Great White Shark Attacks On Humans Occurance In Fiction

Great Whites have excellent eyesight and can see in color, and have highly-developed behaviors which are only now being researched. Their reputation as ferocious predators is well-earned, yet they are not (as once was believed) indiscriminate 'eating machines.' Great White sharks primarily eat fishes and pinnipeds such as seals and sea lions. The only animals known to attack them are other Great Whites, Sperm Whales, humans and orcas.

1 Attacks on humans

While the Great White has been responsible for many fatalities in humans, it doesn't target humans as prey. Many incidents seem to be caused by the animals 'test-biting' out of curiosity, as they are known to do with buoys, flotsam, and other unfamiliar objects -- grabbing a human or a surfboard with their mouth, their only tactile organ, in order to determine what kind of object it might be. Other incidents seem to be cases of mistaken identity, in which a shark ambushes a bather or surfer, usually from below, believing the silhouette it sees on the surface is a seal. Humans, in any case, aren't good for Great White sharks to eat, because the sharks' digestion is too slow to cope with the human body's high ratio of bone to muscle and fat. Accordingly, in nearly all recorded attacks, Great Whites have broken off contact after the first bite. Fatalities are caused by loss of blood from the initial injury. Most attacks also occur in waters with low visibility, or in other cases in which the shark's senses are impaired.

Many "shark repellents" have been tested, some using smell, others using protective clothing, but to date the most effective is an electronic beacon worn by the diver/surfer that emits a high frequency signal disturbing to the shark's elecromagnetic sensors.

Great Whites, like many other sharks, have rows of teeth behind the main ones, allowing any that break off to be replaced rapidly. Their teeth are unattached to the jaw and are retractable, like a cat's claws, moving into place when the jaw is opened. This arrangement also seems to give their teeth high tactile sensitivity.

2 Occurance in fiction

The Great White achieved high notoriety with Steven SpielbergSteven Allan Spielberg KBE (born on December 18, 1946 in Cincinnati, Ohio) is a Jewish American film director whose films range from science fiction to historical drama to horror. He is noted for the patriotism of his work and, in recent years, for his wi's blockbuster movie, JawsThis article is about the movie; for the body part, see jaw. For the James Bond character, see Jaws (James Bond). Jaws ( 1975) is an American film which tells the story of a resort town's sheriff who tries to protect beachgoers from the predations of a hu, in 1975Events January January 1 Watergate scandal: John N. Mitchell, H. Haldeman, John D. Ehrlichman are found guilty of the Watergate cover-up and are sentenced to 30 months to 8 years in jail on February 21 January 5 The Tasman Bridge in Tasmania, Australia, i (based on the best-selling novel by Peter Benchley ).

3 Conservation status

It is unclear how much the film Jaws, and a consummate increase in fishing for Great Whites, had to do with the decline of Great White populations from the 1970s to the present. No accurate numbers on population are available, but populations have clearly declined to a point at which the Great White is now considered endangered. Their reproduction is slow, with sexual maturity occurring at about nine years of age, such that populations can take a long time to rise. Great Whites are ovoviviparousOvoviviparous is the reproductive technique of many animals. It means giving birth to a well developed offspring that has been developed from an egg that has hatched within the mother before giving birth or just after being extruded from the mother. The h, the eggs developing in the female's uterus, hatching there and continuing to develop until they are born, at which point they are perfectly capable predators. The young are about 1.5 metres (4 ft 11 in) long when born. Next to nothing, however, is known about how and where the Great White mates.

The Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species (Cites) has put the Great White Shark on its 'Appendix II' list of endangered species. The shark is targeted by fishermen for its jaws, teeth, and fins, and as a game fish.

4 Related species

These sharks have an extinct relative, the MegalodonThe Megalodon or Megatooth shark Carcharodon megalodon (from ancient Greek, mega + odon lit. big tooth") was a giant shark that lived between 5 million and 1. 6 million years ago. The Megalodon is known only from fossil teeth, which are in some ways simil (Carcharodon megalodon), which could possibly have reached sizes of 18 metres (59 ft) or more, and is currently known only from its teeth. Megalodon is thought to have been similar to the White Shark, but substantially larger. From time to time it is suggested that Megalodon might still exist, and teeth have in fact been found from as recently as 10-12,000 years ago. However, while Megalodon fossils are widespread and plentiful, no evidence has surfaced that the species is anything but extinct.

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