Exploring Nature: Sharks

Of the five hundred shark species, about one-third are in danger of going extinct, largely because of overfishing. Which leads us to the question: Can sharks survive us?
Photo from Metro Creative

Pity the poor shark.

This oceanic creature is wonderfully varied and seriously threatened. There are some 500 species and people kill about a hundred million annually.

That’s three killed every second.

Shark fin soup is a delicacy and to get the fin, fishermen catch a shark, lop off the fin and toss the poor shark back in the ocean. Unable to swim, it sinks to the bottom and bleeds to death.

Sharks kill fewer than ten people annually in unprovoked attacks. You are more likely to be bitten by another human than by a shark.

Twenty four people die annually from being hit by a flying champagne cork. Some two thousand are struck and die from lightning.

By comparison, snakes kill eighty thousand people a year, crocodiles kill a thousand, hippos some five hundred, and lions some two hundred.

You are much more likely to be killed by tornadoes or lawnmowers than by a shark.

These are truly ancient creatures and have been around for some four hundred and fifty million years. They survived the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs.

But there is some question if they can survive us — humans.

Of the five hundred shark species, about a third are in danger of extinction. This is essentially due to overfishing.

The whale shark is the world’s largest fish, growing more than 36 feet long. In contrast, the dwarf lantern shark is just a few inches long.

Some sharks swim their entire lives without ever stopping, and while their lifespan in the wild is 20 to 30 years, the Greenland shark can live an amazing 272 years.

All in all, when it comes to sharks, I am reminded of the passenger pigeon, once found in the millions before going extinct in 1914. Sharks might suffer the same fate.