Are sharks really scary?

Ahead of Shark Awareness Week running at Sea Life London Aquarium from the 28^th May – 5^th June, we look at some of the surprising facts about sharks and what we can do to help in their conservation!

1. Some sharks have quite the appetite, with Tiger Sharks being known to eat almost anything! This is a big reason to why we need to keep our oceans clean of rubbish. Here is some example of items that sharks have actually eaten (and yes, it’s very surprising!): Half a horse, a whole suit of armour, a wooden chair, bottles of wine and last, but not least, chickens AND the coop!
2. Great White Sharks can leap up to 10 feet in the air. This is called ‘breaching’ and is mostly seen in only one place in the world – off the coast of South Africa! They do this to launch themselves at their prey and can reach speeds of up to 25 miles per hour – however, this tends to be to catch seals and not humans, so no need to worry!
3. Hammerhead sharks widely set eyes have a very important purpose – this means they can see 360 degrees, not just behind their heads! This is so they can effectively hunt their prey and scan the sands for their favourite food, stingrays! However, hammerhead sharks, along with a lot of sharks, are at a high risk of extinction due to being hunted for their fins.
4. To guide them to their prey, sharks don’t actually use their eyesight. They use electroreception to detect the electric field of their prey with sensory organs located on their snout! This is so they can find prey that is hidden behind rocks or under sand, never play hide and seek with a shark!

To help save the sharks of the ocean, it’s good to follow the below:

R – Respect your elders, sharks have been around since the same time as the dinosaurs!

E – Entanglement, sharks can get caught in fishing nets and drown if it stops them getting oxygen from the water

S – Sharkfins, sharks are regularly hunted for their fins to make soup

C – Contamination, sharks regularly eat the rubbish thrown into the ocean which isn’t good for their health

U – Understanding that sharks don’t want to eat humans and around 10 people a year are killed by shark attacks vs. 100 million sharks that are killed by humans!

E – The more we learn about sharks, the more reason we have to respect and love them!

You can learn about the sharks we have at SEA LIFE London Aquarium during Shark Awareness Week, running from the 28^th May – 5^th June.