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Bite-sized adventures
Bite-sized: a great white shark. BRANDON COLE/Discovery
By RITA SHERROW World Television Writer
Published: 8/2/2009 2:25 AM
Last Modified: 8/2/2009 4:05 AM
Talk to a shark expert about Discovery's "Shark Week" and you might find yourself wanting to feed sharks by hand. Well, maybe not.
But the enthusiasm of shark experts like Andy Dehart, director of biological programs at The National Aquarium in Washington, D.C., is catching.
That's the point of "Shark Week," he said in a recent phone interview.
"People get hooked by watching it on TV by 'Shark Week.' Then they go to an aquarium where they build a higher level of respect for sharks. It's certainly fantastic from my end."
This year's "Shark Week" includes a graphic docudrama (using an animatronic shark), feeding by hand (at night!), terrifying shark encounters, high-fatality shark-attack hot spots around the world, and what really happened in the summer of 2001 when the frenzy was among the media — and not really the sharks.
The new shows air at 8 p.m. nightly Sunday through Thursday with rebroadcasts filling in Friday and Saturday. It's all on Discovery, cable 30. See your Sunday TV World for listings.
Fin facts
- Shark attacks in the United States are on the decline.
- In 2007, there were 71 unprovoked shark attacks. In 2008, there were 59
confirmed. Most attacks occur in the middle of the day and the number is
directly related to beach attendance, season and time of day.
- The sandbar shark can take 15 years to mature and has one to 14 pups
every other year after a nine- to 11-month gestation.
- Sandbar sharks are one of the most frequently caught sharks in commercial
fisheries.
- Two new species of wobbegong sharks were identified in Australia last
year.
- A zebra shark at the Pittsburgh Zoo and PPG Aquarium has been trained
to voluntarily come to the surface for medical procedures.
- Bull sharks are capable of living in freshwater. Bull sharks have been
observed 2,220 miles up the Amazon River and as far as St. Louis up the
Mississippi River.
- Although rare for sharks, their ability to use numerous habitats is amazing.
- Some species of sharks use brackish estuaries to breed.
- Every hour, 11,400 sharks are killed in targeted fishing for sharks and as
bycatch (caught in commercial nets).
- A bowl of shark fin soup can sell for as much as $100.
- The shark fins are actually a tasteless ingredient that need to be well
seasoned to make the soup have any taste. Some studies have even
shown that consumption of shark fin soup can lead to male sterility due to
elevated mercury content.
- The six-gill shark is a deep water shark typically only seen from a submersible.
- Now, in the Pacific Northwest, it is possible to have dive encounters
with this animal in 60 feet of water just 200 feet from the beach.
- A white shark named Nicole went on a 12,400-mile round trip swim from
South Africa to Australia and back in under nine months. She was tagged
in South Africa; her satellite tag sent a signal from Australia and then she
was seen again in South Africa.
- Shark skin is made up of dermal denticles similar in structure to teeth.
- When a shark is rubbed from tail to head it feels remarkably like sandpaper
and sharkskin was in fact used as sandpaper by many early civilizations.
Courtesy Andy Dehart, Discovery Channel shark adviser
Shark laws
Sen. John Kerry (D-Mass.) is teaming up with the Discovery Channel
to ask for support of his Shark Conservation Act of 2009. The bill, which
was approved by the House of Representatives last spring (S. 850) and is
being reviewed by the U.S. Senate, will end the illegal shark finning trade,
said Andy Dehart, shark adviser for Discovery. In the current international
fin trade, fins can be purchased on the high seas and then resold stateside
for exorbitant amounts for things such as shark fin soup. Up to 250,000
sharks a day are killed and/or thrown back in the water to die after having
had their fins cut off, he explained.
Shark week schedule
“Shark Week” premieres starting at 8 p.m. nightly Sunday through Thursday:
Blood in the Water
A re-enactment of the true story that inspired
the blockbuster film “Jaws.” In 1916, the New
Jersey shore became a feeding ground with five
people attacked by sharks in 12 days. Parental
discretion advised.
Day of the Shark 2
Viewers see what happens when a great white
breaks through a 300-pound aluminum shark
cage and traps the divers inside and when another
attacks a former Navy Seal off St. Petersburg, Fla.
Deadly Waters
“Survivorman ” Les Stroud ventures to five of
the most shark-infested waters in the world to
find out which is the most dangerous.
Great White Appetite
The great white shark patrols the shores of
more than 50 percent of the world’s inhabited
coastlines. And yet, scientists still don’t have accurate
data on them. Charles Ingram travels the
globe with shark experts looking for answers.
Shark After Dark
Armed with the latest in infrared heat-sensing
cameras and night vision technology, a team of
divers descends into the darkness to learn more
about shark behavior after the sun goes down.
Sharkbite Summer
This is an account of America’s 2001 “Summer
of the Shark,” when the ocean’s premier
predators attacked more than 50 swimmers off
U.S. beaches. The film returns to the attack sites
and uses news footage, interviews with victims,
witnesses, surgeons, family members and shark
experts to clarify what happened.
Rita Sherrow 581-8360
rita.sherrow@tulsaworld.com
By RITA SHERROW World Television Writer
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