Page 47 - World of Animals - Book of Sharks & Ocean Predators

Great white sharks
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Why sharks should Nearest
neighbours
be left alone The great white shares its ocean

home with countless other
Great whites and humans have shared a chequered past. amazing marine species
Their fearsome features, gigantic size and fierce array of teeth,
alongside fictional films such as Jaws, have painted a rather poor
picture of these misunderstood fish. Although shark bites do
happen, they are very rare. In 2013 there were 53 unprovoked
shark attacks in the USA, two of which were fatal. Compared
with the amount of people in America who swam in the sea
throughout the year, that number is very small.
The truth is that sharks don’t want to eat us. We aren’t fatty
enough for their nutritional needs and we have too many bones
to digest. Shark attacks on humans don’t usually conform to
the usual hunting strategy of the great white – ambushing and
rushing the prey from beneath. If they really did believe we were Coral
Forming massive offshore reefs,
their food, shark attacks would probably be much more common.
the great white is a frequent visitor
Despite this, shark culls to protect public safety are in effect in to these ecosystems. Coral is made
some areas of the world. For example, in Western Australia shark up of tiny invertebrate animals that
culls began in January 2014 and more are expected to happen live in colonies and secrete a hard,
calcium-carbonate skeleton.
after the region was given an exemption from the Environment
Protection and Biodiversity Conservation Act to kill great white
sharks. As this species are so slow to reproduce and grow, culling
could have catastrophic impact on breeding populations of these
majestic animals.

Squid
A Pelagic dweller alongside the great
white, squid species live in the top
layers of the ocean right down to the
depths. They move by jet-propulsion
from their siphon, reaching up to 40
kilometres (25 miles) per hour.

“Their fearsome
features have helped

paint an undeservingly Seals
The favourite meal of the great
negative picture of a white, seals, alongside sea lions
and walruses, live on shorelines
misunderstood fish” across the world and are full of fatty,
blubbery goodness – just how the
sharks like it.

In our culture
Sharks have captured many imaginations, cropping
up in blockbuster films and even sports
Jaws Bruce in Disney Pixar’s
Responsible for many people’s Finding Nemo
shark fears, Steven Spielberg’s Finding Nemo went some way to
1975 thriller follows the story of a portray great whites in a better
killer shark on the loose around light, with Bruce’s mantra being
the beach resort of Amity Island. “fish are friends, not food”.
Bony fish
The Devil’s Teeth Symbol of strength The great whites share their watery
by Susan Casey The shark tooth has long been realm with thousands of species of
This aims to tell the truth about used as a symbol of male bony fish – from ocean-going giants,
the great whites of California’s strength and masculinity shoals of tiddlers along the shore
Farallon Islands, as well as the shark tooth necklaces came to and brightly coloured exotic species
scientists studying them.
prominence during the 1970s. teeming in the reefs.
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