SHARKS - top predator to be respected!! PureSilver67: Many Australians would have heard of the most recent unfortunate death of an American who had been living in Perth, Western Australia, while scuba diving. He was attacked by a Great White Shark. There have been 3 in about the past 3 months of the coas tof WA. Scared? Why? How many people do you think are killed in car accidents each day? The Western Australian Government has issued a "kill" direction for the "shark in question". Hmmm and how is it going to be identified exactly?? Excuse me Mr Great White, did you attack a person recently? Oh yes, I can see that piece of scuba outfit in your teeth. (Now I am not trying to be disrespectful to the man or to his family. It is definitely a tragic accident.) Hundreds of thousands of sharks are "finned" each year - have you seen the film SHARKWATER!! Disgusting. It is tragic the number of sharks, caught on longlines and dragged up to the surface only to have their fins cut off and thrown back into the water ALIVE but with no fins!! Sharks are the top predator of the ocean (apart from humans) - they clean up diseased and old animals. They are beautiful, graceful and the majority of species are harmless, non-aggressive or unable to hurt humans due to their size. We share (not own) their ocean.  lavendar_star: I agree with you, humans can be so revengeful, this could be the shark taking revenge on us, considering their species are under threat by their greatest predator us, like you said no disrespect to the victims and their family, but every time you hear of shark attack we go all savage and some how we want to find the individual shark to kill, crazy. The sicken trade done by some Asian countries i.e. China, where sharks are captured and have their fins cut off and thrown back into the water dead, is happening often a hundred times over making the great white shark a possible in dangered species and no government is stopping because the Chinese government is so powerful. Humans need to get over ourselves, many of these animals have been on this planet longer than us and we share it with them and the ocean is the shark and other fishes home and we have to share with them. I think that we have to learn that our home is on land and if we enter the ocean we are taking a risk and that shark is just doing whats in its nature, but the scary thing is it in human nature to be revengeful and bloodthirsty to? Lediannaia_Koroleva: I agree with you two! and what about this, last week in Malpelo Island (Colombia - Pacific Ocean), Russian scuba-divers found dead bodies of sharks whose fins had been cut off. The estimated number of sharks who were murdered is thought to be more than 2000 sharks. It's not only shark, we know people murder animals all the time every single day and nothing is they are just fine with it, but when it's one of them the "victim" then, it's necessary to find the animal that caused such tragedy to make it paid with its life for it. Ninja Lucid: What humans have to remember is we are swimming in their turf and they are only doin what comes natural.  (Post deleted by One Bar ) (Post deleted by One Bar ) PureSilver67: Also of course ... different sharks occupy different habitats .. Great Whites are actually cold water species i.e. around southern Australia and southern Africa ... I don't actually even know if they are in northern cold waters ... reef sharks ... are quite small and docile, although they can give you a good nip wobbygongs .. inhabit are bottom dwellers and whale sharks the largest of them all are actually sub-tropical and vegetarian the main reason that people die from shark bite is of course we don't have a 10cm (3-4 inch) layer of blubber protecting our inner organs . I've seen some dolphins with some pretty horrific shark bites and they've survived.  Hyenablood: I just watched a show on sharks and a man was bitten while he was surfing/swimming. the experts were saying how some sharks will bully eachother to prove how big they are (see how big my mouth is compared to yours) and/or how it might be a territorial display, biting eachother to say: get out of my territory/area. Prehapes the shark viewed the man as another shark (very small, skinny one) and was just telling him to get out of my area, look how big my mouth is, I'm a toughy. Plus sharks will not eat the limb they just ripped off the human, often the limb can be found floating someplace later because the shark spit it out. Even surfboard chunks can be found later. Sharks don't have hands or fingers so their mouth is the only thing they can explore the world with, and they often give a 'test bite' to the object in question. Unfortantly for us humans, to be on the recieving end of a 'test bite' is often fatal in nearly all cases. The shark didn't mean to sever our arturies, and bite off our legs or arms, but they clearly don't know how 'delicate' we are compared to everyother creature in the sea. PureSilver67: So true Hyenablood .. they are amazing animals. The worst film I've ever seen is "Sharkwater" which is about the shark finning industry One of the most disgusting results of this industry is that they literally long-line for sharks (put km long lines out with hooks & bait), reel them in, cut ALL fins off while ALIVE and toss the shark still ALIVE back into the water!!!!  Can you imagine .. floating to your death, "limbless" (finless) .... bleeding to death and of course death by shock ... it was so sickening and sad to watch (Post deleted by One Bar ) PureSilver67: @ One Bar .... simply WOW!!! Aren't the Taylors amazing people? !!! The Great White is also amazing. As Val said, at any time it could have launched itself out of the water and taken her easily - BUT it didn't. Hyenablood: it didn't because human are not seen as food, we are too skinny, not fat enough and not living in the ocean 24/7 morning to night, migrating across the oceans on a daily basis. we are simply not completly on their radar (yah) PureSilver67: I know they don't see as as food Hyena for all that you say and apparently (someone tested it) they don't like how we taste ... but great whites have taken people in a similar manner ... the thing is their eyesight is not great and we are but a shape .. similar to any other ill animal in the water (Post deleted by One Bar ) PureSilver67: sorry but their eyesight is not good even under water ... why their other sense .. smell is so refined (I don't know about hearing, taste or touch) (Edited by PureSilver67) Hyenablood: touch is when they open their jaws and chomp down on something, and every creature in the sea does not want to be the thing the shark 'reach out and touches' with it's mouth/jaw. PureSilver67: he he true Hyena ... I do think they have quite sensitive skin though .. like when they brush against each other Hyenablood: yes in their skin is a line of special cells that 'sense' the level of the water, plus maybe dept, etc. I don't think they brush up against eachother, but communicate thru postering - arching their back, turning their bodies at such an angle, etc. It is similar to us humans crossing our arms over our chest and 'staring' at the other person - message: I don't like you, I don't want to talk to you or be near you, stay away. Hyenablood: I hope I'm not becoming a shark expect on wireclub, I live in Canada on the prairies for christ sake, I'm pretty darn far from the ocean!!!! PureSilver67: Here's all about sharks in Australian waters: http://www.environment.gov.au/coasts/species/sharks/index.html  Serabi: I followed the shark lead - very informative. FYI: South African waters is the only place where Great White sharks breach! Serabi: Ancient medallion in shark’s gut February 23 2012 at 09:00am By SAPA KUALA LUMPUR: A medieval medallion, believed to be from the 11th century, was found in the stomach of a baby shark in southern Malaysia, a news report said yesterday. The medallion, engraved with the profile of a woman on one side and a crucifix with the inscription ANTONII on the other side, was recovered on Tuesday by a housewife while cleaning the fish to be cooked. The artefact is believed to have been worn by Portuguese soldiers, who colonised Malaysia in 1511. Suseela Menon, 47, a resident of Klebang, in the state of Malacca, about 120km south of Kuala Lumpur, said her husband had decided not to eat the fish as he believed the medallion could have a religious significance. “My husband feels it is a blessing for the family.” The medallion is 7.4cm long and 6cm wide.– Sapa-dpa PureSilver67: Hmm interesting Serabi. I don't like killing shark, but for some it is food rather than just "status". I would have thought the husband would have eaten the shark anyway and just kept the medallion as a blessing. Funny that it's a baby shark, wouldn't think that it would eat a medallion all by itself ... hmm |