Shark bites her head

[billt4sf]

This thread got me thinking about shark deaths so I decided to look up some stats. From Wikipedia:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Shark_attack

"Even considering only people who go to beaches, a person's chance of getting attacked by a shark in the United States is 1 in 11.5 million, and a person's chance of getting killed by a shark is less than 1 in 264.1 million.^[20][21] In the United States, the annual number of people who drown is 3,306, whereas the annual number of shark fatalities is 1.<sup>[22]

"The Florida Museum of Natural History compares these statistics with the much higher rate of deaths from other, less feared causes. For example, an average of more than 38 people die annually from lightning strikes in coastal states, while less than 1 person per year is killed by a shark.[15][16] In comparison, 100 million sharks are killed every year by humans.[17][18][19]"

This relaxes me greatly. Actually the last statistic is the most stunning one!</sup>

 

[altaskier]

The shark seemed very interested in the top of her tank. I wonder if she had a wireless transmitter, and if it was somehow malfunctioning?

 

[Bob DBF]

Would be interesting to hear from shark experts. It seems to me that the behavior was unusual and not a feeding-type of behavior

I'm no expert, but from from what I've picked up it is their feeding behavior.
Once they run across a sea-lion or seal they hit them fast and hard with one massive bite which will kill them outright, disable them or they bleed out. With people, they realize it is not a seal and loose interest because we are not on their menu. Just an honest mistake. It just depends on your luck where you get bit and whether you survive it.



Bob
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I may be old, but I'm not dead yet

---------- Post added January 20th, 2013 at 07:30 PM ----------

The shark seemed very interested in the top of her tank. I wonder if she had a wireless transmitter, and if it was somehow malfunctioning?

Or not, it's transmitting in either case.


Bob

 

[altaskier]

Or not, it's transmitting in either case.
Bob

Ah, I should clarify what I meant. Lots of people have wireless transmitters on their first stage, on top of their tanks, and I've not heard of other stories of sharks being interested. In this case, it seems like the shark was very interested. In the story of Marco and the embarrassed great white, he had some electronic gizmo and there is speculation that this could have caught the shark's interest in a different way. So, could it be that the diver in this case A) had a wireless transmitter on top of the tank and B) it was emitting signals in some way (different from what they normally do) that caused the shark to say "Hey, this is interesting/annoying; I think I'll check it out, and since I'm a shark my mouth is how I check things out."

Of course this is just baseless speculation on my part.

 

[Diver0001]

Clearly I was nervous when the shark was shaking the top of my head in its jaw,

Nervous? Geez! Even the women in New Zealand have hairy cojones. I would have peed myself.

R..

 

[DandyDon]

Nervous? Geez! Even the women in New Zealand have hairy cojones. I would have peed myself.

R..

You attributed that quote to me...?

 

[Diver0001]

Quote fail. The diver said that, not DD.

He would have peed himself too!

R..

 

[DandyDon]

Quote fail. The diver said that, not DD.

He would have peed himself too!

R..

I'd have to buy a new suit...!

 

[fjpatrum]

Maybe it's just me, but the first time a shark bites anything of mine, I'm hitting it or, at the very least, making sure I can see it approach a second time... I'm not taking any chances! I think I'd do the same if it happened to my buddy. Sharks passing closer and closer to something is part of their "food determination" process, as I understand it. That second pass would have had me back to back with my buddy and moving out of the water as soon as possible, research be damned.

I'm not afraid of sharks generally, even big ones that have a "reputation" but when they exhibit that kind of behavior, it's time to get out of the water and remove any possibility of being any part of the food chain except the top.

 

[Bob DBF]

Ah, I should clarify what I meant. Lots of people have wireless transmitters on their first stage, on top of their tanks, and I've not heard of other stories of sharks being interested. In this case, it seems like the shark was very interested. In the story of Marco and the embarrassed great white, he had some electronic gizmo and there is speculation that this could have caught the shark's interest in a different way. So, could it be that the diver in this case A) had a wireless transmitter on top of the tank and B) it was emitting signals in some way (different from what they normally do) that caused the shark to say "Hey, this is interesting/annoying; I think I'll check it out, and since I'm a shark my mouth is how I check things out."

Of course this is just baseless speculation on my part.

I agree, but am adding the point that the transmitter need not be defective to catch a sharks intrest, it also may be dependant on the sharks perception.

Isn't baseless spectulation what the internet is all about?



Bob
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I may be old, but I&#8217;m not dead yet.