With Shark Week silently lurking its way towards Animal Planet next week we’ve decided to dip our toes in the water for this weeks’ shark FACTS…
FACT 1: Some sharks can smell one part of blood in 100 million parts of water and can tell which direction that smell is coming from.
FACT 2: Sharks generally reside in waters from 7,000 feet to 10,000 feet. They are rarely found higher or lower than that. When they are seen at other elevations is it due to fear of danger or to find food.
FACT 3: Some sharks can live a year without eating, living off the oil they stored in their bodies.
FACT 4: While brain size cannot be generalized to every shark species, some of them have a Y shaped brain with two bulbs, measuring about 2 feet (60 centimetres)
FACT 5:
About two-thirds of shark attacks on humans have taken place in water less than six feet deep.
FACT 6: An intact German WWII torpedo was found in the stomach of a Tiger shark.
FACT 7: The Swell Shark, found in New Zealand is known to bark like a dog. It does this after inflating its stomach to deter predators and makes the noise when expelling the air.
FACT 8: Most species of sharks can swim up to 20-40 miles per hour. A Mako Shark has been recorded at more than 60 miles per hour.
FACT 9: Hammerhead sharks’ heads are soft at birth so they won’t jam their mothers' birth canals.
FACT 10: Some sharks can bite hard enough to cut through a thick piece of steel.
Related links:
Everything you ever needed to know about sharks
Watch sharks live in our shark cam!
Turn yourself into a shark in our shark yourself interactive
Comments