You scared of sharks?
In reality, you have more chances of being struck by lightning than being bitten by a
shark.
Still, sharks do have a bad rap, even though they’re not horrible as people think.
They’ve even been known to save people!
Here’s my list of why I think sharks are cool!
1.
They keep the ecosystem in balance.
Because of excessive hunting, there are fewer sharks around the world.
People hunt them to get ingredients for things like shark fin soup or shark cartilage pills,
without realizing that not enough sharks means not enough oxygen for us all to breathe.
What's the connection?
Sharks feed on smaller fish, and smaller fish feed on phytoplankton – tiny organisms that
live in the seabed.
Phytoplankton consumes carbon dioxide, releasing oxygen.
Without sharks, there’ll be too many fish eating the plankton.
It all boils down to one thing –a lack of oxygen.
2.
They help cure diseases.
Scientists are continuously studying these fascinating creatures, leading to medical
breakthroughs.
They’re especially interested in shark DNA, and the possibility that it holds a cure for
tumors, since their genes, in some way, protect sharks against them.
What’s more, researchers found a special compound called squalamine in dogfish sharks'
tissue that can fight various chronic infections in humans.
Likewise, sharks’ skin has unique antibacterial properties, which inspired scientists to invent
a special surface-coating called Sharklet.
Sharklet mimics the diamond pattern of shark skin and is used in hospitals to reduce the
risk of infection.
3.
They inspire design innovations.
Great white sharks can move at a speed of up to 25 mph.
The secret is in their denticles – small, flat, V-shaped scales.
These scales significantly lessen drag force and turbulence.
Olympian swimsuit designers did their best to duplicate the sharks’ denticles, creating
a fabric that makes swimmers sleeker and faster in the water.
The shark’s fin also became a huge inspiration for inventing new technology for clean energy.
One Australian company made a device that captures tidal energy from the ocean, and
converts it into electric power with minimal environmental impact.
4.
They might improve planes and cars.
A 2018 Harvard University study suggests that these unique denticles on sharks’ skin can
also help to create more efficient planes and cars.
The team of engineers found out that they increase lift.
Lift is the force that pulls a plane up when the pressure of the air on the top of the
wing is less than the pressure of the air under the bottom of the wing.
So, by incorporating 3D-printed images of the denticles on the wings, engineers hope
to make them more aerodynamic.
They can also be used for vortex generators – a small vane attached to the top of the
rear windshield of a car, which increases the downforce of a vehicle.
5.
They prevent global warming.
As you already know, the shark population is declining.
This means that there are much more turtles, crabs, and stingrays.
And their favorite food is seagrass.
But seagrass is a vital part of the blue carbon ecosystem, which captures and stores carbon
40 times more efficiently than tropical rainforests.
That’s why, without sharks, the marine creatures keep eating the seagrass, disrupting the blue
carbon ecosystems, and releasing ancient carbon.
This has the same effect as the greenhouse gas emissions from cars that destroy the ozone
layer, leading to unpredictable and harmful climate change.
6.
They make people richer.
People are scared of sharks, but they’re also fascinated by these majestic predators.
And over the last two decades, this fascination has turned into a thriving ecotourism industry.
The desire to get close to sharks pays off really well – it brings millions of dollars
to the economies of the Bahamas, South Africa, the Galápagos Islands, Australia, and many
other coastal places.
Shark diving tourism is especially popular, and it boosts local businesses, like diving
companies and boat rentals.
Hey, would you dare to try shark diving?
I’ve done it!
Let me know in the comments!
7.
They can save people.
Back in 2010, a 41-year-old man from Kiribati, an island country in the central Pacific Ocean,
got carried away into open waters on a wooden boat.
He was stranded out there with almost no water or fuel for 105 days.
No one knows how long his ordeal would’ve lasted had it not been for one shark.
Just when he’d lost all hope, a miracle happened.
He woke up to the sounds of a huge shark bumping his boat - the animal was circling it into
the direction of a ship.
The people on the ship saw the lonely man in the boat and helped him reunite with his
family.
The man was deeply thankful, not only to those people, but to the smart shark too.
8.
They can be your friend.
A diving instructor from Port Macquarie, Australia, has been buddies with a female Port Jackson
shark for over half a decade.
The man met his friend when the shark was just a pup.
At first, he approached the shark carefully not wanting to scare her off.
Pretty soon she got used to him and let him pat, and even cradle her.
After that, the two became regular friends.
The shark always recognizes the man and demands hugs at each visit.
He doesn’t want his story to encourage others to take risks around these marine creatures,
but he hopes people will stop seeing them as only aggressive attackers.
If you’re still not convinced that sharks are pretty cool, then get ready to hear some
amazing shark facts that’ll blow your mind!
Not all shark species live in the ocean.
You can also see them in some freshwater lakes and rivers.
For instance, bull sharks swim in tropical rivers, but they also don’t mind dipping
their fins in saltwater.
Rivers in the areas of New Guinea, Australia, and South Asia are home to river sharks.
Sharks are famous for their sense of smell, but their acute hearing is also pretty impressive.
They can hear as far as 800 ft away.
They’re even able to catch the sound of their prey tensing its muscles.
Tiger sharks aren’t fussy eaters.
They’ll settle for pretty much anything that happens to be in the water, including
barbie dolls, car license plates, tires, and rubber boots.
No wonder these sharks have the nickname “garbage can of the sea”.
The sharks’ skeleton isn’t made of bones.
It consists of only cartilage and muscle, which is much less dense than bones.
That’s why they’re such great swimmers, and can make sharp turns thanks to their flexibility.
They’re also older than dinosaurs.
Scientists believe sharks have been around for about 450 million years.
Their ancestors were a group of fish called acanthodians, or “spiny sharks”.
They looked like small sharks, but had different fins.
For comparison, the first dinosaurs appeared more than 200 million years later.
Sharks have rows and rows of teeth, and can grow as many as 30,000 teeth in a lifetime.
Boy wouldn’t that keep the dental office busy.
They’d only need one patient!
Depending on the species, they can have up to 15 rows in each jaw.
At the front, they have the most powerful teeth, and at the back they get smaller.
Since their teeth aren’t deeply rooted like humans’, sharks often lose them, but grow
new ones right away.
In other words, their jaws are like conveyer belts of teeth.
Believe it or not, sharks and humans have a common ancestor that lived around 440 million
years ago.
Even though we both evolved in our own way, there are still some signs of that connection.
For example, the genome of an elephant shark is very similar to humans’.
Sharks don’t sleep.
They’re up all night watching Bright Side.
Many species …that was a joke…many species have to keep water moving over their gills
to get oxygen.
So they can’t fall into a deep sleep like we do.
That’s why they stay half-awake during rest.
Typically, sharks don’t even close their eyes.
There’s a rare species – the goblin shark – that’s so old it was nicknamed the “living
fossil”.
The Goblin shark has been around for more than 100 million years!
It has pink skin and an odd-looking flat snout.
These animals usually live close to the ocean floor, deep underwater.
Sharks have a sixth sense, and they like Bruce Willis very much!
Actually no, but they can navigate and hunt, even in complete darkness or murky waters,
thanks to special cells in their head that can detect electricity.
And all animals produce weak electric fields because of the difference in the ion concentration
between their bodies and seawater.
This ability to detect electricity makes them the best electrical sensors on the planet.
Bottom Line: I think the species to stay away from is the Loan Shark.
He’ll charge you outrageous interest rates, and threaten you with harm if you don’t
pay it back in time.
Just use a bank instead.
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