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Shark Week is approaching and FIU News is ready to talk predators.
With some of the top marine researchers in the country, including several focused on the science of sharks, we have enough content to write about sharks for countless Shark Weeks. But we want to know what you want to know about sharks. Tell us in the “comments” section below. Do you have a question about sharks? Ask. Your questions will help shape our coverage.
FIU researchers, including Yannis Papastamatiou, Jeremy Kiszka and Mark Bond, focus on conservation and the role of sharks in our oceans. And College of Arts, Sciences & Education Dean Mike Heithaus is an internationally known shark expert, marine ecologist and one of the lead investigators for Global FinPrint, the largest-ever attempt to survey the world’s reef shark and ray populations.
This is your chance to pick their brains. Just leave a comment below with your questions or inquiries. FIU News will bring you answers from FIU’s marine scientists, because for them, every week is shark week.
Our most impactful research:
[…] What do you want to know about sharks? […]
Why do sharks attack humans? Is it really because they mistake us for seals or other animals?
Sharks rarely do attack on humans. There are many records of sharks approaching unfamiliar objects and nudging, bumping or perhaps nipping them lightly with teeth. Divers are sometimes subjected to this unnerving process. The behavior is usually interpreted as curiosity. The shark is investigating a strange and unknown item, presumably to find out if it has any relevance, such as presenting a threat being good to eat.
Are there any protections in place to preserve sharks in the world’s oceans? Is there any research showing if shark numbers are responding negatively or positively due to chemical and temperature changes in today’s oceans?
How does shark tracking work, like how do the sensors transmit when they’re not close to the surface or how is the data gathered?
Do oil spills affect shark populations? If so, in what ways?
Given that it is estimated that between 60 million and 100 million sharks are killed every year, probably more, what is being done to protect them, especially in the areas where they are being slaughtered the most; such as parts of Asia? Additionally, what is being done to educate the general population about sharks to help ease their fears towards them? For instance, do people know that you have a greater chance of being killed by a falling coconut than you do of being killed by a shark, or that DOGS kill more people in one year just in the U.S. alone, than sharks kill in the entire world??!!
Why and what makes a shark attack humans?
Why do sharks exixits in our oceans, what are there purpose?
Why do sharks come to
shore when the tides are low?
What are the dintinctions of sharks specis? Are more specks more violent than other? Why
For us people who wanted to know more about sharks and marine biology, we got to know how the mental process of these animal works by inferring one another’s emotional and motivational states by reading their associated behavioral cues.
So, how do the mental process of sharks really work with these animals?
As a casual swimmer, I rarely go out beyond 5-6 feet of water when I am in the ocean. I know sharks can bite people in shallow water, but am I any safer if I avoid deep water? Also, are there things I should/should not do in the water if I want to avoid getting bit by a shark?