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It’s Shark Appreciation Day
JOBURG - We know them as the scary, tooth-filled characters that gave us nightmares in films such as Jaws and Deep Blue Sea, but today we appreciate them for all the things we don’t know about them.
Sharks are the under-appreciated predators of the sea.
Today is Shark Appreciation Day, and City Buzz shares all the beautiful and mysterious nuances of the misunderstood ‘sea monster’ that is a shark.
- Sharks can have up to 30 000 teeth in their lifetime which appear in up to seven rows of replacement teeth. This is due to the fact that they lose many teeth when hunting, so as one falls out, the next one moves forward
- Talk about having no backbone – a shark’s skeleton is made up entirely of cartilage
- A number of items have been fund in the stomachs of sharks. They are able to devour anything including nails, chairs or bottles. This is because their huge number of teeth are not used for chewing, but rather ripping and tearing
- For every human killed by a shark, there are two million sharks killed by humans
- It has been discovered by scientists that sharks do not particularly like the taste of humans. They usually take a chunk out of a surfer or swimmer in a case of mistaken identity when a swimmer looks like a juicy seal
- Despite the daunting size of a shark, most shark attacks occur in less than six feet of water
- Shark attacks account for almost 30 human deaths each year. This means that a human is more likely to die from a bee sting or lightning strike than a shark attack.
While they may not be the cold-hearted killers that they’re thought to be, it still probably isn’t a good idea to purposely look for them while swimming in the sea.
Have you had an encounter with a shark before? Tell us by leaving a comment below.
