9781422276792

Watch how the thresher shark attacks a school of sardines, stunning its prey with its powerful tail before going in for the final kill. Pay special attention to the technique the shark uses to herd the school of sardines before making amove.

ARE THRESHER SHARKS AGGRESSIVE TOWARD HUMANS? While thresher sharks may look scary, they appear to have no interest in attacking humans! Many people who have dived with thresher sharks report that they are shy, cautious animals, who are more

worried about being hurt by humans than about moving in for an attack. There has only been one documented case of a thresher shark attacking a human. The shark attacked because the human grabbed the shark’s tail. There was recently a report of a thresher shark acting aggressively toward an underwater hunter who was trying to attack the shark with a spear. It’s likely that thresher sharks are willing to become aggressive when they feel threatened, but otherwise, they seem to have little desire to interact with humans. There is a widespread rumor that a thresher shark once used its tail to take the head off of a fisherman who was leaning over the edge of a boat, but no one has ever been able to prove this claim, and most marine biologists agree that it’s highly unlikely that a thresher shark would do this. There have also been four reports of thresher sharks attacking fishing boats, but in each of these incidents, the people on board the boat were attempting to kill the shark. Bottom line: humans and thresher sharks have no problem peacefully coexisting as long as the shark is treated with respect. SIDEBAR

14