CLOSURE: Central Library will be closed Tuesday, July 21, through Saturday, July 25, while emergency repairs are made to the building’s cooling system. We expect to reopen Monday, July 27. Click for more details on holds, program schedules, and returns during the closure. 

Notice of Public Meeting: Kalamazoo Public Library Board of Trustees | July 27 | 5:30 pm | Central Library/Van Deusen Room. The packet of information for the meeting can be found on the library’s website. 

Book

The secret history of sharks : the rise of the ocean's most fearsome predators

Call Number

  • 597.3 L8488 (CEN)

Browse similar titles by call number

Edition

First edition.

Publication Information

New York : Ballantine Books, [2024]

Physical Description

viii, 467 pages : illustrations ; 25 cm

Summary

"From ancient megalodons to fearsome Great Whites, this is the complete, untold story of how sharks emerged as Earth's ultimate survivors, by a world-leading paleontologist. Sharks have been fighting for their lives for 500 million years and are under dire threat today. They are the longest surviving vertebrate on Earth, outlasting multiple mass extinction events that decimated life on the planet. How did they thrive so long? By developing superpower-like abilities that allowed them to ascend to the top of the oceanic food chain. Yet they often found themselves in the shadows of larger, more formidable killers-and they not only survived, but also took their crown as the king of the sea. The Secret History of Sharks is the thrilling story of sharks' unparalleled reign. Because of recent technological breakthroughs scientists' understanding of sharks has taken a quantum leap forward in the last decade. John Long has been on the cutting edge of this research and in this masterwork weaves a fully updated and unexpected tale of shark's extraordinary evolutionary adventure. Along the way, The Secret History of Sharks introduces an enormous range of incredible organisms: a thirty-foot-long shark with a deadly saw blade of jagged teeth protruding from its lower jaws, a monster giant clams crusher, and bizarre sharks fossilized while in their mating ritual, and also includes startling new facts about the mighty megalodon, with its sixty-six-foot-long body, massive jaws, and six-inch serrated teeth that allowed it to dismember baleen whales. The book showcases the global search to discover sharks' secret history, led by Long and dozens of other extraordinary scientists. They embark on digs to all seven continents, investigating layers of earth to reveal never-before-found fossils and the clues to sharks' singular story. With insights into the threats to sharks today, how sharks contribute to medical advances, and the lessons sharks can teach us for our own survival, The Secret History of Sharks is a thrilling story of scientific discovery with ramifications far beyond the ocean"--

Contents

  • Part 1. The first sharks. Hunt for the secrets of sharks
  • The enigmatic oldest shark fossils
  • Sharks become predators
  • Sharks' armored rival
  • Part 2. Sharks rule. The first golden age of sharks
  • Swamp sharks
  • Rise of the buzz-saw sharks
  • Part 3. Sharks under pressure. Sharks and the great dying
  • The Jurassic rise of modern sharks
  • Sharks go larger
  • Part 4. The age of the megasharks. Sharks after the impact
  • Ascent of the superpredators
  • Megalodon
  • Part 5. Sharks today. White shark
  • Sharks and humans
  • Epilogue: The wisdom of sharks.

Subjects