After taking its first steps into the kids’ entertainment biz with last year’s launch of Sea World Pictures, Sea World Parks & Entertainment has now entered the digital publishing space for the first time after inking a multi-year licensing deal with Connecticut-based app developer Ruckus Media to create digital storybooks based on SeaWorld’s animals, attractions and education and conservation efforts.

Targeting kids ages three to eight, the first three books in a series of storybook apps to be launched throughout 2012 are set to launch this spring and will be available on the iTunes App Store for mobile Apple devices.

A portion of the proceeds from the apps, which will feature Sea World’s killer whales, penguins and sharks, will be donated to the SeaWorld & Busch Gardens Conservation Fund – a non-profit charitable foundation that supports wildlife research, habitat protection, animal rescue and conservation education around the world.