The Top 5 Facts About Sharks

Sharks are amazing creatures. Some people fear them. Some people love to interact with them. No matter if sharks are admired or feared, it is always interesting to learn about sharks. Here are facts about sharks that should be interesting to everybody.

Sharks Don't Work to Eat

Sharks do have to hunt their food, in a way. However, when it comes to actually eating food, they don't have to do a lot of work. A shark's jaws move from both the bottom and the top, unlike most other animals that have jaws that only move from the bottom or the top. Once a shark has food in its mouth, it shakes its head back and forth in order to tear the food. The food is then swallowed whole.

No Drilling Shark Teeth

Sharks never have to have their teeth drilled. They never have to brush their teeth or go to the dentist. Sharks have many rows of backup teeth. When a tooth falls out from something that was too hard or after lots of use, a tooth emerges from the rows of backup teeth and the shark then has all the teeth it needs.

Do You Want to Cuddle a Shark?

It probably isn't a good idea to cuddle a shark. They still have skin that should only be touched from the head down towards the tail so the skin of humans or other animals doesn't get cut. However, there are gentle sharks. The whale shark, the basking shark, and the megamouth shark are all gentle sharks. They eat only plankton.

Humans Are More Dangerous than Sharks

People seem to fear sharks. However, sharks shouldn't be feared on a whole. There are only about 100 shark attacks each year. However, each year, there are more than 100 murders. Also, humans kill more than 1,000 sharks a year in order to make food and shark skin products.

Stinky Sharks?

Sharks smell! Okay, not sharks stink. Sharks smell. A shark's keenest sense is its smell. Two-thirds of a shark's brain is devoted to the sense of smell. However, a shark that has been out of water for a long time may stink.

Source:

Sharks. (n.d.). Kidzone - Fun Facts for Kids! . Retrieved May 13, 2011, from http://www.kidzone.ws/sharks/index.htm