Why the fear of Great White sharks?

[Jupiter31]

The "Shark" forum is one of the best on SB, and a personal favorite - almost always intelegent, thoughtful, well written posts.

This thread is a great example - just sayin'

 

[k374]

Since you mentioned this was in an aquarium, let me confirm; you did mean TIGER sharks, not SAND TIGER sharks? Big difference. .

this was at the Maui Ocean Center's Shark Dive, it was definitely a Tiger with the distinctive vertical stripes not a sand shark..although it was a juvenile since they release it back into the ocean once it reaches a certain size. Awesome experience! I would also love to check out the Great White cage dive sometime.

 

[Dominantly]

Well, I fear them because of their size, and their natural tendency to want to eat things. But it's not just them that intimidate me, I think there is a nice little grouping of sharks that give me a chill. These include the white, tiger, bull, and oceanic white tip.
I have no desire to bump into one the same way I have no desire to bump into a Grizzly, Mountain Lion, or pack of Wolves on a trail hike.

 

[Eric Sedletzky]

I personally know several former urchin divers and every one of them has seen a great white except for one. I say former because the industry by in large has dried up (no pun intended).

I have never seen one, but all of the divers I talked to told me they thought they were prepared for it but then when it happened they realized they were not.
This is different from purposely going into the water (either free or in a cage) when you know they are around and having an encounter.
All these divers where taken completely by surprise. Urchin divers spend hours and hours in the water in some very diverse locations under all sorts of conditions, so an encounter isn't a matter of if but when.

One guy I talked to said he stayed out of the water for two years after he got buzzed while another guy thought it was cool and went right back to work and didn't give it a second thought. Each of these guys had the exact opposite reaction of how they thought things would go.

What I took away from all this is that everybody has some sort of hard wired reaction device in them that they have little control over. Nobody really knows how they will react until a completely surprise encounter actually happens.

 

[Rhone Man]

The thing most people fail to realise about Great Whites is the size of these creatures.

I only know one person who has dived with Great Whites, and that was cage diving off Isle de Guadelupe. He said when the first shark comes into view, literally everybody steps back from the bars of the cage.

But I don't think that is the reason most people fear them (I have heard that fewer people have dived with Great Whites than have climbed Mount Everest) - I suspect that has a lot of do with the movie classic Jaws.

 

[rjbeech12]

I'd love to see one but from a cage, I think the fear comes from not knowing if ones there. I'm sure most people when they start out get that feeling where they must check behind them evey few mins in case a shark is following them

 

[DCBC]

I have a healthy respect for any large carnivore, be it on land or in the water. Perhaps that's just my survival instinct speaking to me.

I've never been in a shark cage, but have dove with Great Whites in Mossel Bay, South Africa and have had a number of chance encounters with them while working in the Indian Ocean. For me a large shark always gets my attention.

I'm not a shark expert, but there's little doubt that a large GW is a domanent force in the water. He seems to be aggressive in-that he will come straight in to investigate you. I've seen some large Tigers and a few Bull Sharks do this, but other sharks seem to be more wary at first and take some time before coming close. This may not be entirely true, but it is my experience.

I suppose we all fear what we don't understand. This is complicated by the fact that GWs eat seals and sea lions, both of which are warm blooded mammals. As a warm blooded mammal myself, I would be foolish not to respect such a large carnivore when he comes close to pay me a visit.

 

[tyesai]

Whites are incredibly intelligent (more so than most dog breeds)

Is there any evidence to support this statement. I'm not trying to be confrontational, I'd like to learn more. I'm not getting into diving to dive wrecks, or to lay line in a cave, I like to learn about the animals. Myself, my wife and my two kids have just about watched every shark special / dvd / I-Tunes download we can get are hands on. But in the end they just seem like a fish to me, a really big Northern Pike.

Am I over simplifying it? I don't know, but Large Mouth Bass ambush frogs and fly out of the very similarly to Great Whites with seals, and isn't that guy on a surfboard the equivalent of a popper.

Please don't think I'm being a smartass. These are beautiful animals and my entire family and I find them fascinating, but I'm not willing to put a lot into the intelligence of a fish just because it is big enough to eat me. I feel like some people want them to be smarter than what they are because we can't control them and make them do our bidding and we find comfort in the idea, that if we can't control it, and it can kill us, then it has to be smart. Not only can't it kill us but we have no real good defense for it. It isn't something you can shoot with a 45-70, you can't hear, you can't see it if it doesn't want to be seen, your just screwed.

Anyway.....................

 

[tyesai]

I'd like to throw one more thing out there. Any of you guys / gals watched " Sharkman " and what did you think? If you haven't seen it it is about one mans quest to try to get a White Shark in tonic immobility. My wife and I thought it was, in technical terms, a pretty bad ass show.

At first I wanted to say the guy is crazy, kind of like that goofy cat that got ate by the bears. But you can see that Mike has at least some bit of fear in him. At one point in time he ends up in the water with 6 or 7 Great White sharks around him and when he makes it up on the boat he is laughing, but it isn't haha that was funny or haha that was cool, it is more like haha **** me I'm alive, thank you god kind of laugh.

If you haven't seen it I won't tell all but it is pretty cool, at one point in time he manages to get in front of a 10 or 12 foot Tiger Shark and by scratching the sides of the nose he imobilizes it, the animal goes kind of limp and they sink like 50 feet or so before he can't keep his hands on her.

 

[Ghanguss]

Here is some Australian GWS information.

Interesting GWS study. I find it amazing that this location is a popular holiday location and has never had a reported shark attack. This location is 2 hours drive north of Sydney
Catalyst: Great White Sharks - ABC TV Science

Prehistoric white pointer
Great white sharks had humble beginnings (ABC News in Science)

Why the fear? Because mistaken identity means your in some serious trouble.