Friends who have been to the aquarium know that we can see a variety of animals in the aquarium, such as: killer whales, seals, polar bears and so on.
There are countless species of these animals, but why can't you see the overlord of the ocean, the great white shark?
Let's follow the dog to see why there are no great white sharks in the aquarium:
1. Great white sharks are difficult to catch.
Great white sharks are the most difficult sharks in the world to catch, not only because of their large size, scarcity, and extreme aggressiveness. Catching great white sharks is far more difficult than catching lions and tigers. Catching great white sharks requires a lot of manpower, money and material resources. There was an aquarium that caught a great white shark, but it escaped in less than a day.
2. Great white sharks are difficult to transport.
Great white sharks are large carnivores, generally up to 4 meters long and weighing more than 1,000 kilograms, and it sounds very difficult to transport a great white shark from the deep sea to an aquarium on land. In addition, great white sharks cannot actively pump seawater to filter oxygen (oral suction), and must constantly swim in the water so that seawater continues to flow from the gills before they can absorb oxygen to breathe (impact ventilation). Humans have spent a lot of money to make flowing water circulating tanks in order to transport great white sharks, but they still have not been able to survive long-distance transportation.
3. Great white sharks have too high requirements for feeding space.
In order to raise great white sharks, it is first necessary to provide a suitable living environment. In order to raise great white sharks, at least a 10-meter-deep and 100,000-gallon aquarium must be prepared to ensure the freedom of swimming of great white sharks, and the amount of water in such an aquarium is already equivalent to the amount of water in the entire Rio Olympic diving hall, and not all aquariums can afford such a huge expense.
4. Great white sharks have high food requirements.
Some experts believe that the biggest obstacle to raising great white sharks is their eating habits. In the sea, great white sharks always wait until they are hungry before actively preying. Although they are not picky about the type of food, they are very concerned about the freshness of the food and like to catch and eat fresh. For aquariums, maintaining this standard of eating for huge white sharks is also a big expense.
5. Great white sharks that are bred are vulnerable to injury and death.
When humans catch avid great white sharks, they will inevitably injure great white sharks, although this injury is nothing for great white sharks, but when people transport great white sharks and lock them up in aquariums, natural free great white sharks will constantly seek ways to escape, and even violently hit the tank, which also causes them to gradually weaken and die of wounds and exhaustion after a few days. In 2016, a Japanese fishing boat handed over its catch of a 3.5-meter great white shark to the Okinawa Aquarium in Japan for exhibition, but just three days later, the great white shark was declared dead.
6. Great white sharks don't like to be captive.
Great white sharks are pelagic sharks, and their genes dictate that they swim aimlessly and quickly until they want to turn. No matter how large the aquarium's tank is, it is difficult to compare with the sea, so they often hit the glass at high speed and even go on hunger strikes in frustration, eventually leading to death. Since the seventies, the aquarium has been trying to keep great white sharks, and the great white sharks that can be kept have not survived for more than five weeks.
7. Raising great white sharks is dangerous.
Great white sharks are extremely aggressive, and if they are kept with other sharks, they are likely to kill the other sharks and eat each other within a day or two. Keeping great white sharks alone can be costly. The Monterey Bay Aquarium once kept a great white shark, but six months later they had to release it. The reason is that it killed and devoured two other sharks living together. Even if a great white shark is kept in an aquarium, it is difficult to guarantee that it is 100% safe for other creatures and humans. Human attempts to raise great white sharks not only waste a lot of manpower, material and financial resources, but also harm and indirectly kill a large number of endangered great white sharks.
Fortunately, there is growing recognition that great white sharks, as well as many large marine animals, are not suitable for aquariums. People are no longer as blindly enthusiastic about watching large sea creatures performing.
In recent years, many aquariums have also cancelled the breeding of these large marine animals due to cost issues.
I am a dog, welcome to follow, and talk with me about the interesting facts of life.