Buckeye Herps Blog

A photographic journal of the reptiles and amphibians of Ohio, Michigan and other places interesting wildlife call home.

Thursday, September 29, 2011

If White Sharks get second chances...

Some more good news for things that go bump in the night!  Just the other day a women thought she was rescuing an eastern massasauga rattlesnake in Niles, MI, and now surfers are rescuing a great white shark off the coast of California.



This juvenile white shark was caught on a fish line and dragged to shore.  While many onlookers were content to just keep back and watch, a few people helped remove the hook and drag the shark back to see.

White sharks use the waters off of southern California as a nursery area.  During this time, they are small in size and specialize in eating fish.  As they grow older and larger, their tooth structure changes and they start to prey on larger mammals, such as sea lions.  White sharks can't breath without moving forward in the water, letting oxygenated water pass over their gills.  While this shark looked weak, hopefully it was able to make a full recovery thanks to the help of the men nearby.

It is a reassuring to see a few good stories regarding helping and saving "deadly" wildlife hit the news recently.  As much as I despise much of the sensationalist crap Animal Planet and other networks call TV these days, hopefully some of the messages are getting across.

If you haven't be able to see Shark Men on the National Geographic Channel, you should check it out.  In my opinion, it is a show that does things mostly right.  It focuses on a team of scientists and fisherman that work to try and learn more about Great White Sharks.  There are some sensational attributes to it, but it all they go about their jobs safely and efficiently, and seem to be learning new things about these amazing animals from their research.  They help to portray sharks in a positive manner and provide up close looks at one of the sea's most mysterious creatures.  There is some controversy regarding whether their methods are harmful to the animals, but it seems that most of their research animals are tracked for good lengths of time after, seeming to show that their methods are fairly unobtrusive.






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