Shark Week has already ended, but I thought I would still write a post on them even if it is a little late. So, in celebration of the last few days of summer and of an animal that movies love(Jaws and Sharknado I’m looking at you) here’s five of my favorite facts about sharks.
- Sharks have been around for years- about 450 million years to be exact. Scientists have found that sharks go back to the late Silurian period, where coral reefs were beginning to form and creatures such as molluscs and crinoids(starfish and sea urchins to name a couple) were some of the only living creatures on Earth. That’s older than dinosaurs.
- Sharks grow up to 50,000 teeth in a lifetime. Because shark’s teeth have up to fifteen series of teeth in one jaw, they are able to replace their teeth whenever one is lost or becomes damaged. It is pretty common for sharks to lose their teeth, so it makes sense why they grow so many.
- Humans and sharks share an ancestor. It’s hard to believe, but according to Nature we share a common ancestor known as the Acanthodes bronni. Obviously we’ve developed very different traits since then but there are still some similarities between our genes such as the genes associated with metabolism.
- Lightning strikes are more dangerous than shark attacks. If anything, we’re more of a danger to them than they are to us. According to National Geographic, Shark attacks in the US average out to about 19 a year and one casualty every two years whereas lightning strikes kill more than 37 people every year in coastal states alone. Not only that, but a 2006 study said that about 76 million sharks are killed by humans every year. So next time you visit the beach, don’t stress. Chances are rare that you’ll see one unless you’re visiting an area that is known for shark sightings.
- Sharks can travel insane distances at one time. Sharks have different sleep cycles from us(some don’t sleep while others cycle from being awake to resting periods) so they are able to travel non stop for days. In fact, some great whites have been known to go 2,500 miles and more without resting or taking an eating break. Talk about being productive!
Those are all the facts I have this week. Hopefully you learned something new about sharks that you’ll remember when you go out swimming or the next time you visit the aquarium.
-AK