Rumor Crusher: See 6 rumors about sharks from the movie Shark Beach

This summer, Blake Lively starred in the thriller Shark Beach, which aims to be "a new generation of Jaws."

Courtesy photo: Sony Pictures

Written by: Brian Clark Howard

In a way, Shark Beach is a good survival movie. In the film, Blake Lively plays a teenage girl who suffers a family affair and goes surfing on a picturesque Mexican beach in order to relax, only to have a beautiful trip turn into a nightmare of being chased by a big shark.

Compared to Shark Tornado and Prehistoric Crocodile, this serious style film is more like "The Rest of the Desert Island" and "127 Hours", and the production level of the film is also relatively high. According to Columbia Pictures, the film's investor, the film's goal is to become "a new generation of Jaws." However, this comparison has made some shark scientists very angry.

"The film is 40 years behind its time." Francesco Ferrettii, a shark researcher at Stanford University, said he and six scientists from different institutions wrote an open letter to Columbia Pictures condemning the film.

"While it's a good idea to promote Shark Beach with 1975's Jaws, this approach is a source of great concern for us scientists in marine science given that shark populations around the world are in danger." The scientists wrote in the letter, noting that as many as 100 million sharks are hunted each year, leaving a quarter of shark species in an endangered or more serious state.

The film Jaws, based on the novel of the same name, caused many people to fear and hate sharks, and the late original novel author Peter Benchley regretted adapting the novel into a movie.

"This misrepresentation has led to the popularity of shark hunting, while the global shark fin trade and indirect shark catches in commercial fishing have led to a surge in shark mortality that has gone unnoticed." The scientists wrote.

Scientists believe that Shark Beach could lead to the same thing happening.

Another interpretation, of course, is that the film is actually a revenge story, and sharks do their best to fight back against what humans have done to their shark species and the ocean. There is a detail in the movie that supports this theory (we won't spoil it), but most viewers probably won't notice this interpretation, after all, everyone goes to the cinema to entertain or escape the hot summer.

Guys, this is Hollywood, so we don't expect what's happening on the screen to be the same as what's actually happening in the real world. But we think it's useful to look at rumors about shark attacks. Even if there's no other benefit, you might feel better the next time you go to the beach (or go for a swim, as far as my friend's sister is concerned, she became afraid of sharks by watching Jaws). ）

Myth 1: Sharks are cold-blooded killers who hunt down humans like Terminators.

Scientists warn that the creative idea of sharks insisting on hunting humans can lead to great movies, but this is not true.

"The first film in the Jaws series is set between reality and fiction, and the sequel has no choice but to further fiction. In order to surpass the previous one, the film became more and more unreal. George Burgess, a shark attack expert at the Florida Museum of Natural History, said.

The reality is that most shark attacks are caused by relatively small sharks, Burgess said. Usually, sharks do not chase humans, but rather catch their common prey, which in most cases are fish. Sharks can be confused when humans play in the sea, so sometimes they make tentative bites. But when they find that it's a human bite — "Oh," they usually leave quickly.

A handful of large sharks prey the size of humans, mainly tiger sharks, bull sharks and great white sharks, most likely bite humans because we look and behave like seals, Burgess said. The fact that even attacking human sharks rarely take a second bite is a good indication that they are not happy with their choices and therefore may not have intentionally targeted humans.

Myth 2: Sharks will jump out of the water and attack people on boats and rocks

This is a very common bridge in movies about shark attacks because it makes them even more frightening. Make the audience feel unsafe even if they are not in the water!

But in fact, "we've never seen a shark do that." Burgess said. Great white sharks are known to swim near beaches where seals are active, waiting for them to let their guard down. Some have even seen them jump out of the water to catch their prey. But in any case, great white sharks will not attack prey on land.

"Sometimes we've seen killer whales behave like that, but it's a special behavior of this particular animal, and you know that killer whales have a much higher IQ than sharks." Burgess said.

Myth 3: Sharks will hunt as many prey as possible as soon as possible

In March, a wolf pack in Wyoming, USA, killed 19 elk during an "over-hunting" campaign, a move that experts believe was done to store enough food for later consumption.

However, scientists have not yet found similar behavior in sharks, Burgess said.

In fact, many times a large part of the prey caught by sharks is robbed by other sharks. It's purely whimsical that sharks will hunt as many people as possible as quickly as possible, Burgess said.

Myth 4: Hiding in the middle of jellyfish can dodge shark attacks

This is an unreliable claim because the skin of sharks is very thick (in fact, the skin of sharks is closely related to its teeth, which may have evolved from the skin in the first place).

"The only place where jellyfish can attack sharks is the eyes, but most sharks have very strong membranes, so they don't worry about jellyfish at all."

Myth 5: Surfers are shark meat

Surfing, spear fishing, diving, and several other water sports can bring people closer to sharks. From a distance, people on surfboards are a bit like seals, so even in some important races, there have been some incidents of surfers being tentatively attacked by sharks.

However, studies have shown that the probability of a surfer in California being bitten by a shark is 1 in 17 million. "To be honest, the probability of winning the lottery is greater than this." The scientist wrote in an open letter.

Thanks to educational campaigns, the probability of humans being attacked by sharks has decreased significantly. Over the past 60 years, the probability of California surfers being attacked by sharks has dropped by 91 percent, the scientists wrote.

Myth 6: Sharks are very keen on revenge

In the Jaws series, the vengeful shark plays an important role, and perhaps the same is true in Shark Beach. Fish do have reasons to hate humans. But what are the facts?

We know sharks learn. For example, if sharks are fed by divers, it is possible to associate people with free food. But the idea that sharks harbor grudges against humans or seek revenge is baseless, Burgess said.

"People should realize that fiction is fiction. Sharks are actually more afraid of humans than humans are afraid of sharks. He added.

(Translator: Stray Dog)