WEBVTT - Why Do Sharks Get Such a Bad Rap? 0:00:00.040 --> 0:00:02.320 Guess what, Mango? What's that? Will? So you know my 0:00:02.360 --> 0:00:04.600 son who who's just eight years old now, he used 0:00:04.640 --> 0:00:08.039 to be completely obsessed with a c DC. You remember this, right, Yeah, 0:00:08.039 --> 0:00:11.200 it's hard to forget. Well, apparently there's a big advantage 0:00:11.200 --> 0:00:13.800 to having as many A C d C songs saved 0:00:13.840 --> 0:00:15.800 in our on our hard drive as we do. And 0:00:15.800 --> 0:00:18.800 it's the calm Sharks down. Have you heard this? It 0:00:18.880 --> 0:00:21.239 was back in two thousand eleven there was an Australian 0:00:21.280 --> 0:00:24.080 tour operator, his name was Matt Wall already started playing 0:00:24.200 --> 0:00:27.480 music from underwater speakers and what he realized was that 0:00:27.520 --> 0:00:29.600 when he played back in Black or You Shook Me 0:00:29.640 --> 0:00:32.440 All Night Long, that the sharks started to become much 0:00:32.560 --> 0:00:36.800 less aggressive. How strange. So instead they actually became calm 0:00:36.880 --> 0:00:40.000 and inquisitive, and they started nuzzling up to the speaker 0:00:40.240 --> 0:00:42.519 and rubbing up against it as they moved past. And 0:00:42.600 --> 0:00:45.000 I can't say this is my reaction to hearing a CDC, 0:00:45.520 --> 0:00:48.199 but this is what they did. I love that like 0:00:48.320 --> 0:00:51.159 sharks dig a C d C and not other bands, 0:00:51.320 --> 0:00:53.760 you know, But do you have any idea why they 0:00:53.760 --> 0:00:55.840 like it so much? No? And honestly, this guy was 0:00:55.880 --> 0:00:59.120 baffled as well. So, as Waller told Time Magazine, quote, 0:00:59.320 --> 0:01:01.800 sharks don't of ears, they don't have long hair, and 0:01:01.800 --> 0:01:05.399 they don't headbang past the cage doing air guitar. But 0:01:05.480 --> 0:01:08.400 they do seem to like the particular vibrations that a 0:01:08.560 --> 0:01:11.160 C d C casts off. In fact, it works so 0:01:11.200 --> 0:01:13.880 well he stopped using bait to draw the sharks near 0:01:13.959 --> 0:01:17.160 his diving cages, and instead he just calms them down 0:01:17.240 --> 0:01:20.320 and lures them close with a C d C. It's 0:01:20.319 --> 0:01:23.520 like they go into this hard rock trance. So today 0:01:23.560 --> 0:01:26.399 show is all about sharks, like why are we so 0:01:26.440 --> 0:01:29.240 afraid of shark attacks? Why do they need so many teeth? 0:01:29.640 --> 0:01:31.759 And why is punching a shark in the nose a 0:01:31.880 --> 0:01:35.080 terrible strategy if you want to avoid being eaten? So 0:01:35.160 --> 0:01:58.840 let's dig in. Hey, their podcast listeners, Welcome to Part 0:01:58.920 --> 0:02:01.400 Time Genius. I'm Will Pearson and as always I'm joined 0:02:01.440 --> 0:02:03.800 by my good friend Manges Ticketer and on the other 0:02:03.840 --> 0:02:06.440 side of the soundproof glass wearing yet another one of 0:02:06.560 --> 0:02:09.040 his classic shirts. Every week I think there's no way 0:02:09.080 --> 0:02:11.959 he can top the last one, and then he somehow does. 0:02:12.000 --> 0:02:15.320 And so today's it just says live every week like 0:02:15.440 --> 0:02:17.440 it's shark week, and I have to bet I don't 0:02:17.480 --> 0:02:19.959 know exactly what that means, but I feel like it's 0:02:20.040 --> 0:02:22.720 so deep and it's something that we really need to 0:02:22.800 --> 0:02:25.600 learn to live by. These words. I'd actually put it 0:02:25.680 --> 0:02:27.440 right up there with the Golden Rule, even though I'm 0:02:27.440 --> 0:02:30.000 not acent sure what it means. That's our friend and 0:02:30.040 --> 0:02:33.520 producer Tristan McNeil. So after about a year of working here, 0:02:33.560 --> 0:02:36.320 I tend to get all my moral advice straight off 0:02:36.320 --> 0:02:39.160 of Tristan shirts. I feel like he's basically a walking 0:02:39.200 --> 0:02:41.960 Confucius well, and from what we hear from our listeners, 0:02:42.000 --> 0:02:43.680 I think a lot of people are doing this too. 0:02:43.680 --> 0:02:46.160 I really don't think he knows the impact he has 0:02:46.240 --> 0:02:48.600 in this world. But you know, in this case, we're 0:02:48.639 --> 0:02:51.200 taking his advice to heart. Because today's show is all 0:02:51.240 --> 0:02:53.679 about sharks. That means we'll be taking a deep dive 0:02:53.680 --> 0:02:56.959 into the surprising science behind some of their unique characteristics, 0:02:57.280 --> 0:02:58.920 as well as a few reasons why it's in our 0:02:58.960 --> 0:03:02.320 own best interest to eat the ocean shark friendly. And 0:03:02.360 --> 0:03:03.800 I know for a lot of people, the idea of 0:03:03.800 --> 0:03:07.079 protecting sharks is going to sound like a terrible idea. 0:03:07.400 --> 0:03:09.640 That's part of the reason we wanted to do this episode, 0:03:10.040 --> 0:03:12.520 so with summer just around the corner, it felt like 0:03:12.560 --> 0:03:14.640 the right time to take a close look at the 0:03:14.639 --> 0:03:18.440 animals responsible for so much of the world's beach side dread. 0:03:19.080 --> 0:03:21.760 But rather than just perpetuating that old idea that sharks 0:03:21.760 --> 0:03:25.440 are ravenous and man eating monsters, even we're actually going 0:03:25.520 --> 0:03:27.440 to try to make a case for why sharks should 0:03:27.440 --> 0:03:29.640 be feared a little bit less and and actually admired 0:03:29.680 --> 0:03:32.600 a whole lot more So, we have these animal plates 0:03:32.639 --> 0:03:35.520 at my house, and they've got foxes and owls and 0:03:35.560 --> 0:03:38.000 all these other cute creatures and bow ties. They're all 0:03:38.040 --> 0:03:41.000 kind of dressed up, and I always end up eating 0:03:41.000 --> 0:03:43.120 off the shark plate, Like the kids always go for 0:03:43.160 --> 0:03:45.880 the cute animals, and I am tired of eating off 0:03:45.880 --> 0:03:49.960 the shark plates. For me. That's what's fueling this episode. 0:03:50.040 --> 0:03:52.440 But that's great. But I do think a good place 0:03:52.480 --> 0:03:55.440 to start is noting that while they're nearly five unique 0:03:55.480 --> 0:03:58.080 species of sharks in the world, only thirty or so 0:03:58.240 --> 0:04:02.000 have been definitively linked to unprovoked attacks on humans. So 0:04:02.320 --> 0:04:05.520 while this idea of sharks immediately conjures up, I don't know, 0:04:05.560 --> 0:04:08.960 like scary ideas of tiger sharks or great whites. In 0:04:09.000 --> 0:04:12.920 people's minds, those kind of human hungry peak predators. They're 0:04:12.960 --> 0:04:15.960 really the exception for sharks species and not the rule, right, 0:04:16.000 --> 0:04:18.240 And you know you've actually said human hungry. But but 0:04:18.320 --> 0:04:20.560 even that is not really the case when we talk 0:04:20.600 --> 0:04:23.159 about these species as well, because you know, I remember 0:04:23.200 --> 0:04:26.039 hearing that even these highly predatory sharks, they don't really 0:04:26.080 --> 0:04:28.240 care for the taste of human Yeah, I mean, I 0:04:28.320 --> 0:04:30.200 guess we can't really compete with the taste of free 0:04:30.279 --> 0:04:34.640 range blue fin tuna. Um Sharks obviously don't typically hunt 0:04:34.720 --> 0:04:36.880 humans for food at all. In fact, the majority of 0:04:36.880 --> 0:04:40.680 shark bites are considered exploratory bites, which is basically the 0:04:40.800 --> 0:04:43.360 sharks just kind of taking a little taste to see 0:04:43.360 --> 0:04:46.040 if what it's caught is food or not. And after 0:04:46.080 --> 0:04:48.960 that first bite, most sharks decide, you know, they aren't 0:04:48.960 --> 0:04:51.720 in the mood for humans and don't go back for seconds. 0:04:52.040 --> 0:04:53.880 Of course, none of that means that a single shark 0:04:53.920 --> 0:04:56.159 bite can't be devastating on its own. Usually a nibble 0:04:56.279 --> 0:04:58.320 is all it takes to lose a limb. Yeah, I mean, 0:04:58.360 --> 0:05:00.880 you know, setting aside the unlikely hood of an attack 0:05:00.960 --> 0:05:04.359 and the intention of the sharks themselves, it is easy 0:05:04.400 --> 0:05:07.080 to understand why so many people are scared of these creatures. 0:05:07.080 --> 0:05:09.480 And even a bite that leaves a person's organs and 0:05:09.640 --> 0:05:12.440 tacks still puts them at risk of, you know, significantly 0:05:12.520 --> 0:05:14.800 bleeding from that. And at the end of the day, 0:05:14.839 --> 0:05:17.760 some sharks definitely do attack humans, and when it happens, 0:05:17.760 --> 0:05:20.680 the results tend to be pretty horrifying. So you know, 0:05:20.720 --> 0:05:22.880 you figure that has to color the way the average 0:05:22.880 --> 0:05:25.919 person looks at sharks, even if the friendlier species do 0:05:26.120 --> 0:05:29.400 far outnumber the killer ones, right, I mean, as good 0:05:29.400 --> 0:05:32.120 a drummer as jabber Jaws was on that cartoon, it 0:05:32.160 --> 0:05:35.520 didn't change our impressionive sharks. Yeah, and he was a 0:05:35.640 --> 0:05:38.520 very very good drummer, to be honest. But I mean 0:05:38.600 --> 0:05:40.880 it's partially because, like, the only reports we hear about 0:05:40.880 --> 0:05:44.320 sharks are terrifying, and that makes it tough for people 0:05:44.360 --> 0:05:46.719 to think about them as anything but a threat. But 0:05:46.760 --> 0:05:49.520 the weird thing is that those feelings have persisted even 0:05:49.560 --> 0:05:51.720 as a lot of media outlets are improving how they 0:05:51.760 --> 0:05:54.560 handle shark attacks. In the news like now, reporters will 0:05:54.600 --> 0:05:57.520 often give a little perspective on the attacks by mentioning 0:05:57.560 --> 0:06:00.320 how rare shark attacks are overall, Yeah, and that true. 0:06:00.320 --> 0:06:02.159 I feel like the line always here is how you 0:06:02.200 --> 0:06:04.440 have a greater chance of being struck dead by lightning 0:06:04.480 --> 0:06:07.200 than killed by a shark. I think the odds of 0:06:07.240 --> 0:06:09.560 dying from a shark attack or something like, you know, 0:06:09.640 --> 0:06:12.240 one in three point seven million, whereas the odds of 0:06:12.320 --> 0:06:15.119 dying from lightning are I think one in a hundred 0:06:15.160 --> 0:06:18.400 and sixty two thousand, So it is a pretty significant difference. Also, 0:06:18.640 --> 0:06:20.680 I think Martha Stewart has claimed to have been struck 0:06:20.680 --> 0:06:24.120 by lightning three times, and she's also never been eaten 0:06:24.120 --> 0:06:27.719 by a shark, which supports that data. That definitely supports 0:06:27.720 --> 0:06:30.000 that if that's true. Does she actually claim to have 0:06:30.000 --> 0:06:32.279 been struck by lightning three times? Yeah? I think once 0:06:32.400 --> 0:06:36.560 was in her bed once wash dishes. Yeah, she has 0:06:36.600 --> 0:06:40.240 a little frame bed apparently. Oh that is some bad luck. Well, 0:06:40.240 --> 0:06:42.839 there are plenty of other examples too. I think I think, 0:06:42.880 --> 0:06:44.839 you know, you have higher odds of being killed by 0:06:44.960 --> 0:06:49.200 beastings or squashed by unstable vending machines, which weirdly is 0:06:49.320 --> 0:06:51.200 kind of a fear of mine, or at least it 0:06:51.279 --> 0:06:53.400 was when I was a kid, or or even crushed 0:06:53.440 --> 0:06:55.960 by falling coconuts. Those are all things that are more 0:06:56.000 --> 0:06:58.320 likely to happen to you than being eaten or bitten 0:06:58.360 --> 0:07:01.440 by a shark. Well, I mean, no matter how you 0:07:01.440 --> 0:07:03.599 want to measure it, the point is that sharks aren't 0:07:03.640 --> 0:07:05.520 nearly as big a threat to humans as we give 0:07:05.560 --> 0:07:08.400 them credit for. But that's still a tough prospect for 0:07:08.440 --> 0:07:10.680 most of us to believe. All right, So I'm curious, like, 0:07:10.720 --> 0:07:12.760 why do you think that is? Like, if we know 0:07:12.920 --> 0:07:16.080 grizzly shark attacks are really, really rare, then then why 0:07:16.120 --> 0:07:18.440 are we so unnerved by them? I Mean, I think 0:07:18.600 --> 0:07:20.920 part of it is just the sense of otherness that 0:07:20.960 --> 0:07:23.520 people get from sharks, because I mean, if you think 0:07:23.560 --> 0:07:25.760 about other animals that prey on humans, you're thinking about 0:07:25.800 --> 0:07:29.720 like lions or tigers or wolves, there's still some sense 0:07:29.720 --> 0:07:33.200 of familiarity there. Like the characteristics and mannerisms we see 0:07:33.200 --> 0:07:35.840 in those predators kind of remind us of cuddly cats 0:07:35.960 --> 0:07:39.080 or the dogs we keep his house pets. And it's 0:07:39.120 --> 0:07:42.440 similar with other occasional human killers like grizzly bears and gorillas, 0:07:42.560 --> 0:07:45.840 Like sometimes their behavior makes it seem like they're almost human, 0:07:46.160 --> 0:07:48.720 which causes people to underestimate the threat that they pose 0:07:48.800 --> 0:07:50.680 until it's too late, right, And you know, if you 0:07:50.680 --> 0:07:53.520 think about those animals, they're also pretty cute and playful 0:07:53.600 --> 0:07:56.120 when they're just baby. So I would think that kind 0:07:56.120 --> 0:07:59.360 of furthers the the empathy that you're talking about, definitely, 0:07:59.400 --> 0:08:01.800 And like, none of this happens with sharks, right, I mean, 0:08:02.000 --> 0:08:04.800 baby sharks are called pops, but we don't see them 0:08:04.840 --> 0:08:07.720 as cute like puppies. So when when most people look 0:08:07.760 --> 0:08:10.400 at sharks, they see something completely unfamiliar to them, and 0:08:10.400 --> 0:08:12.440 and humans tend to have a tough time grappling with 0:08:12.480 --> 0:08:14.920 the unfamiliar, all right, So it sounds like most of 0:08:15.000 --> 0:08:18.200 us probably won't ever really empathize with sharks. But but 0:08:18.440 --> 0:08:20.560 I feel like we can at least admire or even 0:08:20.600 --> 0:08:22.800 respect them a little bit more than we currently do. 0:08:22.920 --> 0:08:25.800 So keeping that in mind, I know, we both found 0:08:25.840 --> 0:08:29.120 a ton of surprising, you know, non threatening reasons to 0:08:29.200 --> 0:08:31.280 be pro sharks. So I feel like maybe the best 0:08:31.320 --> 0:08:32.720 way to do this is just kind of have a 0:08:32.760 --> 0:08:34.920 back and forth and and and maybe we can help 0:08:34.960 --> 0:08:36.800 these guys out on the pr front. I don't know 0:08:36.840 --> 0:08:38.920 why we're doing this, but but let's give it a shot. 0:08:39.640 --> 0:08:42.080 Yeah for it? So I'm gonna start us off with 0:08:42.080 --> 0:08:44.800 the fact that sharks are way more social than we'd 0:08:44.800 --> 0:08:47.720 always thought. And this news actually comes from a group 0:08:47.720 --> 0:08:51.160 of Delaware based researchers who spent nearly a decade tracking 0:08:51.160 --> 0:08:53.640 the movements of more than three d San tiger sharks. 0:08:54.080 --> 0:08:57.240 So this group tagged the sharks with these mobile transmitters, 0:08:57.440 --> 0:08:59.360 and then they logged how often members of the group 0:08:59.440 --> 0:09:02.240 cross paths with fellow sharks in the wild, And in 0:09:02.280 --> 0:09:04.600 the end, they found that sharks hang out in groups 0:09:04.640 --> 0:09:06.960 that shrink and grow in size depending on the time 0:09:07.000 --> 0:09:09.600 of year and the location, which is actually something we 0:09:09.679 --> 0:09:13.079 see mostly in mammals like elephants or chimps and dolphins. Yeah, 0:09:13.120 --> 0:09:15.520 that's not something I'd heard before, so just trying to 0:09:15.600 --> 0:09:17.520 understand this. So, like in the spring, the sharks might 0:09:17.559 --> 0:09:19.800 go off on their own to mate, but then they 0:09:19.920 --> 0:09:22.040 like group up again later in the year to hunt together. 0:09:22.120 --> 0:09:24.480 Is that is that how it works exactly? But even 0:09:24.520 --> 0:09:27.320 when they travel alone like these San tiger sharks still 0:09:27.360 --> 0:09:30.480 seem to socialize with passers by. Like the researchers who 0:09:30.559 --> 0:09:33.200 tagged all these sharks recaptured two of them at one point, 0:09:33.280 --> 0:09:36.640 and when they downloaded the data from their trackers, they 0:09:36.679 --> 0:09:39.680 found that just these two sharks had interacted with more 0:09:39.720 --> 0:09:43.120 than three fifty fish. Oh wow. And were they mostly 0:09:43.160 --> 0:09:46.280 bumping into other sand tiger sharks or what? Yeah for 0:09:46.280 --> 0:09:48.360 for the most part, but they also ran into seven 0:09:48.400 --> 0:09:51.559 other different species, including a few other kinds of sharks 0:09:51.600 --> 0:09:54.600 and some plain old fish. But here's the really wild part. 0:09:54.880 --> 0:09:58.320 These encounters weren't just chance meetings with strangers like the tag. 0:09:58.400 --> 0:10:02.360 Sharks actually interacted with the same individuals over and over again. 0:10:02.840 --> 0:10:05.160 And this would go on throughout the year. And in fact, 0:10:05.200 --> 0:10:08.080 some sharks bumped into the same fish more than twenty times. 0:10:08.600 --> 0:10:11.040 That's so bizarre. So do the researchers know what's going 0:10:11.120 --> 0:10:13.240 on with that? Like, are they really forming these little 0:10:13.280 --> 0:10:15.800 friend circles or family groups out in the out in 0:10:15.840 --> 0:10:18.000 the ocean. I mean, it certainly seems that way, but 0:10:17.960 --> 0:10:20.440 the truth is we aren't actually sure yet. Like we'll 0:10:20.440 --> 0:10:22.800 still have to keep following sharks around until we figure 0:10:22.800 --> 0:10:25.360 it out, But so far, there's actually reason to think 0:10:25.360 --> 0:10:28.600 that sharks are much friendlier and also better at staying 0:10:28.600 --> 0:10:31.439 in touch than we ever thought before. Well, I want 0:10:31.440 --> 0:10:33.960 to congratulate you on on finding both a way to 0:10:33.960 --> 0:10:36.920 boost the public perception of sharks and your home state. 0:10:36.960 --> 0:10:39.400 Don't think I've noticed the mention of Delaware in there. 0:10:39.440 --> 0:10:42.160 That was well done. But you know, while the social 0:10:42.200 --> 0:10:44.880 lives of sharks might bear some similarity to our own, 0:10:45.080 --> 0:10:46.920 I am sad to say they put us the shame 0:10:47.320 --> 0:10:48.960 in one category and I'm going to go in a 0:10:49.120 --> 0:10:51.600 very different direction here. But I did find this interesting, 0:10:51.960 --> 0:10:54.280 and that's dental hygiene. I bet you didn't see me 0:10:54.360 --> 0:10:57.280 going there now, But if you look at it, sharks 0:10:57.320 --> 0:11:00.320 actually can't get cavities, And to be fair, that's actually 0:11:00.360 --> 0:11:03.439 true of most animals, since their diets don't contain anywhere 0:11:03.520 --> 0:11:06.400 near as much sugar as that of humans. But sharks 0:11:06.440 --> 0:11:09.560 actually have a really unique ability here are really unique 0:11:09.600 --> 0:11:12.960 feature rather, and that's that their teeth are completely coded 0:11:12.960 --> 0:11:15.760 and fluoride. And that's not an exaggeration. There was this 0:11:15.800 --> 0:11:17.640 research I was looking at. It was published in the 0:11:17.720 --> 0:11:21.760 Journal of Structural Biology that both makos and tiger sharks 0:11:21.800 --> 0:11:25.560 have teeth with outer coatings made from a hundred percent fluoride. 0:11:26.000 --> 0:11:27.600 So there's reason to think the same is true for 0:11:27.640 --> 0:11:30.560 other shark species as well. That's really incredible, but it 0:11:30.600 --> 0:11:32.760 also reminds me, do you remember when we were coming 0:11:32.840 --> 0:11:34.959 up with bad ideas for T shirts at Mentalphlass, and 0:11:35.280 --> 0:11:37.520 one of our friends was desperately trying to get us 0:11:37.559 --> 0:11:39.680 to make a shark shirt, like a T shirt of 0:11:39.720 --> 0:11:43.240 a shark smiling, and it said too many teeth, too 0:11:43.280 --> 0:11:45.920 little time. I do remember that. I still have no 0:11:46.000 --> 0:11:48.439 idea what that means. It made no sense. I know, 0:11:48.520 --> 0:11:51.200 I'm kind of surprised we didn't make it. But you 0:11:51.200 --> 0:11:54.320 were saying, basically, cavities are an issue for sharks because 0:11:54.320 --> 0:11:57.080 of their diet, but it also sounds like they don't 0:11:57.080 --> 0:11:59.079 have much of a problem with tooth togay, like if 0:11:59.080 --> 0:12:02.520 their teeth are basically encased in this toothpaste. Yeah, that's true. 0:12:02.520 --> 0:12:04.760 And and not only that, but because the mineral that 0:12:04.840 --> 0:12:07.760 coat shark teeth is less water soluble than the stuff 0:12:07.800 --> 0:12:10.920 that coats mammal teeth, they're they're actually perfectly suited for 0:12:10.960 --> 0:12:14.000 that underwater life. So then one thing I'm actually curious 0:12:14.000 --> 0:12:16.160 about is why are there so many loose shark teeth 0:12:16.160 --> 0:12:19.400 floating around? I mean, if their teeth are so protected, 0:12:19.679 --> 0:12:21.959 why are they always falling out? Well? See, that's the thing, 0:12:21.960 --> 0:12:24.880 and this is actually another point of overlap between us 0:12:24.920 --> 0:12:27.199 and sharks because you know, it turns out that shark 0:12:27.240 --> 0:12:29.840 teeth are just as weak as human teeth. And so 0:12:29.880 --> 0:12:32.760 this was discovered by that same German team of researchers 0:12:32.760 --> 0:12:35.720 who were studying the fluoride coating on their teeth, and 0:12:35.760 --> 0:12:38.160 what they found was that despite the added strength from 0:12:38.200 --> 0:12:41.240 the fluoride, shark teeth aren't any better than ours when 0:12:41.240 --> 0:12:44.680 it comes to resisting cracking or breaking. So shark teeth 0:12:44.720 --> 0:12:47.080 actually fall out all the time, you know, whenever they 0:12:47.160 --> 0:12:49.760 break or get too worn down. And this is made 0:12:49.840 --> 0:12:52.679 especially easy because shark teeth are actually only attached at 0:12:52.679 --> 0:12:55.800 their jaws by this soft tissue, So unlike ours, they're 0:12:55.840 --> 0:12:58.880 they're they're not nestled in these like tight fitting sockets 0:12:58.920 --> 0:13:01.160 that we see in you know, in human teeth. But 0:13:01.400 --> 0:13:04.600 do they have uh, never ending supply of shark teeth 0:13:04.640 --> 0:13:06.440 as well. I mean, I feel like any time you 0:13:06.440 --> 0:13:08.200 see a picture of a shark's mouth, it just looks 0:13:08.240 --> 0:13:10.920 like endless rows of teeth. Oh yeah, I mean, these 0:13:10.960 --> 0:13:14.480 guys are like tooth making machines. And in fact, it 0:13:14.480 --> 0:13:15.800 it only takes them. And this was one of the 0:13:15.840 --> 0:13:18.280 craziest stats that I saw. It takes most sharks about 0:13:18.320 --> 0:13:22.080 twenty four hours to produce a replacement tooth, and over 0:13:22.120 --> 0:13:24.319 the course of an average, say like twenty or thirty 0:13:24.400 --> 0:13:28.319 year lifespan, a single shark can go through literally thousands 0:13:28.360 --> 0:13:31.280 of teeth, So anytime you have a tooth falling out, 0:13:31.280 --> 0:13:34.160 there's always another one just to row behind, and it's 0:13:34.200 --> 0:13:36.000 just ready to move up and take its place. So 0:13:36.040 --> 0:13:39.440 it's pretty remarkable. Yeah, I love that shark dentist isn't 0:13:39.440 --> 0:13:41.760 a profession any sharks should go into. I feel like 0:13:41.760 --> 0:13:44.720 there's no money in that, So this is also dumb. 0:13:44.760 --> 0:13:47.440 But I wonder if anybody's ever knocked out a bunch 0:13:47.480 --> 0:13:49.640 of sharks teeth, Like you know, how if you're ever 0:13:49.679 --> 0:13:51.680 faced with an attacking shark, they say your best bet 0:13:51.720 --> 0:13:53.680 is to punch in the nose. You know, it's weird 0:13:53.679 --> 0:13:55.959 because I've heard that too, and so I decided to 0:13:55.960 --> 0:13:59.040 actually look into it, and it turns out that punching 0:13:59.040 --> 0:14:01.360 a shark in the face is just about the worst 0:14:01.360 --> 0:14:04.320 advice you could give a shark attack victim, which honestly, 0:14:04.320 --> 0:14:06.720 I feel like should have been pretty obvious from the start. 0:14:06.760 --> 0:14:09.200 And I really don't know how this rumor caught on, 0:14:09.679 --> 0:14:12.360 but I found this interview with a wildlife filmmaker, and 0:14:12.679 --> 0:14:15.480 I wanted to include this quote because he has the 0:14:15.520 --> 0:14:18.559 best name of just about anyone we've ever talked about. 0:14:18.600 --> 0:14:21.840 His name is Andy Brandy Cassa Grande the fourth. Is 0:14:21.840 --> 0:14:25.080 that not such an amazing name? It's pretty amazing. I 0:14:25.080 --> 0:14:28.160 feel like he deserves his own episode. Anyway, he explains 0:14:28.160 --> 0:14:30.600 why socking a shark is such a dumb idea. So 0:14:30.640 --> 0:14:33.280 here's what he says. The reality is that sharks are 0:14:33.280 --> 0:14:37.480 pretty durable. Plus water magnifies images, so shark's nose might 0:14:37.560 --> 0:14:39.920 look like it's six inches in front of your face, 0:14:39.960 --> 0:14:43.360 but in reality it's nout as further away. So when 0:14:43.400 --> 0:14:46.200 you punch and miss its nose, your punch trajectory will 0:14:46.240 --> 0:14:49.920 go slightly downward, right into the shark's mouth. And here's 0:14:49.960 --> 0:14:52.480 his advice, don't put your arm in a shark's mouth, 0:14:52.520 --> 0:14:55.040 which just seems like pretty sound advice. Yeah, it is. 0:14:55.080 --> 0:14:57.360 And it seems like even if someone did knock a 0:14:57.400 --> 0:14:59.880 sharks teeth that they probably weren't around to talk about 0:14:59.880 --> 0:15:02.480 it afterwards. Yeah, I mean, I think you'd better go 0:15:02.520 --> 0:15:05.280 ahead and just take that socking a shark thing off 0:15:05.280 --> 0:15:07.680 of your bucket list, Mango. But you know, since we're 0:15:07.720 --> 0:15:10.200 back on talking shark attacks, there's a side of them 0:15:10.240 --> 0:15:12.520 I do want to talk about that actually might be 0:15:12.600 --> 0:15:16.040 another reason to be pro shark strange as that may sound, 0:15:16.080 --> 0:15:17.920 So let's take a quick break and then I'll tell 0:15:17.960 --> 0:15:33.080 you what I mean. You're listening to part Time Genius 0:15:33.120 --> 0:15:35.320 and we're talking about the signs of sharks. Okay, well, 0:15:35.360 --> 0:15:37.680 so I'm super curious where you're going with this one. 0:15:38.000 --> 0:15:40.760 Tell me what's the upside shark attacks? All right? So 0:15:40.840 --> 0:15:44.400 it's tragic as shark attacks undoubtedly are, it's it's possible 0:15:44.440 --> 0:15:47.720 they also provide a kind of paradoxical benefit to humans. 0:15:48.160 --> 0:15:51.320 So this comes from a well known theoretical physicist and mathematician. 0:15:51.360 --> 0:15:54.400 His name is Freeman Dyson, and according to Dyson, for 0:15:54.480 --> 0:15:57.160 every swimmer killed in a shark attack off the coast 0:15:57.200 --> 0:16:00.360 of San Diego, there are a ten drowning desk prevented 0:16:00.400 --> 0:16:02.600 due to fear of going in the water. So here's 0:16:02.640 --> 0:16:05.040 how he writes about it. He says, every time a 0:16:05.080 --> 0:16:07.960 swimmer is killed, the number of deaths by drowning goes 0:16:08.000 --> 0:16:10.080 down for a few years and then returns to the 0:16:10.120 --> 0:16:13.320 normal level. The effect occurs because reports of death by 0:16:13.360 --> 0:16:17.400 shark attack are remembered more vividly than reports of drownings. 0:16:17.440 --> 0:16:20.040 So you know, the ideas here that after a shark attack, 0:16:20.080 --> 0:16:22.600 people are either more cautious in the water or they 0:16:22.680 --> 0:16:25.680 just avoid it altogether, and in the process of that 0:16:25.680 --> 0:16:29.200 that's effectively saves people from drowning. Now, to be clear, 0:16:29.320 --> 0:16:31.760 Dison's yet to show enough solid evidence to back up 0:16:31.760 --> 0:16:33.800 this claim, but but it kind of makes sense if 0:16:33.880 --> 0:16:35.800 you think about it, and you know, it's a nice 0:16:35.840 --> 0:16:38.640 reminder that protecting sharks could wind up benefiting in all 0:16:38.680 --> 0:16:41.480 sorts of kind of weird ways. Well, one thing we 0:16:41.480 --> 0:16:44.960 can definitely thank sharks for is the summer blockbuster, though 0:16:45.200 --> 0:16:48.600 I guess Steven Spielberg gets some credit for this too. Well, 0:16:48.640 --> 0:16:50.240 this is something of a tangent. I I do want 0:16:50.280 --> 0:16:51.880 to take a little time to talk about not only 0:16:51.920 --> 0:16:54.600 how Jaws has impacted the public image of sharks, but 0:16:54.720 --> 0:16:57.120 also how it revolutionized the movie industry as a whole. 0:16:57.440 --> 0:17:00.120 You know, I've read before how monumental this move you 0:17:00.280 --> 0:17:03.160 was in terms of building this excited audience, like it 0:17:03.240 --> 0:17:06.040 caught so many people's attention when it was released. I 0:17:06.040 --> 0:17:09.880 guess it was what came out and it actually became 0:17:09.920 --> 0:17:12.840 the first movie to ever pass the hundred million dollar 0:17:12.920 --> 0:17:15.359 mark at the box office, which, if you think about it, 0:17:15.359 --> 0:17:17.199 not too shabby. This was this was really just a 0:17:17.280 --> 0:17:20.280 B movie about these three scruffy guys waging war with 0:17:20.359 --> 0:17:24.560 this largely unseen sharks. So it's pretty incredible. Yeah, And 0:17:24.680 --> 0:17:27.240 you know, the sellar box office wasn't the only way 0:17:27.280 --> 0:17:29.680 that Jaws was a game changer. I mean the way 0:17:29.680 --> 0:17:32.760 the movie was advertised and also merchandized also fed into 0:17:32.840 --> 0:17:37.440 its success, and it established this new formula for Hollywood blockbusters. 0:17:37.440 --> 0:17:40.520 I mean, it's what Hollywood blockbusters still do today. And 0:17:40.560 --> 0:17:43.000 it's weird to think about, but prior to Jaws, there 0:17:43.000 --> 0:17:46.399 were actually no wide release summer event films, like the 0:17:46.440 --> 0:17:49.280 tradition of luring movie goers into theaters with these big 0:17:49.320 --> 0:17:52.120 budget thrillers, especially during the hottest months of the year. 0:17:52.359 --> 0:17:54.760 It's a practice that really began with Jaws and was 0:17:54.760 --> 0:17:56.919 cemented two years later with the release of Star Wars. 0:17:57.560 --> 0:17:59.400 So obviously, I know you looked into this a bit 0:17:59.440 --> 0:18:02.160 more than I and I'm curious what made Jaws such 0:18:02.200 --> 0:18:05.160 an outlier. Like if you look back and movie history, 0:18:05.160 --> 0:18:07.680 there were so many movies released in the summer months 0:18:07.680 --> 0:18:10.040 before Jaw. So why didn't any of these others catch 0:18:10.119 --> 0:18:13.360 on as the world's first blockbuster? Well, largely because at 0:18:13.359 --> 0:18:16.920 the time, the summer months were this unspoken dumping ground 0:18:16.960 --> 0:18:20.119 for all the studios worst movies. So while today movies 0:18:20.160 --> 0:18:22.600 that studios have no faith in typically come out in 0:18:22.680 --> 0:18:26.280 like January or September, back then, the thining was that 0:18:26.400 --> 0:18:29.399 most people were too busy going on vacations or enjoying 0:18:29.400 --> 0:18:31.840 the outdoors, you know, to bother with going to the 0:18:31.840 --> 0:18:34.439 theater in the summertime. Wait. So, so, looking back at this, 0:18:34.480 --> 0:18:38.040 so universal had assumed Jaws would flop. Kind of yeah, 0:18:38.200 --> 0:18:40.000 I mean, the original plan was to release it in 0:18:40.080 --> 0:18:44.239 Christmas in n but when this production schedule just was 0:18:44.280 --> 0:18:46.240 so troubled and it dragged on for more than a 0:18:46.280 --> 0:18:49.119 hundred days over schedule, the studio had no choice but 0:18:49.160 --> 0:18:51.520 to push it back for a summer release the following year. 0:18:52.000 --> 0:18:53.600 By the way, I don't know if you realize this, 0:18:53.640 --> 0:18:57.520 but Spielberg wasn't actually the movie's first director. It actually 0:18:57.520 --> 0:18:59.560 got offered to a number of people, including this guy 0:18:59.640 --> 0:19:02.480 Dick Richards, who got fired because he kept referring to 0:19:02.600 --> 0:19:06.920 Jaws as a whale. If you're directing the movie, it 0:19:06.920 --> 0:19:09.240 feels like you should learn the animal your ship. That 0:19:09.240 --> 0:19:12.239