The ocean is full of surprises. If you’ve ever been on a boat and looked down into the water, you may have seen some enormous creatures swimming around. Maybe it was a whale or a dolphin, or it could have just been a kraken ready for a relaxing human hunting session. Who knows? But if you’re anything like us, you probably thought, “What else is down there?”
The answer is… lots of stuff we still don’t know anything about. More than 80% of the ocean remains unmapped, unexplored, and not even seen by humans. That’s because the intense pressures in the deep ocean make it an incredibly challenging environment to explore.
But one of the coolest (and scariest) things about what’s under the sea is still getting to know some interesting facts about all the different kinds of animals that live there, especially sharks! Sharks are fascinating creatures that have been around for 450 million years — that’s how old the first shark fossils are, making them older than dinosaurs — yet we still know very little about them.
If you think that sharks are nothing more than ocean-dwelling predators with a taste for human flesh (the Jaws franchise traumatized more than one generation), it’s time to get your shark facts straight! They’re undoubtedly mysterious and scary animals, but there’s so much to learn about them. Check out these shocking facts about sharks that even some experts may not know!
#2
Sharks don’t eat humans. Sharks are intelligent and curious creatures and most sharks bite humans out of curiosity and then swim away disinterested.
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19points
#3
You’re more likely to get bit by an angry New Yorker than a shark.
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17points
#8
Sharks can sleep and often opt to keep their eyes open while they do. Because some sharks must swim constantly to keep oxygen-rich water flowing over their gills, it has long been rumored that they don't snooze at all
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15points
#10
Great white sharks are at the top of the food chain and have little need to evolve.
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15points
#11
Until recently, sharks were thought to be immune to cancer. However, recent research proves that sharks do develop cancer, as well as a variety of illnesses and deformities.
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15points
#12
Bull sharks bite with the greatest force among sharks, pound-for-pound, greater even than great whites or hammerheads.
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14points
#17
Humans are by far the greatest enemy of sharks. 73 million sharks are killed by humans each year.
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14points
#20
Sharks have survived five massive planet extinction events. These extinction events killed most life on earth and the last one around 65 million yeas ago killed the dinosaurs.
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14points