"Teaching people about the world in which we live."
"Teaching people about the world in which we live."
For humans, the most dangerous species of shark is the great white shark. This shark is a known maneater. It lives in temperate waters off the southern coast of Australia and Africa, the northern coast of California, and the Atlantic coast of New Jersey to Maine. Great whites can be as large as 20 ft (6 meters). This shark has long been feared because of its ability to hunt in murky water, its near-shore travel paths, and its silent approach. However, as we learn more about this large shark, it is becoming apparent that great white usually eat marine animals and may attack humans only when we are mistaken for a wounded seal or porpoise. Of course, there is also evidence that great whites are not really maneaters, but instead are manbiters. In attacks on humans, great whites often bite the victim, sometimes repeatedly, but they seldom eat the body. Since attacking great whites are so large, have very sharp teeth, and attack viciously, the result is quite grisly. Despite our love to hate sharks, it is important to remember that only about 25 shark deaths occur worldwide each year. Bees, pigs, and lightening each kill more people than that in a year. The results of at 1989-1991 expedition to study the great white shark is reported in Cousteau and Richards’ book entitled Great White Shark. The expedition was launched when the Australian Threatened Fishes Committee realized that it did not have enough information about the great white to determine whether its numbers were declining off the Australian coast. An international effort funded by the Turner Broadcasting Network and conducted by the Cousteau Society studied the great white shark population located on Dangerous Reef off South Australia. The resulting book is very even-handed, contains beautiful color photographs, and is quite readable. ( J-M, Cousteau, and M. Richards, Great White Shark, published by Haryy N. Abrams, Inc.: NY, 1992.)
