Jul 03 2008
Mindless, Monstrous Killing Machines
What creature is greatest killer to ever live? Which is responsible for the most deaths and haunts the most nightmares? What monster should we most fear?
Spiders give us the creeps.
Rats repulse us.
But when it comes to your worst nightmare, there’s no competition - something lurking in the shadows. Especially if it might eat you alive.
Thanks to ‘Jaws’, one creature above all others haunts that nightmare: the Great White Shark. And what a monster it is -
- 2000lb (900kg)
- 20 feet long (6m)
- 70 razor-sharp teeth
The ultimate mindless, monstrous killing machine. And it’s waiting in the watery shadows just for you!
Not that it’s the only man-eater - Tiger Sharks and Bull Sharks have killed more Americans in the last 30 years than even the mighty Great White.
So to risk being eaten by these monsters… well, you’d have to be absolutely crazy!
One name: Mark Addison.
On a TV documentary, Mark actively sought out ‘man eaters’. But he didn’t wuss about - no cage or speargun for him. Oh, no. He just took a deep breath and jumped in the water with them.
Of course, he was ripped to pieces in seconds.
Or that’s what you’d expect. The truth is far stranger.
Those ‘killer’ sharks - Tiger Sharks, Bull Sharks - well, he virtually played with them.
- He swam with them.
- Befriended them.
- Petted them.
- And - get this - hand-fed them!
Yep, this guy hand-fed man-eating sharks.
Or did he?
Did he feed ‘man-eaters’, or did he simply feed intelligent animals that respected him enough to allow him to share their world?
I know what you’re thinking - the shark had overeaten so just wasn’t hungry.
Fair point. Except that on one occasion he was surrounded by TWENTY Tiger, Bull, and Blacktip sharks. Were they all full?
You see, because sharks don’t have hands, many shark ‘attacks’ are not attacks at all but an animal simply using one of its sensory organs to investigate something its curious about. Just like us touching something with our hands.
As for Mark’s sharks - not only did they prove to be tolerant of him, but they actually revealed intelligence. To attract them, he lowered a sealed container of meat into the water - two sharks figured out how to open it and get the meat out. They learned.
- Curiosity
- Learning
- Intelligence
- Tolerance
Hardly traits of mindless, monstrous killing machines.
Still not convinced?
He secured electronic tracking tags to two Tiger Sharks. One swam amongst 10 boats of scuba divers. Not only was no diver attacked, but not one of them even reported seeing a Tiger Shark.
Mindless, monstrous killing machines?
Statistics prove the average person is more likely to die of a bee sting than a shark attack.
But there is a monster in this post. We just focused on the wrong species. What other species is present? Yep, Man!
Mindless? Unless they’re absolutely ravenous, it appears sharks are content to live with us. On the other hand, over the last 15 years, we’ve decimated some shark populations by a massive 80%.
We slaughter 100 million sharks every single year!
Guess we won’t have to fear what’s lurking in the depths for much longer, huh?
Monstrous? That oriental delicacy shark fin soup is literally what it says it is. Except they don’t kill a shark and process all the meat they possibly can. Oh, no. They catch the sharp, hack off the bits they want - only the fins - then toss the helpless animal back into the sea to die in agony. A little like cutting your arms and legs off, then dumping you in the middle of nowhere to die. Nice, huh?
Want to know the really ironic thing? The fins are actually tasteless, so pork or chicken is used to flavour the dish!
Killing machines? 16,306 species are currently threatened with extinction. 16,306! Is that down to the shark?
It’s obvious who the mindless, monstrous killing machine really is, isn’t it?
Further, because the shark is a top predator, their slaughter has a knock-on effect on every marine ecosystem around the globe. This will impact on the already stressed fish stocks we need for food. Can you see that impact being positive? That’s clever of us, huh?
Sharks evolved 400 million years ago - that’s 200 million before dinosaurs. We’ve been around a mere 200 thousand years. Sharks are 399 million years older than we are.
But, with the same casual contempt with which we treat every other species on the planet, we’re wiping them out of existence.
To make soup that has no taste!
Yep, we really are the most intelligent species to ever live!
So, go. See. Feel. Live.
Steve
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