Great White Shark attacks
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Quote from Jaws...
Hooper: I think that I am familiar with the fact that you are going to ignore this particular problem until it swims up and bites you on the ass. |
More than any documented attack, Steven Spielberg's 1975 film Jaws provided the great white with the image of a "man eater" in the public mind.
While great whites have been responsible for occasional fatalities in humans, they typically do not target humans as prey: for example, in the Mediterranean Sea there were 31 confirmed attacks against humans in the last two centuries, only a small number of them deadly.
Many incidents seem to be caused by the animals "test-biting" out of curiosity. Great white sharks are known to perform test-biting with buoys, flotsam, and other unfamiliar objects as well, and might grab a human or a surfboard with their mouth (their only tactile organ) in order to determine what kind of object it might be.
Other incidents seem to be cases of mistaken identity, in which a shark ambushes a bather or surfer, usually from below, believing the silhouette it sees on the surface is a seal.
Many attacks occur in waters with low visibility, or other situations in which the shark's senses are impaired. It has been speculated that the species typically does not like the taste of humans, or at least that the taste is unfamiliar.
Humans, in any case, are not healthy for great white sharks to eat because the sharks' digestion is too slow to cope with the human body's high ratio of bone to muscle and fat.
Accordingly, in most recorded attacks, great whites have broken off contact after the first bite. Fatalities are usually caused by loss of blood from the initial limb injury rather than from critical organ loss or from whole consumption.
Biologist Douglas Long and Tyler B. write that the great white's "role as a menace is exaggerated; more people are killed in the U.S. each year by dogs than have been killed by White sharks in the last 100 years."
Many "shark repellents" have been tested, some using scent, others using protective clothing, but to date the most effective is an electronic beacon (POD) worn by the diver/surfer that creates an electric field which disturbs the shark's sensitive electro-receptive sense, the Ampullae of Lorenzini.
'To date the Greate White has been responsible for 64 deaths, worldwide since 1876! With 212 recorded non fatal attacks worldwide!.'
A selection of Real-life fatal Great White Attacks: (photos of unlucky victims at the end)
Perth - Australia...
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Quote from Jaws...
Brody: Is it true that most people get attacked by sharks in three feet of water about ten feet from the beach? |
1985 ... was when Shirley Ann Durdin, a 33-year-old with four children, lost her life to a GW in Peake Bay, Australia.
She had been snorkeling in water about 7 feet deep - equivalent to the deep end of a residential swimming pool - when she was fatally attacked by a GW estimated by witnesses to be 20 feet long.
The first hit was a gory strike, the fish biting her in half.
By the time Mrs. Durdin's would-be rescuers could get to the site of the attack, all that could be seen was the victim's headless torso.
After a moment, the GW returned and took it as well.
It was the first fatal GW attack in South Australian waters in over 10 years and the first time ever that an Australian victim was known to be eaten.
Adelaide - Australia...
This one sounds like something out of Jaws! .....
2004 ...A young man is dead after being attacked by sharks off Adelaide's metropolitan coast, in the second fatal shark attack in Australia in a week.
Police say the 18-year-old from Yorke Peninsula was surfing with three friends about 300 metres offshore from the Henley Beach Yacht Club.
It is believed the teenager was riding on a surfboard behind a boat when two sharks started circling him at around 3:15pm.
The teen's three friends then watched helplessly as one of the sharks grabbed him by the arm. They made it back to shore and have been treated for shock.
The surfboard the teen was riding was found.
Gonubie Point - South Africa,
1998 ... A young man died in hospital after being mauled by a great white shark while he was body-boarding off Gonubie Point.
The shark bit his hands and right calf, severing a main artery in his left thigh and causing massive blood loss.
Avila Beach, California - USA
50 year old Deborah Franzman was killed by a great white shark estimated to be 15-18 feet long while swimming in less than 20 feet of water.
Abrolhos Islands - Australia
2005 - a 26 year old man was bitten in half while snorkeling. The 20 foot shark was thought to be a Great White.
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California - USA
The actual shot taken of a diver at the moment of his attack. The diver was bitten completely in half, but incredibly lived. |
A selection of human encounters with Great White Sharks....
Some lucky, some not so lucky!. |
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