Janet Evans - Sharks: 101 Super Fun Facts and Amazing Pictures: Featuring the Worlds Top 10 Sharks

SHARKS: 101 SUPER FUN FACTS AND AMAZING PICTURES

(FEATURING THE WORLD's TOP 10 SHARKS)

Table of Contents

Introduction to the Wonderful World of Sharks

Figure 1: Sharks are known as the top predators of the ocean. And no sea creature would dare cross them.

Sharks are among the most wonderful creatures of the water. They are glorious animals that have captured the fascination of humans. Sharks are both loved and feared. And with their size and sharp teeth, they are clearly intimidating. In fact, they rule the ocean world.

1. Sharks have been around for 400 million years. They are considered the top predators in the ocean. In fact, they have been hunters long before the dinosaurs came to be.
2. Sharks are great survivors. Not only are sharks great hunters, they have also proven to be great survivors. That's because they have gone little evolution for the last 150 million years.
3. Not all sharks are fearsome. Out of the 400 types of sharks, only 30 have been reported to attack humans.
4. Sharks vary in size. Some are measured at only six inches while others grow as big as 45 feet. That is about the size of a school bus.

Figure 2: A single bite from a shark can be deadly. Its biting power comes from its massive and incredibly strong jaws.

1. Sharks have the strongest jaws. And they can move both their upper and lower jaws which make them the only animal that can do so.
2. The type of the shark can be identified with the shape of their teeth. Sharks that only eat animals have sharp and pointy teeth.
3. One shark can grow and use more than 20,000 teeth throughout its lifetime. And they never run out of teeth. In case, one tooth falls off, another moves forward to take its place.
4. Sharks do not usually eat together. But during a feeding frenzy, they would fight their way for a bite even if it means hurting each other.
5. They are not covered by regular fish scales. Instead, their skin is made up of denticles like their sharp teeth are made of. This makes sharks less prone to injury.
6. The biggest sharks are surprisingly harmless and non-aggressive. They only feed on smaller creatures such as the plankton.

Figure 3: Baby sharks or pups as they are called are quite small only when compared with the adults. Such make them vulnerable to the bigger sharks. These pups are always in danger of being eaten, at times, by their own kind.

1. Baby sharks are called pups. An adult female shark can give birth to 1 or up to a hundred babies at a time.
2. According to research, sharks are colorblind. However, they have such strong sense of smell which they use for their hunting spree. They can smell a single drop of blood among a million drops of water.

Figure 4: This shark could sink if it does not constantly and continuously swim.

The Black Tip Reef Shark got its name because of its distinctive black marks found on its pectoral and dorsal fins. They live in inshore shallow waters on coral reefs. During a tidal flow, they stay in mangroves.

1. These sharks have no choice but to swim endlessly. They will sink if they do not keep on swimming.
2. Black Tip Reef Sharks do not grow and reproduce as quickly as other types of sharks. An adult female Black Tip Reef Shark carries its babies for 16 months and may give birth to 2 or 5 pups.
3. Humans do not appeal to the taste of Black Tip Reef Sharks. They usually take a test bite and once they figure out you're human, they would swim away.
4. These sharks like to eat mullets, smelt-whitings, wrasses, teleost and surgeon fish.
5. They are known to be one of the shy types of shark and they are usually frightened by swimmers.

Figure 5: This shark got its name for its incredible resemblance with bulls. Not that it looks like one but because it charges on its prey head on before taking a bite.

Judging by the looks of the bull shark, you know they are not the kind to be messed with. In fact, they are considered the third most dangerous sharks to humans. Not only are they aggressive. They also tend to hunt along tropical shorelines where people often go swimming.

1. Bull sharks live everywhere. They can be found in shallow water and in the warm ocean.
2. While other sharks only survive in saltwater, bull sharks have developed a special and unusual ability to adapt in freshwater. This is why they also find their way to the freshwater rivers.
3. Bull sharks do not hunt for people. In fact, human meat is not part of their diet which mainly consists of fish, dolphins and sea turtles.
4. Bull Shark attacks only happen because they often mistake people for their usual prey.
5. They are hardworking hunters. They go on their hunting spree day and night.
6. These sharks have a habit of head butting their prey before taking a bite which is why they are aptly called bull sharks.
7. They can grow anywhere between 7 and 11.5 feet. And they can weigh from 200 up to 500 pounds.
8. The average lifespan of bull sharks is 16 years.

Figure 6: The scuba divers here are unharmed by the hammerhead shark. But while this shark does not prey on humans, they are predatory by nature. These divers had to be very careful not to piss of the shark.

The Hammerhead Shark has a unique look. It has this unusually shaped head which is quite useful for hunting.

1. Although the hammerhead shark is less likely to attack humans, people are usually cautioned because this type of shark is predatory by nature. Its enormous size of about 10 to 20 feet is also deemed as threatening.
2. The hammerhead shark's favorite food is the stingray. Unlike other animals, this type of shark does not get affected by the stingray's venom.
3. This shark catches its prey by using its wide head to trap its food and pin it to the seafloor.
4. Although its wide head is quite unusual, such feature allows the hammerhead shark to quickly scan for prey, much faster than other sharks can.
5. A female hammerhead shark can give birth to six or up to 50 pups at a time.
6. The young hammerhead sharks may fall prey to bigger sharks.
7. When the hammerhead grows into full size, there are only a few sharks that are aggressive enough to attack them.
8. They are usually found in the moderate to tropical waters. They swim in deep as well as in shallow waters.
9. A hammerhead shark can live anywhere between 20 and 30 years.