Open Wide
Scientists are looking inside the jaws of a deadly great white shark in an attempt to determine its “bite force”.
An 8 ft male white shark, found dead in a shark net on the NSW Central Coast, AU has been scanned and dissected to allow its dimensions to be uploaded into a computer model developed by a team of researchers from the University of NSW (UNSW) and Newcastle University.
Dr Stephen Wroe from UNSW said the model, which is in the early stages of development, would help scientists understand how the shark’s skull, jaw and muscles worked together.
Researchers will “crash test” the shark’s jaws and skull using different computer scenarios, he said.
He said the test results could be useful to people who work in shark environments, and even beachgoers — like just how strong you’d have to build a swimming net to stop a white shark getting through it.
[source]
Nothing stops sharks, nothing I tell ya!! Besides, aren’t we trespassing in their oceans?
I thought God gave humans dominion over the sea and its creatures too…we dont need their permission to swim in our sea.
Bite Force = Hard
Always been a bit mystified by this “we’re trespassing in their ocean” approach and here’s why:
First, ‘trespassing’ is a human concept which implies that an offender is going someplace he should not. Nobody owns the ocean – certainly not fish, who are incapable of even holding the concept.
Second, humans are capable of protecting each other, but we are not unique in that. Dolphins and whales will gang up on a shark and drive it away or kill it for the same reason we would – to keep each other from being eaten. If I had to choose between a dead shark and a dead human I would choose the dead shark.
Third, The unspoken consequence of shark protection (for the sharks, that is), is that we now have to accept a certain amount of maimed and lost human lives. That is in itself quite odd when one considers that in just about all other areas of human activity fatalities and injuries are not considered acceptable. This is why your cup of McDonalds coffee has a warning tag on it now and your jug of bleach says “DO NOT DRINK”.
oobla di oobla dah, life goes on heyyyyy! la la la la life goes on