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Can Sharks 'Go Rogue'?
Editor's note: Happy Shark Week! All week long we'll be re-capping some highlights from Shark Week programming. Today we review "Going Rogue" and "Summer of the Shark."
Would a shark ever “go rogue” and start mercilessly attacking humans? That’s the question that last night’s episode in the Shark Week lineup sought to answer. Ever since New England beachgoers were terrorized by a rogue shark in “Jaws,” it has been a common fear that sharks, particularly great whites, are ruthless, man-eating machines.
This episode shed some light on the matter with a mix of shark attack stories and scientific studies on shark behavior. The conclusions likely elicited a collective sigh of relief across America: Sharks have never in fact gone rogue like Jaws did, but instead almost always bite a human as a result of other environmental factors at play.
In reality, the likelihood of being attacked by a shark is extremely slim. So for all the readers out there who were wondering whether it was safe to go back in the water, consider the possibility of a shark going rogue to be out of the question.
3 Ways to Get Ready for Shark Week
On July 31, Shark Week is back! Need some ideas on how to celebrate this, the sharkiest time of year? We're here for you:
1. Share the Shark Week Love
Have your friends over for a watch party. Check out the programming schedule. I recommend "Jaws Comes Home" on July 31, but there's a full week of great shark shows to pick from.
Don’t know what to serve? Shark cookies, of course! Make a $35 donation and get a shark cookie cutter and recipe card so your friends can take a bite out of a great white while watching great whites take a bite out of seals.
2. Shark Week 2.0
Bump up your watch party guest list by a few thousand. Take photos and share them with us on Instagram, Facebook, and Twitter.
Have shark questions? Ask away on Facebook and Twitter and our shark experts will keep you shark savvy.
3. Save Sharks
For one week a year, over 30 million Americans are glued to their TV sets, transfixed by incredible stories of amazing, powerful sharks. But the true story is that they can’t save themselves from their top predator: us.
Caught on fishing lines and targeted for their fins, shark numbers are dropping, and fast. If even just 10% of all Shark Week viewers took action to protect sharks, that would equal millions of people speaking up for the animals they tune in to see each year.
Make sure that Shark Week isn’t the only time we can see sharks. They are great to watch on TV, but we need them in the wild, too.
Happy Blue August!
For the second year in a row, Oceana is an official partner of Planet Green’s Blue August, which is a month of programming focused on the oceans and water issues.
Here are some of the ocean offerings from Planet Green this month:
- Oceans Blue, which features Philippe Cousteau and a team of underwater explorers, including expedition leader Paul Rose, marine biologist Tooni Mahto and maritime archaeologist Lucy Blue, as they attempt to unravel some of the vast mysteries of the world’s oceans.
- Black Wave: The Legacy of Exxon Valdez follows Rick Ott and the fisherman of Cordova, Alaska as they wage the longest legal battle in U.S. history against Exxon, and as they try to rebuild their lives after the crisis. (Airs Saturday, August 14 at 10/9c.)
- Coastwatch, which follows members of New Zealand’s Ministry of Fisheries as they fight to protect the country’s precious marine ecosystems.
Five Fun Things to Do This Shark Week
As you know, shark week is about more than just TV shows. It’s about celebrating our elasmobranch friends in all their beauty, mystery and glory. And it’s fun!
Take a bite out of these fun shark activities for all ages on Discovery’s Shark Week website -- and this is just a sampling:
Are you as beautiful as a whale shark, or goofy as a hammerhead ? Find out what kind of shark you are, and check out the many other shark quizzes, too.
Upload a photo of yourself and voila -- become a beautiful, hideous or scary-looking shark. This one is my personal favorite. (Yep, that’s me in the image.)
Watch live shark video from the Georgia Aquarium. Daily events to tune in for include: interactive dive tour at 12:30 p.m. ET, a sand tiger and hammerhead shark feeding at 1:30 p.m. ET, a whale shark feeding at 3:00 p.m. ET and an expert chat at 10:00 p.m. ET.
Put on your virtual scuba suit and find out which sharks prefer splashing in the shallows vs. lurking in the deep.
Check out this interactive map of the current population status of sharks in 18 different regions around the world.
Have fun, and let us know your favorite!
Swimming With Belize's Gentle Giants
Happy Shark Week! Oceana scientist Margot Stiles wrote this post for us back in May, but in honor of Shark Week, and because I like it so much, here it is again for your reading pleasure.
Have you ever swum with sharks? Let us know in the comments! - Emily
Every spring Belize hosts one of nature’s great wonders: the arrival of whale sharks in search of spawning snapper. This year I had the pleasure of witnessing it first hand, on last month’s Oceana expedition.
The whale shark is the largest fish in the sea at 60 feet long, but it is mild-mannered and harmless to people. Around the full moons of March through June each year, whale sharks arrive and begin feeding at the Gladden Spit and Silk Cayes Marine Reserve near Placencia, Belize.
Tony Rath of Naturalight Productions has spent thirty years photographing wildlife in Belize and still beams at the mention of his most recent expedition with Oceana. “Seeing whale sharks this close is an unforgettable experience, as inspiring as seeing a puma or any of the large animals on land,” he said.
What Kind of Shark Are You?
Hello, shark fans!
While I generally don’t take advice from 30 Rock’s Tracy Morgan, I do try to “live every week like it’s Shark Week.” But as you may know, the real Shark Week starts August 1 and this year Oceana is an official partner with Discovery, so get ready for even more shark-filled fun and conservation.
I’ve been excited for weeks now so when I ran into the “What Kind of Shark Are You?” quiz on Discovery’s website, I had to check it out. After answering the 10 questions I discovered that I am…a great white shark!
What kind of shark are you? Take the quiz and let us know your results!
And to learn more about your shark alter ego, head to Oceana.org/Explore.
Andy Sharpless: Ocean Visionary
To celebrate the 40th anniversary of Earth Day, Discovery’s Planet Green has announced 16 visionaries -- people with big ideas that are shaping our world. Joining the likes of Moby, Philippe Cousteau and Stephen Dubner on the list is our very own CEO, Andy Sharpless.
Here’s an excerpt of Planet Green’s interview with Andy:
What accomplishment of the environmental movement over the past 40 years stands out to you?
I remember the first Earth Day. I was a student in Philadelphia and I went to an Earth Day concert where I was in high school. It is absolutely the case in the 40 years since then, environmental legislation in the US -- pushed through by the environmental movement and its many supporters both in Congress and out in families of America -- cleaned up the air and cleaned up the water in meaningful ways especially in American cities like the one I grew up in. The air is safer to breath and the rivers and the lakes are cleaner for the people who use them, and swim in them, boat on them, and fish out of them and for the creatures that live in them.
