Re: 392 year old shark

Re: 392 year old shark

True enough. When I lived in Florida, I often went ocean swimming. One day, after swimming, my GF and I walked out on a long pier, suddenly she exclaimed, "Look. Look." When I looked to see what she was pointing at, I saw a huge, and I do mean huge, hammer-head shark. Scared the living daylights out of me to think that a just few minutes before I was in the water with that monster. That was the last time I ever went swimming in the ocean.

Re: 392 year old shark

I agree they are scary looking things. It's the dead eyes I think.

Re: 392 year old shark

The eyes don't worry me. it's those razor sharp teeth that worry me.

From time to time , I see photos, on the evening news, of a huge shark just a few feet from a surfer.

With sharks we can never know they are there... until it's too late. And, there is not a thing we can do about it.

When I go into bear territory, the last thing I want to do is frighten a sleeping grizzly bear. So, I wear little bells on my pants legs to warn the bear that I am approaching. If given some advance notice, the bear will move away. But, with sharks there is absolutely nothing I can do to protect myself except to stay out of the water. Creepy monsters.

Re: 392 year old shark

Yes, they are scary looking I admit, but I think the publicity of 'Jaws' many years ago added to people's fears.

Another way of looking at it is, it's the human's trespassing in their territory really. The sharks don't come looking for us on our territory do they.

Same as if you trespass in the jungle, you must expect to come up against poisonous snakes, lions, tigers, rhino's etc.
If people don't like these creatures - keep out of their feeding/breeding grounds, but we go waltzing in, then blame them for attacking us.

Re: 392 year old shark

I'm not too sure that I agree with the idea we are trespassing on their territory.

Where ever we go, we are encroaching on some animals territory. In the suburbs of Los Angeles, mountain lions occasionally kill and eat mountain bikers. Coyotes routinely kill pet dogs and cats and eat them. Not so long ago, a woman was tending her flower garden when an alligator lunged out of the water, and drug her to her death. Every year children, playing in their own backyard are bitten by rattlesnakes.

I am more than happy to share space with all of the animals...provided they don't try to eat me.

Sharks ? IMO they have outlived even the dinosaurs and I think it is passed time they went extinct. If I had my way, I'd put a bounty on them, and process them into cat food.

Re: 392 year old shark

We'd best to differ on this one Bakerman.

Animals trying to kill us, is not really much different to the fisherman who take the fish, the divers who harpoon bigger ones, the morons who pay pots of money to shoot safari animals for fun, the guns who kill thousands of birds for pleasure every autumn, the slaughter houses who kill millions of animals, the hunting fraternity who chase foxes till exhaustion, the countries who boil dogs alive, . . . etc etc.

I would say, on the whole man kills far more animals than animals kill humans, and at least, the animals mostly do it for food, not for prestige, money, and competitions like man does.

Re: 392 year old shark

Ok, Mups. No problem. We will agree to disagree.

Re: 392 year old shark

Re: 392 year old shark

That reminded me of a similar thing..over 20 years ago on holiday in Florida we were staying in Indian Shores, beach side apartments and great beach, there were 4 adults & 4 children in our party and we all played/swam in the sea every. Just after that holiday a small Hammerhead was washed onto that beach. It was a pretty scary thought.. I did question our parenting by not being more aware but there were no warnings and lots of people swimming..maybe the amount of Pelicans could have been a clue ??