Let's Talk Sharks!

      I know that I talk about travel a lot on my blog, and it’s one of my favorite things in the world. I’ve made posts promoting solo travel, busting travel myths, talking about lessons travel teaches you, and other topics that revolve around the idea that traveling is one of the best things you can do. However, many years before I realized how much I loved travel, I loved animals. I’ve always known that I wanted to spend my life working with animals, and I don’t think I could be truly happy in life any other way. So considering all of that, along with the fact that my blog and online personality is “Wildlife Wizard”, I think it’s time to make a post that focuses solely on animals, rather than travel. And, being that I’m here in Gansbaai working with great white sharks, there’s no better animal to talk about!

              When I was a kid, my bedroom was always full of animal related stuff, from the pictures on my wall to the stickers on my window to the books on my shelves. I don’t remember one specific moment or experience that made me have an especially great love for sharks. I don’t think there was one moment; I’ve just always had a natural love for sharks. One thing I do remember from my childhood was a children’s book about sharks that I owned and practically memorized. The last sentence of the book was, “As long as there will be oceans, there will be sharks.” That sentence was comforting to me at the time, but unfortunately, since I’ve gotten older and learned more about the world we live in, a sad reality has hit me. That statement about sharks just isn’t a certainty anymore. It makes total sense that people, even as recently as twenty years ago, may have thought that. Sharks have been on this planet for over 400 million years- that’s more than 200 million years before dinosaurs showed up. In that time, they’ve evolved and adapted to be just about the perfect apex predator of the ocean. From their dermal denticles, or scales, that allow them to swim faster and more quietly through the water to their enlarged liver that serves in place of a swim bladder to their seven senses, sharks have been perfected by evolution to be the best at what they do. In fact, in those 400 million years that they’ve been around, there’s really only one thing that evolution didn’t prepare them for- humans. That makes perfect sense, seeing as how the first of our human ancestors only showed up about four million years ago. Evolution didn’t expect them to have to live alongside things like massive trolling nets, or a society that sees shark fin soup as a symbol of high status, or a floating garbage patch that’s easily double the size of Texas, because in the grand scheme of things, those things haven’t been around very long at all.

            I took this picture out on the boat this morning, and I think it’s my new favorite shark picture that I’ve taken. There are three things that I immediately notice about it: the black tip on the pectoral fin, the eye that’s rolled back white, and the extension of the upper jaw. All are evolutionary traits that help make this animal so amazing to me. The black tips are an easy way to determine a shark’s behavior- if the pectoral fins are flat, the shark is relaxed and comfortable. If the fins are turned, exposing those black tips, it’s a sign of nervousness. That’s one reason people can free dive with great whites without getting attacked- if they see those black tips, they know it’s time to back off.

            Next, the rolled back eye. This is one of my favorite things to see out on the boat, and it’s so hard to get a clear shot of it since it happens so quickly. A shark’s eyes are one of their most important, and most sensitive, features. If a shark loses an eye, it probably loses its life. People used to think that sharks had poor eyesight, but we’re now figuring out that that’s very wrong- they have binocular vision, so they can see all around them, can see long distances, and have a mirror at the back of their eye to reflect light (called tapetum lucidum), so they can see well even in the dark. So, when they attack prey, their eyes roll back in their head so they’re protected during the attack.

            And finally, the upper jaw is thrust out of the skull in this picture. Sharks’ upper jaws aren’t attached to their skull, like in other animals (I’m sure most, if not all of you have seen sets of shark jaws for sale in gift shops in beachside cities). The jaw hangs separately in their head, attached only by muscles. So, when a shark goes in for a bite, those muscles thrust the jaw forward, so it can get a bigger bite. This is another thing that happens really fast, so getting a good picture of it like this is rare. As Tom always says to the guests, when it comes to sharks, you have to take at least a hundred pictures to get that one really good one.

            One thing about sharks that fascinates me most of all is they’re the last apex predator on this planet that is still truly and completely wild. It’s been proven time and time again that they can’t be kept in captivity. The only place in the world that’s been able to keep one alive in captivity for more than sixteen days is the Monterey Bay Aquarium in California. With a lot of research and money thrown in, they were able to keep a juvenile (not full grown!) white shark alive at their facility for a total of 198 days. After that, the shark was released back into the wild because it was attacking other sharks in the exhibit. Other places have tried and failed- just last year, a 3.5 meter white shark was caught off the coast of Japan and placed in an aquarium in Okinawa. The shark was completely healthy when it was placed in the aquarium- and in three days, it was dead. Yes, it only took three days! This isn’t about bashing aquariums or zoos; in general, I do support those. But great whites just have to be in the wild to survive, which is why so many people come to Gansbaai to cage dive with them. That’s really the only way to see these animals in person.

            The sad truth is that great whites are one of the top species predicted to be extinct by 2050. There are only 2,000 to 5,000 of them left today, and they have a lot of odds stacked against them when it comes to rebuilding their population. A female great white needs to be 14-16 years old to be able to reproduce, they have an eighteen month gestation, and only have 2-10 pups at a time. I don’t want to make this post all negative, so I won’t go into more detail on this point. I’m going to hold out hope that the prediction of their imminent extinction is wrong, and instead remember that line from the book I had as a child- “As long as there will be oceans, there will be sharks”.

            I hope that this post teaches some of my readers a bit more about the beautiful creatures that I love so much, and that my blog in general begins to change some minds and opinions regarding this very misunderstood animal. This post’s food for thought is a quote that rings so true to me, and often comes to mind when I think about sharks and my love for them: “Follow your passion, we’re often told. But how do you find your passion? Let me put it another way: what is it that breaks your heart about the world? It’s there that you begin to find what moves you. If you want to find your passion, surrender to your heartbreak.”