Issue 12 -- LAND, SEA, & AIR MAIL

August 2001

Sharks! Do you know shark fact from fiction? August's LAND, SEA, & AIR MAIL explores the lives of these fascinating fish.

This month’s newsletters offers activities for K-3 and 4-8.

Younger students role-play sharks and explore the sense of smell. They also create a fingerprint craft about schooling behavior in fishes. Middle schoolers try to identify sharks using a dichotomous key and examine shark teeth.

Cool School

English Landing School in Kansas City, Missouri is "soaring to new heights" with their environmental programs. See how they have involved teachers and students in many different activities at school and in the community.

Teaching about the environment is not always easy. Do you know a teacher who's figured out a unique way to inspire students, communicate concepts, or encourage exploration? What about a school that has dedicated itself to a project? We want to hear about them. Use our easy entry form to nominate your favorite school or teacher.

Julie's Journal
Julie Scardina, SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Animal Ambassador, has trained and worked with many animals, from killer whales and dolphins to birds of prey. Get her inside tips on training in this month's entry of Julie's Journal.

Have You Seen This?

Take a virtual field trip to see sharks at the Field Trips website.

Scientists in Australia tagged and released a great white shark they named
Neale. See where this shark traveled on the CSIRO Marine Research web site.

The Enchanted Learning website has shark information targeted to grades 3 and above.

Catch-up with the latest shark shows on the Discovery Channel. The site also has a live shark cam.

Interested in the history of shark attacks? Check out the International Shark Attack File.

Go Environ-mental!

Sharks aren't cute and cuddly, but they are very important to our oceans. Sharks are the vacuum cleaners of the sea - they eat all of the dead and dying fish, making the ocean clean. They have a very strong immune system that allows them to eat diseased fish. However, sharks are hunted for their meat and their cartilage (which is what their skeleton is made up of), so they are quickly becoming an over-fished species. Here are tips for you to help save our sharks:

1.	Do not buy products made from sharks such as skins, cartilage, oil, etc.
2.	Many sharks lose their lives to make shark fin soup. The soup is made by capturing sharks, cutting off their dorsal fin, and tossing the animal back into the ocean to die.
3.	Most people don't care about sharks because they are afraid of them. Sharks do not attack humans because they are mean. Most bites are because they are confused by your appearance from beneath (you could look like a seal), or your smell (you could've swam through a fisherman's bait).
4.	Support shark studies by visiting research facilities or aquariums.

COMING NEXT MONTH

Next month is September and it's back to school. Many students study for specific jobs or careers. SeaWorld and Busch Gardens offers many zoological positions for those who love working with animals. September's LAND, SEA & AIR MAIL explores some of those careers and how students can get there.

Animal trainers have one of the most visible jobs within a zoological park, the one most people ask about, and one of the most difficult to get.

SeaWorld/Busch Gardens Animal Information Database
http://www.seaworld.org/ / http://www.buschgardens.org/