Prehistoric Sharks - by Steve White & Charlene Da Silva (Hardcover)

About the Book

Book Synopsis

The ultimate illustrated resource to fossil sharks, from the buzzsaw sharks to Megalodon.

Crossing the line between natural history and pop culture, modern sharks have captured the public imagination like few other animals. Now, Prehistoric Sharks blends richly detailed palaeoart and cutting-edge science to bring their ancestors to life.

Sharks, and their relatives the rays, are truly ancient: 200 million years older than the earliest dinosaurs. Their fossils reveal an incredible array of often bizarre animals, some that are hard to imagine as sharks at all: from the anvil-headed sharks and the giant mega-toothed sharks to freshwater species with bodies like eels and others with wings like flying fish.

Celebrating 40 fossil sharks and rays, Prehistoric Sharks will take you into a world you may be completely unfamiliar with. Fascinating text from scientist and shark expert Charlene da Silva covers everything we know about these weird and wonderful species, and each account is accompanied by vibrant, energetic full-colour illustrations by palaeoartist Steve White, showing the animals in their natural habitats as they may have swum, mated, hunted and fed.

Packed with exciting information, this book plugs the gap in what most wildlife enthusiasts, dinophiles and even shark-lovers know about the history of this mighty undersea group.

About the Author

Steve White has worked in the comics industry for 35 years as editor, writer and artist. He was editor of Titan Books' Dinosaur Art series, co-editor of the hugely successful Mesozoic Art and Mesozoic Art II, and has a lifelong passion for sharks.

Charlene da Silva is director of Shark Resources Research at the Department of Forest, Fisheries & Environment in South Africa. Author of numerous papers on sharks and rays, she has conducted extensive research on these species and their ancestors.