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Title: Wild Video: Woman Feeds Great White Shark by Hand
Source:
Life's Little Mysterie
URL Source: http://www.lifeslittlemysteries.com ... s-great-white-shark-hand-1748/
Published: Jun 5, 2011
Author: Natalie Wolchover
Post Date: 2011-06-05 01:40:14 by Flintlock
Keywords: None
Views: 365
Comments: 33
Clearly, the shark in this video is much more interested in the fish handouts than it is in the hand doing the handing. "It seems we are not a preferable food item," Papastamatiou said. "When you look at [great white] attack statistics the actual number of victims who are eaten or consumed is very low. Normally, it's a case of the victim being bitten and then left alone." Some researchers have speculated that humans may be too bony for sharks to easily digest. According to George Burgess at the Florida Program for Shark Research, there have been 182 nonfatal and 65 fatal unprovoked great white shark attacks worldwide in all of recorded history. [Read: Can Goldfish Really Grow to 30 Pounds?] No one is quite sure why great whites attack humans when they do, but the prevailing theory is that they are taking "test bites." "It might be a case of the shark simply investigating a potential prey item it sees on the surface," Papastamatiou explained. "How do you investigate? Well, you have to take a bite out of it. Once it has taken a bite it realizes it's not what it wants, and goes away." Shark attacks are much rarer than the public perceives them to be, but they are still dangerous animals, Papastamatiou said, and you shouldn't try to replicate the events in this video during your next Australian vacation. "Every time you try and touch an animal of that size you are taking a risk, not because it's a great white specifically, but simply because it's a giant wild animal." When studying sharks is your life's work, perhaps you can't worry so much about the risks involved. "There's no time for fear," Taylor once said.
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#7. To: Flintlock, X-15, wakeup (#0)
Great Whites are not the dangerous sharks the movies would have you believe they are. The bad boy is the Bull shark. They are responsible for most shark attacks and will even come into fresh water tributaries.
They're extremely dangerous at all times due to the fact that they aren't rational, sentient humans. This lady lived only because the sharks' "kill- everything-that-moves" mode didn't kick in when she was playing aquarium-lady.
I would agree but the fact remains that most shark attacks and the shark considered the most dangerous are bull sharks not great whites. Unlike most sharks, bull sharks tolerate fresh water and can travel far up rivers. They have even been known to travel as far up as Indiana in the Ohio River and Illinois in the Mississippi River, although there have been few recorded attacks. As a result, they are probably responsible for the majority of near-shore shark attacks, including many attacks attributed to other species.[1] However, bull sharks are not true freshwater sharks (unlike the river sharks of the genus Glyphis). ~snip~ Bull sharks are typically solitary hunters,[6] but occasionally hunt in pairs.[citation needed] They often cruise through shallow waters. They can suddenly accelerate and can be highly aggressive, even possibly attacking a racehorse in the Brisbane River in the Australian state of Queensland.[23] They are extremely territorial and attack animals that enter their territory. Since bull sharks often dwell in shallow waters, they may be more dangerous to humans than any other species of shark,[24] and, along with the tiger shark and great white shark, are among the three shark species most likely to attack humans.[2] One or more bull sharks may have been responsible for the Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916, which was the inspiration for Peter Benchley's novel Jaws.[25] The bull shark is responsible for attacks around the Sydney Harbour inlets.[26] Most of these attacks were previously thought to be great whites. In India bull sharks swim up the Ganges River and have attacked people. It also eats human corpses that the local population float on the river. Many of these attacks have been wrongly blamed on the Ganges shark, Glyphis gangeticus,[citation needed] a critically endangered species that is probably the only other shark in India that can live comfortably in freshwater. The grey nurse shark was also blamed during the sixties and seventies. Some of the species's aggressive behaviour is now believed to be due to occasional high levels of testosterone.
#17. To: farmfriend, X-15, Flintlock (#14)
deleted
Good info on the bull sharks, I didn't know that they traveled way up fresh water rivers. Like Eric Stratton said: the lady is nuts. Great white sharks/bull sharks/tiger sharks: they're killers and a hazard to humans who get too close. We're at a definite disadvantage when we're in their environment. If this lady keeps up her petting zoo-style feeding routine we're going to see the Final Video of her being dragged down to Davy Jones' Locker.
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#11. To: farmfriend, Flintlock, Eric Stratton (#7)
Great Whites are not the dangerous sharks the movies would have you believe they are.
#14. To: X-15, Flintlock, Eric Stratton (#11)
They're extremely dangerous at all times due to the fact that they aren't rational, sentient humans.
The bull shark, Carcharhinus leucas, also known as Zambezi shark or unofficially known as Zambi in Africa and Nicaragua shark in Nicaragua, is a shark common worldwide in warm, shallow waters along coasts and in rivers. The bull shark is well known for its unpredictable, often aggressive behavior.
Replies to Comment # 14.
#25. To: farmfriend, Eric Stratton (#14)
End Trace Mode for Comment # 14.