{"id":13470,"date":"2015-08-31T11:01:45","date_gmt":"2015-08-31T10:01:45","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/saveourseas.com\/sosf-shark-education-centre\/sharks-the-10-most-common-misconceptions\/"},"modified":"2016-10-27T08:13:16","modified_gmt":"2016-10-27T07:13:16","slug":"sharks-the-10-most-common-misconceptions","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/saveourseas.com\/sosf-shark-education-centre\/sharks-the-10-most-common-misconceptions\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks \u2013 the 10 most common misconceptions"},"content":{"rendered":"

Every now and again, we at the Shark Education Centre in Kalk Bay, South Africa, attend an event where we man a stall displaying shark information and artefacts. Our aim is to educate people informally about sharks by engaging them in conversation. The events tend to relate to science, conservation or biodiversity and for the most part our audiences are schoolchildren. Our participation in the recent National Science Week gave us cause to ponder the 10 most frequently heard incorrect statements about sharks from the kids we talk to at these events.<\/p>\n

    \n
      \n
    1. \u2018Sharks eat people.\u2019 Although this may occasionally happen, it is exceptionally rare. In nearly all of the very few fatalities resulting from shark bite, the shark has released the victim \u2013 clearly illustrating that we don\u2019t taste good at all!<\/li>\n
    2. \u2018Thousands (if not millions) of people die from shark bites every year.\u2019 No \u2013 the annual number of fatalities worldwide is seldom more than 10.<\/li>\n
    3. \u00a0\u2018Megalodon is alive and well.\u2019 Sadly (though with some relief!), this is not the case. However, the fact that many kids believe this proves that YouTube is extremely popular with young people.<\/li>\n
    4. \u00a0\u2018Sharks are the world\u2019s most dangerous animal.\u2019 Not even close \u2013 sharks wouldn\u2019t even make the top 20.<\/li>\n
    5. \u00a0\u2018All sharks are huge animals.\u2019 There are close to 500 species of sharks and most are significantly smaller than the average human.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n<\/ol>\n
      \"MILLAR<\/a>

      Building knowledge, raising awareness.<\/p><\/div>\n

        \n
      1. \u2018The smell of blood immediately sends a shark into a feeding frenzy.\u2019 Like all predators, sharks have quite specific prey. The smell of blood may heighten their curiosity, but they tend to go about their feeding in quite an orderly way.<\/li>\n
      2. \u2018Sharks are evil.\u2019 Perhaps this misconception stems from the sinister music that often accompanies their presence in a movie. Once kids have been shown beautiful underwater footage of the animals, they usually change their minds and marvel at the shark\u2019s beauty and grace.<\/li>\n
      3. \u2018Sharks are scared of dolphins, so if you see dolphins, there are no sharks around.\u2019 If anything, it is more likely to be the other way around, as both groups of animals are more likely to be found in waters where the food chain is active.<\/li>\n
      4. \u2018A shark will die if it stops moving.\u2019 This is true for some species, but many sharks are able to compensate for a lack of water flow when stationary by buccal pumping, whereby they pump water over their gills in order to oxygenate their blood.<\/li>\n
      5. \u2018False Bay is a breeding ground for great white sharks.\u2019 There are no records of newly born great white pups in the bay.<\/li>\n<\/ol>\n
        \"MILLAR<\/a>

        Eager to learn the facts.<\/p><\/div>\n

        It\u2019s interesting to note that most of the above misconceptions relate to the behaviour of sharks, and particularly to human\u2013shark interactions. The good news is that when kids pronounce their knowledge of shark biology, they tend to be far more accurate. Even better news is that most of the kids we meet from schools near the sea tend to be far better informed about sharks and are quick to correct their less well-informed peers!<\/p>\n<\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

        Every now and again, we at the Shark Education Centre in Kalk Bay, South Africa, attend an event where we man a stall displaying shark information and artefacts. Our aim is to educate people informally about sharks by engaging them in conversation. The events tend to relate to science, conservation or biodiversity and for the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":56,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"tags":[],"class_list":["post-13470","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\nSharks \u2013 the 10 most common misconceptions - SOSF Shark Education Centre<\/title>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/saveourseas.com\/sosf-shark-education-centre\/sharks-the-10-most-common-misconceptions\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_GB\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Sharks \u2013 the 10 most common misconceptions\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:description\" content=\"Every now and again, we at the Shark Education Centre in Kalk Bay, South Africa, attend an event where we man a stall displaying shark information and artefacts. 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