Site of the Week
Kingdom of the Seahorse http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/seahorse/
Seahorses are fascinating animals, and Kingdom of the Seahorse http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/nova/seahorse/ has a collection of information and pictures to help you find out all about them. This relatively small site accompanies a television documentary on seahorses, but it’s a great resource in its own right, featuring sections on seahorse biology as well as a lengthy and in-depth interview with a seahorse specialist. Amanda Vincent has worked with seahorses in Asia for some time, and the interview with her covers everything from their natural history, through to research and conservation work aimed at preserving populations in the wild. As well as the pictures spread though the text of the interview, the ‘seahorse roundup’ section features some small but particularly good photos of different seahorse species, while the seahorse basics section takes you through their main anatomical features. In the male, these include a few peculiarities. Seahorses are famous for their unusual reproductive arrangements, which are that the male is the one who becomes pregnant, and the one who gives birth. This is explained, along with a separate section called ‘Animal Super-Dads’, which looks at some other notable examples of paternal care in the animal kingdom, including poison-arrow frogs and emperor penguins. There’s also a links section, to point you in the direction of further seahorse information if you want to find out more.
Richard Northover
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