10 Facts That Will Change How You View Sharks

10 Overlooked People Who Accidentally Changed the World 10 Fascinating Explanations for Cosmic Mysteries 10 Insane Covert Operations from WWII 10 Massive Landmarks Built to Bury Dark Historical Secrets 10 Jokes That Accidentally Triggered Real-World Crises 10 Massive Construction Projects That Nearly Bankrupted Nations 10 Devastating Wars During the So-Called “Cold” War 10 Star Trek Alternatives To Help Fans Get Their Fix 10 Things People Weirdly Blamed for Natural Disasters 10 Books That Were Allegedly Written by Ghosts 10 Overlooked People Who Accidentally Changed the World 10 Fascinating Explanations for Cosmic Mysteries Who's Behind Listverse? Jamie Frater Head Editor Jamie founded Listverse due to an insatiable desire to share fascinating, obscure, and bizarre facts. He has been a guest speaker on numerous national radio and television stations and is a five time published author. More About Us10 Insane Covert Operations from WWII 10 Massive Landmarks Built to Bury Dark Historical Secrets 10 Jokes That Accidentally Triggered Real-World Crises 10 Massive Construction Projects That Nearly Bankrupted Nations 10 Devastating Wars During the So-Called “Cold” War 10 Star Trek Alternatives To Help Fans Get Their Fix 10 Things People Weirdly Blamed for Natural Disasters 10 Facts That Will Change How You View Sharks Since the movie Jaws hit theaters decades ago, many people have viewed sharks as nothing more than harbingers of watery death and destruction. While it’s true that great whites can be dangerous to humans, the large majority of shark species have never attacked humans, unprovoked or otherwise. In fact, while we’ve been led to believe that sharks are the most dangerous thing you can find in the water, they’re not on the top of the food chain in our world’s oceans. The tale of the shark has been greatly misunderstood and exaggerated over the years, but the real facts are even more interesting than the myths. 10Some Sharks Are Bottom-Feeders Most people think of sharks as dangerous, bloodthirsty predators that won’t stop until everything in the ocean is gobbled up. However, with at least 400 currently known shark species, you may be surprised to learn that many of them don’t even pose that much of a threat to small fish. Sharks definitely aren’t a major threat to humans because we’re not their natural prey. When a shark attacks a human, the animal is often far outside of its normal comfort zone and has made a mistake. Many species of shark are actually bottom-feeders, so they aren’t really a threat to humans, even in a purely accidental situation. There are also sharks that use different methods of filter feeding for their nutritional needs. The whale shark, basking shark, and megamouth shark all use various forms of filter feeding in which they strain plankton for food. For even the largest sharks, dolphins can be the most dangerous food source to attack. Dolphins like to travel together and have been known to work as a unit to fend off shark attacks. Also, dolphins are hardly the helpless, friendly creatures of the deep that we so often believe them to be. Recent research has shown that they like to form gangs, steal fertile females from other dolphin groups, and even rape other males as a show of dominance. 9Some Sharks Can Stop Swimming For a long time, we believed that if a shark stopped swimming, it would be unable to breathe and quickly drown in the water. However, the truth is actually more complicated. Depending upon how they breathe, some sharks can stop swimming. Most sharks use a form of breathing, called “ram ventilation,” in which they force water through their lungs using swift, forward movements. However, some sharks use a more ancient breathing method, called “buccal pumping,” which can be used while the shark is at rest. This method allows the shark to use its mouth muscles to draw in water so that it can breathe. There are also sharks known as “obligate ram ventilators” that can’t breathe using buccal pumping. These are the sharks that supposedly die if they stop swimming. However, scientists have occasionally observed obligate ram ventilators in a resting mode, and they definitely aren’t drowning. The practice of shark finning—where a shark is caught, its fin is cut off for shark fin soup, and the shark is tossed back into the water—makes the subject of sharks drowning even more complicated. While it seems that removing a fin would be certain death, some of these finned sharks have been caught alive (though in a starved state) in shark-catching competitions. Clearly, scientists have more to learn about how sharks breathe. 8Shark Attacks Are Increasing But Still Overhyped According to the media, shark attacks have increased in 2015, especially off the coasts of North and South Carolina. Normally, there are only six attacks a year in that area, but there have already been 11 as of early August 2015. Although some in the media have likened this to a feeding frenzy, George H. Burgess, who heads the International Shark Attack File, wrote an op-ed for CNN explaining why the shark attacks are increasing and why we shouldn’t be that worried. First of all, Burgess assures us that the actual odds of being attacked by a shark are still roughly 1 in 11.5 million. He also points out that you have a better chance of being killed by a lightning strike than a shark attack. More importantly, from his extensive study as the director of the Florida Program for Shark Research at the Florida Museum of Natural History, Burgess believes that overall shark attacks are actually decreasing on a percentage basis. The problem, he says, is that the number of people going to the beach has increased greatly. So even if the percentage of shark attacks declines, the number of people attacked is increasing simply because there are more people in the water. Also, drought conditions caused by changes in the environment can alter the mix of salt water and freshwater, bringing sharks closer to shore than normal. However, Burgess maintains that even this danger can be reduced with simple common sense. He suggests avoiding the water at dawn and dusk when sharks are most active, swimming in groups, and paying attention to your surroundings. 7Sharks Are Not The Most Dangerous Predator In The Ocean For most people who grew up watching movies like Jaws or Sharknado, large sharks, such as the great white shark, are often seen as the apex predators of the ocean. No one usually thinks of a shark as prey. However, dolphins have long vied with sharks for supremacy in the ocean. Although a regular dolphin is no match for a great white shark, there is one species of dolphin that can make just about anything in the water swim for cover as fast as it can. That creature is the orca, sometimes known as a “killer whale,” even though it’s definitely a member of the dolphin family. By taking advantage of an evolutionary weakness in sharks, orcas have hunted, killed, and eaten large sharks like mako and great white sharks. The orca does this in one of two ways. Using its tail, the orca can create currents to force the shark to the surface and then hit it with a tail slam. Otherwise, a group of orcas can corral the shark and take turns attacking, often going for the belly. Eventually, the orcas will turn the shark upside down, causing the shark to enter into a state known as “tonic immobility.” The shark completely stops fighting, and the orcas now have an easy meal. Scientists aren’t sure how well the orcas understand tonic immobility, but they clearly understand it well enough to hunt down and eat great white sharks. 6Stressed Females Can Reproduce Without A Male Usually occurring only in snakes and lizards, parthenogenesis is a special type of reproduction in which a baby animal hatches from an unfertilized egg without using any male DNA. Recently, researchers were amazed when a female hammerhead shark had a baby hammerhead, despite the mother having no contact with a male hammerhe