Cool Shark Facts

Sharks are fascinating creatures now that we, as human beings, have taken some time to study them. On this page are some really amazing and cool shark facts that we maybe never knew before about those wonderful creatures.

Streamlined killing machines, sharks are the vacuum cleaners of our oceans and seas, getting rid of dead and dying creatures and ensuring the health of underwater life.

Sharks, as apex predators, hold the balance of power in the seas.

Much like us humans on land, the biggest sharks have no natural enemies and are the ultimate authority under the waves.

Without them, our seas would become disease-ridden and toxic, so we have a lot to thank them for, because as we all know, it is the power of the oceans which drive out weather and climate patterns on land.

Read on for some awesome shark facts.

• Most sharks give birth to live young, and don't lay eggs like fish.
• The mother shark does not provide any means to feed the growing embryos in the womb. they are expected to eat unfertilized eggs, and later when they are used up, each other.
• While fish are normally cold-blooded, all requiem sharks are warm-blooded, just like us. Those include the tiger, blue, milk, spinner, blacktip and oceanic whitetip shark among others. Even the great white shark is warm-blooded.
• Both the largest and the second largest sharks in the world, the whale shark and the basking shark, are harmless plankton eaters.
• Sharks have existed almost unchanged on planet Earth for 400 million years, long before the dinosaur came into existence.
• Sharks can smell a single drop of blood in the ocean from up to 3 miles away.
• Some deep ocean sharks, like lantern sharks, glow in the dark.
• Many sharks eat other sharks, including their own offspring.
• Many shark mothers abandon their offspring at birth to fend for themselves.
• More people die each year from lightening strikes than die from shark attacks.
• Tiger sharks can crush through turtle shells as easily as we can eat a cookie.
• Some sharks have reproduced in captivity asexually.
• 100 million sharks are killed every year solely for their fins.
• Many sharks do not reach sexual maturity until they are in their teens, just like humans.
• Sharks can be pregnant for over a year.
• Female sharks are bigger and more aggressive than males.
• Sharks have several rows of teeth. When they lose one, another one takes it place.
• A single shark can produce 20,000 teeth in its lifetime. They lose a tooth every other day.
• The pre-Incas of Peru (200 AD) revered sharks. They still caught and ate them, but no parts were wasted and what couldn't be used was buried and prayers offered to the Gods.
• Hawaiian culture believes their dead relatives were reincarnated as sharks, and so it was and still is an offence to harm a shark.
• During feeding frenzies, sharks frequently bite each other.
• Some female sharks have evolved to have an extra layer of blubber to protect her from the male of the species, who bites as part of the mating ritual.
• The shortfin mako shark can accelerate faster than a Porche.
• Some sharks travel thousands of miles annually, frequently crossing the full width of the Atlantic Ocean twice a year.
• The blue shark swims in groups of similar size, segregated by sex. These groups are always either all female or all male.
• The bull shark is frequently called the 'pitbull of the ocean' due to its ferocity when attacking.
• The world's smallest sharks are smaller than a man's hand.
• Whale sharks are the biggest sharks.
• Greenland sharks are the slowest moving sharks.
• Mako sharks are the fastest, and can swim at an incredible 60 mph.
• Shark skeletons are made from cartilage instead of bone. This gives them much greater flexibility.