Archive for the 'Educate Me' Category
Friday, May 28th, 2010
If you’re headed to the beach, you may not want to wear a swimsuit with a certain color combination.
A newly released study shows that a majority of shark attack victims in Florida were wearing black and white swimsuits. According to the study by the University of Florida, it’s the preferred color combo for sharks. The study, which looked at shark attacks over the past 52 years in Florida, said that swimsuits featuring a color combination of black and yellow were also common among shark bite victims.
Results also showed most bites happen on weekends and 90 percent of the shark attack victims were males, and 98 percent of them were white. Surfers account for at least 60 percent of bites.
[source]
Monday, April 12th, 2010
A seven gilled shark was cut to pieces in public yesterday. Marine experts at the New Zealand Marine Studies Centre dissected the 6.5 ft beast, which died after being caught by a local fisherman. But when experts opened up the shark they got a bit of a surprise – 114 egg sacks.
[Read more + Watch the video]
Tuesday, March 23rd, 2010
A mummified shark was been found on the rocks of Black Point, Australia.
Maritime Museum curator Paul Mazourek found the young Port Jackson shark preserved and stuck between two rocks last month. He believed the young adult died from natural causes, because there were no puncture wounds.
He said it was preserved through a “natural mummification” process, which combined regular and repeated exposure to salt water and sun. Because the shark was trapped between the rocks, it was exposed to the sun during the day and then washed over by water as the tide came in.
The shark is now on display at the museum among only two other “mummies” found locally.
They include a large stingray, also found by Mr Mazourek, and a baby Port Jackson shark.
[source]
Friday, January 29th, 2010
University of Florida researchers have created a grading scale, similar to how burn severity is ranked by degrees. The new scale is detailed in this month’s The American Surgeon.
Lead researcher Dr. Ashley Lentz, a plastic and reconstructive surgery fellow at the UF College of Medicine, said compiling the total score using the SIT assessment indicates the level of bite severity as outlined in the newly created five-level grading system.
“If it’s just an extremity and it’s an abrasion, it’s just a Level I injury,” Lentz said. “If a shark comes up and takes a big bite out of a thigh and takes out the femoral artery, then that’s a life-ending bite — pretty quickly — and you are talking about a Level V injury.”
The new shark bite severity scoring system creates a standardized way for medical personnel to assess patient risk and for researchers to evaluate trends, as well as offers a consistent method for media and officials to communicate the impact to the public.
[source]
[video]
Wednesday, January 20th, 2010
A large school of hammerhead sharks has been spotted carrying out a rarely seen mating ritual about half a mile off Perth’s northern beaches.
The 17 sharks, some up to 12 ft long, were filmed from a Channel Nine helicopter Monday morning.
Shark expert Hugh Edwards said the ritual had only been filmed twice before, once off Mexico and once near the Rowley Shoals off WA’s North-West coast.
Watch the video!
Thursday, December 10th, 2009
National Geographic’s Expedition Great White airs Thursday, Dec 31. Watch a team of world-class anglers land an SUV-sized great white shark!
[source]
Tuesday, December 8th, 2009
Watch the video here.
