Myths about Sharks

Myth: Sharks eat Humans Fact: Most sharks do like meat but fish, squid, seal, porpoise, or whale make a shark’s perfect meal. Some sharks, like the giant whale and basking sharks, only eat tiny plankton. Some sharks can go days or weeks without eating at all. Contrary to public perception, sharks attack less than a hundred people a year on average. Often the attacks are accidental and are rarely fatal. In fact, more people are killed each year by dogs, lightning, and even falling soda machines and coconuts than by shark attacks!

Myth: Shark Attacks are Common Fact: In the Us there is only 1 fatal shark attack per year, whereas humans kill over 100 million sharks per year. Fact: a person's chance of getting attacked by a shark is 1 in 11.5 million, and a person's chance of getting killed by a shark is 1 in 264.1 million.

Myth: All sharks species attack humans Fact: Of the more then 350 shark species, about 80 percent are unable to hurt people or rarely encounter people. the great white, tiger, bull and the oceanic whitetip, are the only Species that usually attack.

Shark Safety Avoid the water at dawn, dusk, or night, when sharks tend to feed. Avoid areas where sharks generally locate themselves, such as murky waters and steep drop-offs. Don't swim alone, always be near a group of people, and if possible, avoid being at the edge of the group. Obey instructions from lifeguards and other authority. It is known that when dolphins are seen, sharks are usually nearby.

Shark Finning Sharks are being driven to the brink of extinction due to a huge increase in demand for their fins over the last 20 years. The practice of Shark Finning is an extremely cruel one, where the animals are caught, their fins are cut off and they are thrown back to sea for a slow, painful death.

Ways to Help Sharks don't eat shark fin soup! Talk to your friends about shark fin soup and remember: Friends don't let friends eat shark fin soup! Don't patronize restaurants that serve the dish. Very often people are unaware of the effect that their eating habits have on the environment. If you see any of the typical "man bitten by shark" news items on TV, contact the TV station and ask them to produce a news item about shark finning. Remember - only about 10 people a year are killed by sharks, but 3 sharks are killed every second by humans.

Myth: Sharks are Plentiful Fact: Many shark species are endangered because of pollution, loss of habitat, and excessive fishing in their environments. Furthermore, the loss of sharks imperils many ocean ecosystems since sharks play a key role in culling sick animals and keeping other populations in check.

Myth: Sharks Need to Keep moving to breathe Fact: All sharks do need water moving over their gills to breathe, but some species can pump water over their gills by opening and closing their mouths while resting.

Myth: All sharks can smell Blood from Miles away Fact: Some sharks do have a highly developed sense of smell, which helps them hunt in the dark and detect their prey. Other sharks don’t depend on their sense of smell for foraging. All Sharks use the Ampullae of Lorenzini nodes on their noses to detect the electromagnetic fields that all living things produce.

Myth: Sharks Have poor vision Fact: Sharks' eyes, which are equipped to distinguish colors, employ a lens up to seven times as powerful as a human's, and some shark species can detect a light that is as much as ten times dimmer than the dimmest light the average person can see.

A diver with a huge, Docile Whale Shark ampullae of lorenzini on a shark’s snout

Created and Designed by Bonnie Sizer Bonnie.sizer@gmail.com Cut out images on two previous pages, and display next to matching info sheets Do not print this sheet or the following Sheets. Created and Designed by Bonnie Sizer Bonnie.sizer@gmail.com Resident Assistant – Colorado State University See pictures on next slides

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