Let’s be honest: Most everything we know about sharks comes from the movie “Jaws.” Even for those who were born after the movie came out 39 years ago, and never bothered to see the Steven Spielberg-directed cult classic, the message is clear on the iconic movie poster: Sharks are dangerous, and kill innocent people who are swimming in the ocean.
But as Discovery Channel’s “Shark Week” programming will prove once again when it kicks off on Sunday, Aug. 10, there is more to sharks than Hollywood — and your fourth-grade science teacher — would have you believe.
We can start with the fact that there are over 440 different species of shark and not all of them will kill you just because you decided to have some fun in their habitat.
And great white sharks are not the only ones capable of attacking people, either. According to the International Shark Attack File, tiger sharks and bull sharks are also prone to prey on us, along with only 20 other species.
Here are 10 other facts about sharks to chew on that you can spout off at your Shark Week viewing parties:
- “Jaws” was a great white for a reason: The great white shark is the only shark that can lift its head above the water to look for prey, which is perhaps why it was the chosen species for “Jaws.”
- Sharks should be afraid of us: Whereas sharks kill anywhere between five and 15 humans a year, humans kill 73 million sharks every year.
- Things that are more harmful to us than a shark: There is a 1 in 3.7 million chance of being killed by a shark — compare that to the chances of being killed by the flu (1 in 63) or a fall (1 in 218).
- Land animals that are more dangerous than a shark: Bees, wasps, hornets and dogs are all animals more likely to kill you than a shark.
- Be safe, men: From 1580 to 2010, 93 percent of all shark attacks happened to men.
- Ew, gross: In 17th-century France, women would eat shark brains, believing they helped ease the pain of childbirth.
- Smart attack: Even though a great white can detect one drop of blood per 25 gallons of water, their brains are merely the size of a human thumb.
- Skin deep: Female sharks have thicker skin than their male counterparts because the males bite the females while mating.
- Moving forward: Sharks are the only fish that can’t swim backwards — and if you pull a shark backward by its tail, it will die.
- Shark attack state: In 2013, Florida led the world in shark attacks with 23, while the United States had 47 total. Australia was No. 2 with 10 shark attacks nationwide.