aQUARIUM NEWS
TAK IN G A B IT E out of sharks MYTHS
July is around the corner, and with it, Shark Week! Before you dive into the toothy terrifying footage that sure to be featured on the Discovery Channel, discover the truth behind some common shark myths and see if you can see another side to the shark than the one that Hollywood and cable TV often portrays.
MYTH
Sharks are gigantic toothy maneaters
MYTH
Sharks are dangerous to humans
TRUTH
Sharks only kill about 6 people a year, worldwide. By comparison, humans kill 100 million sharks per year!
MYTH
Sharks are mindless killers
TRUTH Sharks are far smarter and more peaceful than you might think – they’ve show signs of intelligence like cooperative hunting and recognizing people – and will most often shy away from human activity.
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TRUTH Sharks range in all sizes – from the bus-sized whale shark to the inches-long dwarf lantern shark and eat all kinds of food including plankton and fish …but human is rarely on the menu.
MYTH
There’s plenty of sharks in the sea
TRUTH
Sadly, 1/3 of shark species are facing extinction, and with them gone, the ocean and its sea life could soon perish, since sharks help maintain the ocean’s delicate natural balance.
SUMMER 2019
