a depth of 22-meters off the Auckland Islands, New Zealand. Photograph by Brian Skerry.



Snowstorm leopard winner of the Gerald Durrell Award for Endangered Wildlife. Photograph by Steve Winter.



Sub-adult male black crested macaque, Indonesia. Phoptograph by Stefano Unterthiner.



A critically endangered Morelets tree frog, Agalychnis moreletii, battles for its life with a cat-eyed snake. Chiquibul Forest Reserve, Belize. Photograph by David Maitland.

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have a cosmic new year...

Supernova 1987A in the Large Magellanic Cloud


V838 Monocerotis

NASA Hubble Telescope views of a space phenomenon called a light echo. Light from a star that erupted nearly 5 years ago continues propagating outward through a cloud of dust surrounding the star. The light reflects or "echoes" off the dust and then travels to Earth.

Eta Carinae

On the brink of destruction,
Eta Carinae is highly unstable and prone to violent outbursts. The last of these occurred in 1841, when despite being over 10,000 light years away, Eta Carinae briefly became the second brightest star in the sky.

Eagle Nebula

Appearing like a winged fairy-tale creature poised on a pedestal, the Eagle Nebula is actually a billowing tower of cold gas and dust rising from a stellar nursery. The soaring tower is 9.5 light-years or about 90 trillion km high, about twice the distance from our Sun to the next nearest star.

Reflection Nebula NGC 1999

In the constellation Orion.

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