One of the most popular weeks of the summer is upon us: Shark Week! This is when the Discovery Channel gives us land-dwellers a glimpse into the beasts that rule the ocean. These colorblind fish can live up to 100 years old, and can grow to 6 meters long. Here are 10 amazing facts about sharks.
- Sharks have been around for over 400 million years. And, speaking of the 400s, there are 440 different species of sharks.
- With so many species, it makes sense that you could find a shark in every ocean in the world.
- Sharks are made up completely of cartilage. There are no bones in their bodies, the only sharp part of them are their teeth – which they can have 30,000 of in their lifetime.
- Tiger sharks are the ones that pose a particular threat to humans. They eat anything in their path (giving them the nickname “garbage cans of the sea”).
- A female shark can have a pregnancy ranging from 5 months to 3.5 years. Blue sharks can have up to 135 pups at once.
- The hammerhead is known for their, you guessed it, hammer-shaped head. The technical term for this is “cephalofoils”, and they are developed with electrical sensors, making them great hunters.
- Females outweigh the males in many species of sharks.
- Sharks are incredibly skilled at detecting motion.
- They also have a great sense of hearing. They are known to detect sounds from up to a quarter-mile in distance.
- Humans are always afraid of getting eaten by a shark while swimming in the ocean. However, the odds of getting eaten by a shark are 1 in 3,748,067.
- As an additional fact, Jaws 3D is the greatest shark film of all time. Don’t believe me? Look here.
