They are amongst this lush crowd which I've seen in the flesh.
Just don't turn me into one! Raw herring all day would be bloody boring!
I am looking forward to several new documentaries on Quest I have recorded tonight.
Predator X, Dinosaurs: Return to Life? And of course -Tyrannosaurus Sex - which at least should show some prehistoric porn without all those huge '70's tashes!
I respect them as the magnificent predators that they are and I certainly think takes a very competent diver who is an expert in their behaviour to swim safely with any of the larger sharks (and only a handful of people in the world are experienced enough free dive with a Great White).
The point you made about approaching a bear is a good one. Would people walk about on the African plain without protection from Lions, Leopards Hyenas etc?
Yet the Media often seems astonished when the (very, very rare) odd mistaken attack occurs.
General rule of thumb with any shark is if the tail movement changes and the pectoral fins go down then you back off. That's the equivalent of a wolf bearing its teeth, sharks do it when they feel threatened by you. I was lucky enough to take a shark diving course when I was in South Africa, from divers that have worked with sharks for decades. They gave all sorts of hints about how to get close without upsetting the animal, such as swimming alongside rather than at the shark, and making sure that your heartbeat and breathing stay regular so that their electrical sensors don't notice any difference.
Saying that, sometimes the currents just take you towards sharks, who like to hang in the water facing into the incoming flow. When that happens it gets a bit manic, with divers and sharks scattering around each other
As for the media, they do a lot of damage to sharks with the fear they like to peddle. The Western Australia government is currently culling sharks to apparently make the beaches safer, despite there typically only being two shark attacks in the whole of Australia every year. Another great example of just how much damage we do to the world.
General rule of thumb with any shark is if the tail movement changes and the pectoral fins go down then you back off. That's the equivalent of a wolf bearing its teeth, sharks do it when they feel threatened by you. I was lucky enough to take a shark diving course when I was in South Africa, from divers that have worked with sharks for decades. They gave all sorts of hints about how to get close without upsetting the animal, such as swimming alongside rather than at the shark, and making sure that your heartbeat and breathing stay regular so that their electrical sensors don't notice any difference.
Saying that, sometimes the currents just take you towards sharks, who like to hang in the water facing into the incoming flow. When that happens it gets a bit manic, with divers and sharks scattering around each other
As for the media, they do a lot of damage to sharks with the fear they like to peddle. The Western Australia government is currently culling sharks to apparently make the beaches safer, despite there typically only being two shark attacks in the whole of Australia every year. Another great example of just how much damage we do to the world.
I have always found the topic of body language and communication in sharks fascinating.
For example I love it when two whites square up to each other and one gives way (usually but not always the largest wins). Individual Great whites (and other sharks) seem to differ in temperament as well, some highly dominant some timid.
And I know all about the cull. It is simply repulsive and just another way for a political pygmy to try and gain the redneck vote. >:(
But I was so pleased to see all the opposition in Australia.
Things are slowly improving around the world. Although it may already be too late for many species of shark (and other large pelagic fish).
I can't help but think the fear of sharks in some people around the world is a lasting affect of the movie JAWs, as much as I love this film I sometimes wonder if it had never been made would sharks still need protecting.
This is from Wikipedia about the reaction JAWs had at the time.
The film had broader cultural repercussions, as well. Similar to the way the pivotal scene in 1960's Psycho made showers a new source of anxiety, Jaws led many viewers to fear going into the ocean. Reduced beach attendance in 1975 was attributed to it, as well as an increased number of reported shark sightings. It is still seen as responsible for perpetuating negative stereotypes about sharks and their behavior, and for producing the so-called "Jaws effect", which allegedly inspired "legions of fishermen [who] piled into boats and killed thousands of the ocean predators in shark-fishing tournaments. Benchley stated that he would not have written the original novel had he known what sharks are really like in the wild. Conservation groups have bemoaned the fact that the film has made it considerably harder to convince the public that sharks should be protected.
I can't help but think the fear of sharks in some people around the world is a lasting affect of the movie JAWs, as much as I love this film I sometimes wonder if it had never been made would sharks still need protecting.
This is from Wikipedia about the reaction JAWs had at the time.
Jaws undeniably had a negative effect in the short term.
But it also inspired generations of marine biologists to study sharks, and with understanding comes respect.
But shark finning is by far the biggest danger to them.
Despite the very best efforts of pathetic mouth-breathing 'macho men' like Mark 'The Shark' Quartiano (do not visit this pricks website if you love sharks or just wildlife in general) and that senile old fool Vic Hislop.
They have only managed to kill thousands of sharks between them over the decades.
But millions upon millions of these creatures (so vital to the oceans eco-systems) die in agony every year for the pathetic soup that Asian countries seem to value so much.
And for the record Jaws is one of my favourite films of all time, a true masterpiece in every respect. ^_^
Jaws undeniably had a negative effect in the short term.
But it also inspired generations of marine biologists to study sharks, and with understanding comes respect.
But shark finning is by far the biggest danger to them.
Despite the very best efforts of pathetic mouth-breathing 'macho men' like Mark 'The Shark' Quartiano (do not visit this pricks website if you love sharks or just wildlife in general) and that senile old fool Vic Hislop.
They have only managed to kill thousands of sharks between them over the decades.
But millions upon millions of these creatures (so vital to the oceans eco-systems) die in agony every year for the pathetic soup that Asian countries seem to value so much.
And for the record Jaws is one of my favourite films of all time, a true masterpiece in every respect. ^_^
Maybe it's a stereotype from watching to many kung fu movies when I was younger (or teenage mutant ninja turtles) but I always thought Asian countries valued honour & respect, but the despicable act of catching sharks just to cut there fins off & then throwing them back knowing full well the poor animals will suffocate, or hunting whales to near extinction in the guise of scientific research & lets not forget the infamous cove where dolphins are slaughtered in there hundreds, it's a shame there not very respectful & honourable to some of the most beautiful animals on earth.
I'd say 8 meters and about 4 tonnes would be about right - flippin scary though - quite happy to keep myself on land - those creatures rule the seas pretty much - besides JAWS - there are many stories and news items of shark attacks even today - so keeping a safe distance would be my advice - and a bigger boat! lol
Maybe it's a stereotype from watching to many kung fu movies when I was younger (or teenage mutant ninja turtles) but I always thought Asian countries valued honour & respect, but the despicable act of catching sharks just to cut there fins off & then throwing them back knowing full well the poor animals will suffocate, or hunting whales to near extinction in the guise of scientific research & lets not forget the infamous cove where dolphins are slaughtered in there hundreds, it's a shame there not very respectful & honourable to some of the most beautiful animals on earth.
It's mostly down to lack of education about the effects of what they're doing. For example, this idea that things such as rhino horn or tiger bones are great medicine is frequently defended as being part of their "tradition", but if you point out to them that if they don't stop what they're doing then the "tradition" will be forced to end anyway when the animal goes extinct they do start to realise that you're only asking them to change their behaviour one generation before it inevitably has to.
With shark fins huge numbers of Asians, even fishermen, genuinely believe that sharks can regrow their dorsal fins. They need to be told how this isn't the case until it sinks in and how as a result they're wiping out the thing they love to eat so much. The message needs to be hammered home. It's the only way you'll get people to understand how unsustainable the level of slaughter is.
I'd say 8 meters and about 4 tonnes would be about right - flippin scary though - quite happy to keep myself on land - those creatures rule the seas pretty much - besides JAWS - there are many stories and news items of shark attacks even today - so keeping a safe distance would be my advice - and a bigger boat! lol
Whale sharks and Basking sharks are considerably larger than Great Whites, often growing up to 14-15 metres in length. They are completely harmless to humans though.
Not managed to meet one of those underwater yet. Still have that to hope for
I will be very brief because I do not have much time tonight.
But I do hope this thread will keep going.
Education is the key as far as shark finning is concerned, we have already driven to extinction almost every large bird, reptile and mammal on land in the past few thousand years - the Megafauna - of whom there were far too many gigantic and truly awesome species to list here.
Just look at Australia, it lost 95 % of it's large animals once we arrived, no wonder it looks like a bloody wasteland, the same for the Americas and to a lesser extent Europe and Africa (where at least some of the animals learned to run like hell whenever they saw Homo sapiens).
So it would be nice to think just a few of the seas great creatures will survive into the 22nd century for people to wonder at.
The Greenland and Pacific Sleeper sharks (Somniosus sp.) are also really huge carnivorous monsters and in fact rival the Great White in maximum size.
Just take a look at the size of this utterly massive Pacific Sleeper filmed in deep water off Japan - at the very minimum it is over 7 meters long and looks far bigger than that to me!
Bumping this thread - I was going to start a new one about sharks in general but I might as well post on here.
Jumbo - a relatively young five and a half metre female from Rodey Fox's wonderful Facebook page.
The fact that we now know that great whites live to at least 70 years old means she may have many years growing to do (if she is not murdered by totally ignorant bastards).
She will probably top six metres in a few years time.
They really are majestic Ann, and those were Steller's Sea Lions I believe - the largest sea lions in the world capable of growing to well over a ton and massive carnivores in their own right.
But they do have a few predators, one is of course the Orca but have a guess what the only other one is? ;-)
I have cage dived with great white in south Africa. I'll find the bid and some photos later. Great fun.
Wow!
I really envy you and I look forward to the photos.
It's interesting that when white sharks reach around five metres they are rarely seen off the coast of South Africa - I have read that it seems that they migrate into deeper waters once they get that big - which is why the fully mature giants are not seen as often as off the Farallon Islands, Baja, or South Australia for example.
I will be very interested to know how large the ones you saw were.
I really envy you and I look forward to the photos.
It's interesting that when white sharks reach around five metres they are rarely seen off the coast of South Africa - I have read that it seems that they migrate into deeper waters once they get that big - which is why the fully mature giants are not seen as often as off the Farallon Islands, Baja, or South Australia for example.
I will be very interested to know how large the ones you saw were.
And welcome to the forum! ^_^
We saw sharks in the 3-4m size. Which I can assure you looked in to 30-40m size range when the hungry toothy beasts are about 6 inches away from you.:o
Seeing a ragged tooth shark would be more scary than a great white. I know they are a lot more docile than the great whites, but the great white kind of has a smile on their face and the ragged tooth just has this menacing evil look to them.
Seeing a ragged tooth shark would be more scary than a great white. I know they are a lot more docile than the great whites, but the great white kind of has a smile on their face and the ragged tooth just has this menacing evil look to them.
I beg to differ. Seeing a gw in the flesh looks like the grim reaper in fish form. A raggy is his puppy by comparison.
We saw sharks in the 3-4m size. Which I can assure you looked in to 30-40m size range when the hungry toothy beasts are about 6 inches away from you.:o
Yes youngsters as I expected - although I agree that even a 3-4 metre white shark would just look totally immense compared to most predators.
Comments
I did not count humans of course.
But yes white sharks are it's only other significent predator.
They are amongst this lush crowd which I've seen in the flesh.
Just don't turn me into one! Raw herring all day would be bloody boring!
I am looking forward to several new documentaries on Quest I have recorded tonight.
Predator X, Dinosaurs: Return to Life? And of course -Tyrannosaurus Sex - which at least should show some prehistoric porn without all those huge '70's tashes!
Saying that, sometimes the currents just take you towards sharks, who like to hang in the water facing into the incoming flow. When that happens it gets a bit manic, with divers and sharks scattering around each other
As for the media, they do a lot of damage to sharks with the fear they like to peddle. The Western Australia government is currently culling sharks to apparently make the beaches safer, despite there typically only being two shark attacks in the whole of Australia every year. Another great example of just how much damage we do to the world.
I have always found the topic of body language and communication in sharks fascinating.
For example I love it when two whites square up to each other and one gives way (usually but not always the largest wins). Individual Great whites (and other sharks) seem to differ in temperament as well, some highly dominant some timid.
And I know all about the cull. It is simply repulsive and just another way for a political pygmy to try and gain the redneck vote. >:(
But I was so pleased to see all the opposition in Australia.
Things are slowly improving around the world. Although it may already be too late for many species of shark (and other large pelagic fish).
This is from Wikipedia about the reaction JAWs had at the time.
Jaws undeniably had a negative effect in the short term.
But it also inspired generations of marine biologists to study sharks, and with understanding comes respect.
But shark finning is by far the biggest danger to them.
Despite the very best efforts of pathetic mouth-breathing 'macho men' like Mark 'The Shark' Quartiano (do not visit this pricks website if you love sharks or just wildlife in general) and that senile old fool Vic Hislop.
They have only managed to kill thousands of sharks between them over the decades.
But millions upon millions of these creatures (so vital to the oceans eco-systems) die in agony every year for the pathetic soup that Asian countries seem to value so much.
And for the record Jaws is one of my favourite films of all time, a true masterpiece in every respect. ^_^
Maybe it's a stereotype from watching to many kung fu movies when I was younger (or teenage mutant ninja turtles) but I always thought Asian countries valued honour & respect, but the despicable act of catching sharks just to cut there fins off & then throwing them back knowing full well the poor animals will suffocate, or hunting whales to near extinction in the guise of scientific research & lets not forget the infamous cove where dolphins are slaughtered in there hundreds, it's a shame there not very respectful & honourable to some of the most beautiful animals on earth.
With shark fins huge numbers of Asians, even fishermen, genuinely believe that sharks can regrow their dorsal fins. They need to be told how this isn't the case until it sinks in and how as a result they're wiping out the thing they love to eat so much. The message needs to be hammered home. It's the only way you'll get people to understand how unsustainable the level of slaughter is.
Not managed to meet one of those underwater yet. Still have that to hope for
I will be very brief because I do not have much time tonight.
But I do hope this thread will keep going.
Education is the key as far as shark finning is concerned, we have already driven to extinction almost every large bird, reptile and mammal on land in the past few thousand years - the Megafauna - of whom there were far too many gigantic and truly awesome species to list here.
Just look at Australia, it lost 95 % of it's large animals once we arrived, no wonder it looks like a bloody wasteland, the same for the Americas and to a lesser extent Europe and Africa (where at least some of the animals learned to run like hell whenever they saw Homo sapiens).
So it would be nice to think just a few of the seas great creatures will survive into the 22nd century for people to wonder at.
But I will not hold my breath.
Just take a look at the size of this utterly massive Pacific Sleeper filmed in deep water off Japan - at the very minimum it is over 7 meters long and looks far bigger than that to me!
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9kVLXvDsDtQ
Jumbo - a relatively young five and a half metre female from Rodey Fox's wonderful Facebook page.
The fact that we now know that great whites live to at least 70 years old means she may have many years growing to do (if she is not murdered by totally ignorant bastards).
She will probably top six metres in a few years time.
Magnificent. :kitty:
https://fbcdn-sphotos-e-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfp1/v/t1.0-9/10369890_727267237340733_4445601321406722392_n.jpg?oh=d14b3c0d306ed3c351dd071eaaccb351&oe=54707D22&__gda__=1415551403_76747db4dca32aa8e926a05f187eec44
http://31.media.tumblr.com/8d0afa3d3a3dbe59689c8e044a816683/tumblr_n7ygil1tVx1ri2qg4o1_1280.jpg
And one who already exceeded six metres - the mighty Brindabella who must be in the three ton class (compare her vast form to the divers in the cage).
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-xfa1/t1.0-9/1006139_526300787437380_86966460_n.jpg
https://scontent-b-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-xap1/t1.0-9/1013894_10151703980571427_692253234_n.jpg
https://scontent-b-cdg.xx.fbcdn.net/hphotos-frc3/v/t1.0-9/1044774_530878740312918_377331019_n.jpg?oh=3c2dbe8906eac48a7c27eb9679fabd09&oe=54809A79
Mermaids?
Well you should know - you are a FIN-MAN after all!
Nicely played.
One last photo of the supergiant Brindabella - she is one of the largest white sharks ever to be photographed alive in their natural environment.
https://fbcdn-sphotos-f-a.akamaihd.net/hphotos-ak-prn2/t31.0-8/1102521_550495481684577_97098788_o.jpg
Wow!
I really envy you and I look forward to the photos.
It's interesting that when white sharks reach around five metres they are rarely seen off the coast of South Africa - I have read that it seems that they migrate into deeper waters once they get that big - which is why the fully mature giants are not seen as often as off the Farallon Islands, Baja, or South Australia for example.
I will be very interested to know how large the ones you saw were.
And welcome to the forum! ^_^
We saw sharks in the 3-4m size. Which I can assure you looked in to 30-40m size range when the hungry toothy beasts are about 6 inches away from you.:o
I beg to differ. Seeing a gw in the flesh looks like the grim reaper in fish form. A raggy is his puppy by comparison.
Yes youngsters as I expected - although I agree that even a 3-4 metre white shark would just look totally immense compared to most predators.
Thanks very much for that post.
I agree it is the grim reaper - the largest look like a submarine with teeth!