On hot summer days, many people love to go into the sea to play. But at the same time, there are plenty of people who may be terrified of the scary sharks that pop culture like Jaws describes. But in fact, when you play in the sea, the probability of actually encountering a shark is very small. Although it is believed that sharks are quite scary animals and that it means it is difficult for us to survive once encountered, from a scientific point of view, this is not a fact at all. Next, Xiaobian will reveal for you 7 common wrong rumors about sharks.
1. If the shark stops swimming, it will die?
There is a saying that sharks will die quickly if they stop swimming. But this is not entirely true. Sharks have two ways to get oxygen. One is called oral pumping, which uses the cheek muscles to suck water out of the mouth and drain it through the gills. In this way, they can remain stationary and even rest on the seabed.
There is also a method called stamping ventilation. In this case, the shark must keep moving continuously. The vast majority of sharks have both ways of breathing.
2. Can sharks swim backwards?
In the movie, sharks attack humans by even retreating and then slamming hard. When they encounter a human trap, they will escape by retreating. But sharks in reality can't do that. They move forward through their tails and pectoral fins and simply cannot swim backwards.
3. How many kilometers does the shark smell a drop of blood?
People tend to believe that sharks are quite bloodthirsty, after all, that's what movies tell us. Moreover, they are able to find you from a few kilometers away through the bloodstream. But this is not true. Sharks do have a well-developed sense of smell, and some shark species can indeed smell blood at a distance of 400 meters.
But even so, the odds of it attacking are quite low. If you do have an injured foot and bleed while swimming, you must move at high speed and also take into account the current, which is likely to attract the sharks around you. This can be said to be impossible at all.
4. Are all shark species predators?
Sharks are the top predators in the ocean in the human mind, but that doesn't mean all sharks hunt for survival. In the case of whale sharks, for example, this animal with a length of 8 meters and a maximum length of 20 meters is so large, but its diet is mainly plankton.
5. Do sharks like human flesh?
The sharks in the movie always like to attack humans, and human flesh seems to them to be the most wonderful food in the world. However, this is incorrect. Different sharks themselves have different eating habits and taste preferences. Some sharks even prefer smaller marine life. Lemon sharks, for example, whose best food is mollusks, small fish, and even seabirds, are too small. And they definitely don't like to eat humans, even if they do have a strong sense of smell and smell human blood, they will not attack. To most sharks, the creature looks so strange that they are reluctant to even venture into attack and taste human.
6. Can sharks jump out of the water?
If you've ever seen a shark jumping from the surface of the sea, it's either a scene from a movie or a PS photo. The probability of being a real photo is low, and this is because this situation is quite rare in reality. At present, we only know that great white sharks can jump to a height of 2.5 meters above sea level, and through this altitude, they can sometimes prey on seabirds.
7. Sharks deliberately hunt humans?
Sharks in movies like Jaws always deliberately hunt humans, and they are very persistent, even if they are hurt many times, they still have to attack humans. This is an outrageous setting, animals hunt and eat to survive, and they are usually reluctant to risk their lives and injuries to continue to attack their prey. Even if there are cases of sharks attacking humans, it is more likely that sharks have made a mistake, and they may see humans as animals such as seals. Or maybe they're just being playful, and may be attracted to a moving human and want to take a bite to see if they can eat it.