Maybe We Should Not Be that Afraid of Sharks

[Bash]

Back in my days as a working scuba instructor, I'd often conduct environmental orientation tours for out-of-towners who had never dove in a kelp forest. If the clients proved to be jerks, I'd swim them over to a place where I could always count on encounting a leopard shark or two. They're basically harmless, but it was always amazing how fast a jerk could breathe through a tank of air in the presence of a harmless shark.

Standard debriefing after shark encounter: "It was a shame you ran out of air so quickly in the presence of such beautiful animals. You really ought to work on your relaxation skills."

[delmarrey]

I'm more worried about food poisoning then anything else. Creatures are avoidable, food you can't tell until it's already taken affect.

I've personally known two people that have died, and have an in-law in the hospital right now that just came out of a coma and still can not hear w/some speech ability.

I've toyed with moose, elk, bear, wild horses, brahma bulls, white tipped shark, seals and stingrays but fear food the most.

[sabray]

What about turtles. This morning a large snapper wandered out in front of my truck and lay down I slowly moved to the edge of the road where my wheel caught into the drainage ditch. Truck wound up well into the ditch. The turtle then gets up walks around the truck and positions himself somewhere in the 18" of water that the Truck is in. Now this is obviously predatory behavior.so I was not putting my foot down in that muck so he could grab hold and suck me into the mire where I would be turtle breahfast. tomorrow there will be another car in the Ditch victim of the turtle. Maybe they will try to push the car out and will become victims of the Turtle. Any statics on how many drivers have vanished because of coy predator turtles.

[Bash]

Originally Posted by sabray

Any statics on how many drivers have vanished because of coy predator turtles.

I hear it's only about 10%.

[sabray]

Originally Posted by Bash

I hear it's only about 10%.

Good to know. Sorry for the wander. I should have added that 2 very nice guys went way out of their way to help. Got a truck while I rowed out and got line and pulled us out.at 6 am I was happy to meet people that would do that because they could. The fire department. Whose driveway was 10 feet from me could offer no assistance. Not sure why some guy in f150 who was going to be late for work helped while the firemen stood around drinking coffee. Fire department downgrade to a+. Instead of ass+.

[Rakuflames]

Originally Posted by avb3

People used to be afraid of wolves, but very few recorded human deaths in North America.

The movie Jaws probably heightened fears of sharks.

There is an article that shows many things that kill people far in excess of sharks, some of which we think are cute and not dangerous (deer).

The idea for JAWS was based on a true incident in the early 1900's where a bull shark swam up a New Jersey river and attacked people in a swimming hole. Put this into GOOGLE: "bull shark" "new jersey" attack

and it's the first listing.

I'm not sure attacks are all that rare. I know someone whose daughter was nearly killed by a bull shark, and I knew a woman whose husband was killed by a great white shark of the shore of Mexico.

Don't let it scare you way. Just have a ladder you can deploy from the water. The great majority of sharks simply will not attack, but never smile at a crocodile or a bull shark.

[perchance]

Originally Posted by capn_billl

The only problem with this is the 79 people that got bitten last year, ...I'll bet we taste just like seals, (another warm blooded semiaquatic mammal with a thick coating of fat, and a white underbelly that swims at the surface)

I'm thinking we taste like chicken to a shark

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by perchance

I'm thinking we taste like chicken to a shark

If you’ve ever smelled burning (human, or "long pig") flesh, you might suppose we’d taste like pork.

[capn_billl]

In world war 2; sharks ate the entire crew of a warship that was sunk by a german U-boat. There have been many incidences since then, where sharks, ( a predatory carnavore), have eaten victims of a shipwreck.

When scuba diving, you are an unfamiliar creature, outside of the usual manner it encounters people. As they have no real intelligence only instinct, a scuba diver appears to be a lightly armored fish simular to a dophin. A curiosity, not food.

A swimmer thrashing on the surface, especially if bleeding appears, (and tastes), just like a wounded seal, (a food source). If you don't want to be bitten, don't appear to be food.

I don't know what we look like wading, (a giant crane?), but also rarely like food.

[capn_billl]

Originally Posted by GordMay

If you’ve ever smelled burning (human, or "long pig") flesh, you might suppose we’d taste like pork.

Funny; a guy who once lived with a tribe of cannibals told me that.

[GordMay]

Originally Posted by capn_billl

In world war 2; sharks ate the entire crew of a warship that was sunk by a german U-boat...

Of the 1,196 aboard (The USS “Indianapolis”) , about 900 made it into the water in the twelve minutes before she sank. Few life rafts were released. Most survivors wore the standard kapok life jacket. Shark attacks began with sunrise of the first day, and continued until the men were physically removed from the water, almost five days later.

USS Indianapolis ➥ USS Indianapolis CA-35

[tropicalescape]

From stuides ive read the majority of shark bites are from the ancillery population, in other words the old and injured that cant fend for themselfs..DVC

[s/v Beth]

Originally Posted by capn_billl

Funny; a guy who once lived with a tribe of cannibals told me that.

Bill, I just want you to know that that statement is disturbing on so many levels.

In medicine we use pig grafts in heart valves and other tissues (mainly skin) The histology of bovine tissue and ours is very similar.

As for someone making sausage out of me and mine- lets not go there.

[avb3]

Originally Posted by s/v Beth

In medicine we use pig grafts in heart valves and other tissues (mainly skin) The histology of bovine tissue and ours is very similar.

I think you may want to reconsider referring to pigs as bovines. ALL bovines are ruminants, and pigs or any other porcine related critter are not.

Bovine histology is NOT similar to humans.

Don't intend to come across as rude, just a stickler for correct information

[cat man do]

Originally Posted by Rakuflames

The idea for JAWS was based on a true incident in the early 1900's where a bull shark swam up a New Jersey river and attacked people in a swimming hole. Put this into GOOGLE: "bull shark" "new jersey" attack

.

That was only a tiddler as well Jersey Shore shark attacks of 1916 - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

This is what swims in the waters of Moreton Bay where I live