Shark Girl

That was my nickname in elementary school and part of junior high. I was that embarrassingly obsessed kid, handing out homemade S.O.S. flyers (S.O.S.=Save Our Sharks!). I dressed up as a shark for Halloween when I was ten, carrying a surfboard with a bite cut out of it (I had an S.O.S. button on, don't worry). Every school report was somehow related to this topic. I adopted a whale shark for $25.00 when I was twelve and named her Rosie. I made flash cards with the scientific names of all the species and worked harder on them than on Pre-Algebra.

My poor family.

So, of course, Shark Week is a huge deal for me. I watch every second, take notes, have file folders full of sketches and stories and new information. I had to share some fascinating sharky facts with the blogosphere. And next time you see me, you can still call me Shark Girl. It's okay, because I have friends now.

Where do I start?

Whale sharks do it deeper, because at an average of 45 feet, they are the largest fish in the ocean. But don't be frightened--they feed on plankton, because their 4,000 teeth are smaller than your pinky toenail. Thousands of years ago, there existed a shark this size with a carnivorous diet and teeth the size of your palm--Carcharodon megalodon. Don't worry; they're long gone. Whale sharks, on the other hand, are protected by endangered species lists. Their gigantic fins make them susceptible to shark finning, where their fins are cut off and sold as an ingredient for the luxurious shark-fin soup, while the rest of the shark is thrown back into the water to bleed, struggle, and drown.

Some sharks practice virgin births--parthenogenesis, where female sharks make a baby all by their lonesome. The remaining egg cases they deliver are sometimes washed up onto shore, where we humans collect them and call them "mermaid purses."

Sharks teeth are like conveyer belts. When they lose one, another one is right there to move into its place. Some sharks go through 30,000 teeth in their lifetime.

There are some 360 species of sharks, and more are discovered every year.

Shark skin is so rough, it's used as sandpaper in some parts of the world.

Sharks' senses are just utterly fantastic. Not only do they enjoy the five senses we do, at a heightened level, but they have a sixth sense, called electrosense, where they can detect electromagnetic fields in the water.

Of all the sharks, my fascination is definitely with the great white. "White death," it's called in most of Africa and Australia. I remember the Shark Week in 2000, when they revealed this newly documented behavior of great whites--they flew up and out of the water to capture seals. Do you have any idea how awesome that would be to see in real life--and how terrifed I would be if I ever fell out of a boat in South Africa?

However, I'm completely freaked out by the bull shark. Its testosterone levels are higher than any other animal, amd it can swim upstream into rivers... in freshwater.

Shark attacks are actually very rare. In fact, take a look at these numbers:

Averages for the year of 2008:
Number of people killed by sharks in one year, internationally: 4
Number of people killed by vending machines in one year, internationally: 10
Number of people killed by tigers in one year, internationally: 100-150
Number of people killed by crocodiles in one year, internationally: 249
Number of people killed by drug overdoses in one year, internationally: 250,000
Number of people killed by starvation in one year, internationally: 1.3 million

I think these numbers are an attestment to just how little the shark cares about humans, considering how powerful their senses are and how dangerous an attack is. If they wanted to eat humans, they'd eat us.

It's now trendy to like sharks, and I'm so pleased. They really are quite fascinating creatures. The largest fish in the sea, they are literally living fossils and deserve proper respect.

So take my advice: hug a shark today! Or watch the amazing Shark Week, presented by Discovery, on Hulu.com and see Craig Ferguson swim with reef sharks!

Yay, sharks!