Hello ladies and gents this is the Viking telling you that today we are talking about
HAMMERHEAD SHARK
5. Despite their mean appearance, hammerhead attacks are rare.
There have only been 17 recorded attacks globally and zero fatalities. Most attacks occurred when the sharks were provoked or unintentionally caught in fisher nets. Hammerheads also have disproportionately small mouths compared to their other shark brethren.
4. Hammerheads aren’t nearly as old as many other sharks.
Some species of sharks have been called dinosaurs since they existed concurrently with them, but not the hammerhead. In the grand scheme of shark presence on earth, they are relatively new, having most likely emerged during the Miocene Epoch (23-5.3 million years ago). The dinosaurs went extinct roughly 65 million years ago.
3. Hammerheads can get tans!
Due to their propensity for hanging out in shallow waters, some hammerheads can actually tan, turning from light brown to nearly all black. There are also zero known cases of skin cancer in the sharks. Further study of how they can tan without getting cancer may be critical in uncovering how to prevent and treat melanoma. Tanning without the risk of melanoma? I’d say that’s a pretty incredible adaption.
2. Great hammerhead sharks like to swim sideways!
Typical sharks have eight fins, the most recognizable of which is the dorsal fin; they also usually have two pectoral fins. In most sharks, the pectoral fins are longer than the first dorsal fin, but that’s not the case for hammerheads, which affects how they move. In a 2016 experiment published in the Journal of Experimental Biology, GoPros were attached to hammerheads to document how they swim. After reviewing the footage, it was found that the sharks spent almost 90% of the time flipped to their side somewhere between 50-75 degrees. Scientists suspect that when hammerheads do this, their dorsal fin acts more like an additional pectoral fin, reducing drag and expanding their wingspan, which increases swim efficiency.
1. The first shark case of virgin birth occurred with a hammerhead.
Possibly one of the most bizarre facts about hammerheads involves a bonnethead shark in captivity at an Omaha, Nebraska aquarium. The bonnetheads at the aquarium were all female, and in 2001, one of them had a virgin birth, that is to say, birth without the contribution of a male. Testing confirmed that the new shark did not have any paternal DNA. This was the first case of virgin birth observed in sharks. To quote Ian Malcolm from Jurassic Park, “Life, uh, finds a way.”
And as always have a chilled day from the Viking
Comments
Post a Comment