As has been repeatead a million times before the shark is not an indiscriminate predator out to kill anybody that so much as dips their toe in the sea, Jaws was but he was plastic and designed to sell cinema tickets. The reality is that the shark occupies a vital role in the ecology of the seas by removing the weakest, the sick and the dead so that the fittest survive, the shark is evolution in action, the epitome of natural selection.
There is no shark that naturally feeds on man, sharks' natural prey range from plankton through carrion to seals and marine mammals, but NOT man. It is only in the last 100 years that man has extensivly gone in the water for pleasure and the last 1000 that he has extensivly gone to sea, not long enough or frequent enough to become prey except during cases of mistaken identity or opportunistic feeding.
I'm not saying sharks don't attack humans but many of the attacks that have taken place have been due to a combination of factors. There are several factors attributed to shark attack, these include, stimulation of feeding, being mistaken for a sharks natural prey, provocation etc. There is no need for the gung ho wipe them from the seas attitude that some people such as Australian shark killer ? Hislop. His attitude is to kill every great white he can in his locality, despite the best scientific opini on he claims that White populations are on the increase and are a constant threat to man despite the fact that it takes 15 years for it to mature and then it only gives birth to one perhaps two (nobody knows thats the problem) so it is impossible for th em to replace the population as they are being killed faster than they can replace themselves. This can actually lead to an increase in the local concentration of white sharks, with fewer predators an imbalance in prey occurs, drawing in more Sharks into the viciuos circle. A simular cycle has been observed by shark / seal studies in Faralon Island in California. (incidentally these guys go weeks frequently without observing an attack on the seals they are studying)
"Big sharks are growing harder to catch every year and anglers must be content with even a bantam weight"
The fact is that even people in groups where there is a high risk of getting attacked e.g. surfers in California, spearfishermen etc. there is a better chance of being killed in a road accident. Cold comfort for those diving in waters where dangerous s harks are known. When diving in Egypt it was always at the back of my mind that where we were diving there had been several sightings of 5m tiger sharks.
A lot of myths have been built up about sharks over the years in the west. In parts of the world where sharks are ever present and sedom attack whole religions have grown up around shark gods, e.g. in the solomon islands where the shark god is known as "takw manacca" (phoeneticly written). As late as the the early 1900s solomon islanders were still (and could still be covertly ;-) making human sacrifices to takw manaca. Less religious myths exist about sharks, as already mentio ned they are not mindless killers, there is much evidence that Whites can make decisions as to attack strategies when attacking its main prey, seals & sea lions and even change its method of attack midway. Another popular misconception is that all sharks have to continually swim to breathe and to just stay afloat. As we will see later this is not true for all sharks, many that were previously thought to need this have been observed lying still for long periods of time, a classic example are the so called "sleeping" tiger sharks in gulf of mexico sea caves. All sharks have no swim bladder like a fish to control bouyancy, instead they have large livers taking up to 75% of their body weight making many sharks close to neutral bouyancy. Pelagic sharks often have large pectoral fins which act as wings to provide lift, so really a shark is not like most bony fish, a sort of underwater airship, instead they are streamlined underwater airplanes.
More on Myths - Myths About the Great White - Drew's Page in Us
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