Everything you thought you knew about sharks is wrong!

Again... look up the USS Indianapolis... hundreds of US Sailors will tell you different.

 

Let's see:

"Sharks are not man-eaters. They are not vicious. They are not even particularly dangerous to people." Correct. If you can find one - even one - instance of a shark attacking somebody and then eating them, please post it. This does NOT include a shark mistaking somebody for a seal, taking a chomp out of them, and the person living to talk about it (that is not being eaten) and having them the person die from trauma, loss of blood, etc. (ditto). Nor does it count, as in the case of the USS Indianapolis, of sharks eating an already dead body.

Also, note that he didn't say they never, ever attack people. Nobody would ever consider robins to be vicious or particularly dangerous, yet THEY have been known to attack people, too.

I know you won't believe this, but the world is NOT all black and white. There is no All Good nor All Evil (OK, so maybe there is for the latter in the case of Dick Cheney, but that's beside the point). Just because something isn't dangerous doesn't mean it won't attack you. Mother Teresa would probably kick you in the groin if you taunted her enough.

 

Ya know what Bra...

I'm kinda getting tired of some of y'all talking crap amongst yourselves without the facts in your posts.

How about you look at something from men that lived through it before you slap away with your mouth at my position.

Start here... then search more for the truth, before you say some more smack that ain't backed up by the men that lived through it.

USS Indianapolis CA-35

CNN.com - Author Doug Stanton and USS Indianapolis survivor Giles McCoy - July 30, 2001

There are books from some of these men... look them up, then tell me they were mistaken about sharks.

 

Look I'm in agreement with the OP, sharks aren't all that dangerous and when you think about how many are killed on the roads each year the death toll from sharks is tiny.
This is from the Australian ABC web site. http://www.abc.net.au/news/stories/2009/01/07/2460870.htm

Shark sighted near beachside memorial for victim of Port Kennedy shark attack

Posted January 7, 2009 13:24:00
Updated January 7, 2009 15:29:00
Charm Guest, wife of shark attack victim, Brian Guest, leads mourners scattering petals into the ocean at Port Kennedy Beach.

• Map: Port Kennedy 6172

A shark has been reported swimming close to Perth's southern coast as a memorial service for a 51 year old shark victim was underway.
Fishermen spotted what they believed was a large shark just after 10am.
Swimmers at part of Port Kennedy beach, including a children's vacation swimming program, cleared the water and the shark spotter helicopter was sent to the area.
However, it has so far failed to find any trace of the shark.
The sighting comes as more than 250 people gathered at Port Kennedy beach to farewell local man Brian Guest who was killed by a shark at the beach ten days ago.
Mr Guest's body has not been found, despite a week long search.
His son Daniel Guest who was snorkelling with his father when he was taken says he wants him to be remembered as the fun loving man he was.
A diving flag has been placed in the water to mark the place where he was taken.





Tags: shark-attacks, port-kennedy-6172

Just because the body has not been found doesn't mean it was eaten by the shark but I don't know where else he would have gone. No one saw the shark with knife and fork eating him.

This is the only case I can recall where the shark may not have spat out the vicitm, also if the guy was spear fishing the shark may have got a taste of the fish blood in the water so the shark may have thought he was an injured fish.

 

List of fatal, unprovoked shark attacks in the United States - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

There's one listed above where a body was found inside a shark. Another with the shark swimming away with an arm sticking out of it's mouth.

I thought the first bite is usually a test bite that the shark takes to investigate the possible food source. If the reaction from the human victim is to freak out and hit the shark and react violently than the shark will back off see what happens next or decide to move on to something else that reacts more docile. Usually there is help available to human victims right away and if they didn't get hit on an artery or go into shock they have a good chance of surviving. In the list above there are some attacks where the body is not found which would suggest the shark might have continued the attack. The only evidence ever found is a surf/boogie board or wetsuit with teeth marks. It is possible that the shark didn't eat the person and the body was never found.

I've watched a large tiger shark grab a floating dead bloated dog that was washed into the ocean after a heavy rain. He would go up and grab it and then let it go. I seen many turtles with missing flippers that would suggest the same test bite theory, the shark just moves on. I've also seen many dolphins and monk seals with missing fins and numerous scars. So it's not that sharks won't eat humans, they are treating us the same way they treat all their encounters...with caution. It's probably why sharks have been around so long.

I think comparing land base animals and human encounters with them and land based human encounters with water based sharks is misleading. A human is not a sharks normal diet and is foreign to the sharks enviroment. So a shark will approach humans differently, I would think.

Because someone's chance of being attacked by a shark is small does not mean they are not vicious and extremely dangerous. A slow moving pretty cone shell held by the large end is completely safe...held by the pointed end it can kill you.

You might like this book about Great White research off the Farallon Islands. Two things that were interesting to me: The sharks never tried to tip over the 16' Boston Whaler and a commercial urchin diver would dive with these same sharks.

[ame]http://www.amazon.com/Devils-Teeth-Obsession-Survival-Americas/dp/080507581X/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=books&qid=1232824470&sr=1-1[/ame]

 

According to today's article in the newspaper's sports section, a Great White Shark's jaw will fetch anywhere from $7,800 to $22,000. As a result, a some long line fishermen in the Gulf snagged a great white, chopped the head off and was getting ready to sell them. Fortunately they were caught and fined $12,500 and $20,000.

Great white sharks in the Gulf of Mexico? Don't be too surprised

 

Another shark attack... shark lost.



Pictured: The moment a diver grappled with a 12ft tiger shark to save a friend | Mail Online

 

Maybe the story is accurate but I would like to see more uncropped photos taken of that encounter. That shark's weight is approaching 700-1000 lbs and the photo they use makes it appear the diver is swimming it up to the surface. It seems to me there would have been spears with floats attached (no float, missed shot, lost spear) or a line to the boat to help support the shark. After repeated shots to the head from a high powered speargun he finished it off with knife stabs to the head? I think the shark was speared with a float attached and then they spent some of the 2 hours chasing or following the float with the boat until the shark got tired and then took the photos. Without a float the shark would have just swam away after the first shot and probably died later.

I thought sharks usually start showing signs of aggression by humping their backs, not by rolling over.

 

"I positioned myself between Ryan and the shark and I tried to watch it for a second, hoping it would pass us by,' explained 32-year-old Mr Clasen.
'I noticed that the shark was getting tighter and tighter and just kept trying to get a back angle on us and behaving in an aggressive manner.
'The shark made a roll and looked like it was going to charge us so I just went ahead and took the conservative route and put a shaft through its gills."

This was clearly a mistake a diver who did'nt have the deep insight Daniel gained on his sight seeing boat trip. It's obviously a case of a friendly shark wanting to be petted and instead being viciously attacked by a human. Probably an SUV driving human at that.

 

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