great white
dr. dolittle | October 2, 2012While Dr. Barbara Block's team from Stanford University is tagging and tracking sharks in the Northern Pacific (see prior blog), Chris Fischer and his team from History Channel's Shark Wranglers are tracking great white sharks off the coast of Cape Cod...home of "Jaws." You can track these sharks by visiting Ocearch.org.
A great white shark named "Genie" being outfitted with a GPS tracker off the coast of Cape Cod. Image taken by Gretchen Ertl, NY Times.
The goal of this research is to gather data to help protect the animals by learning more about their breeding and migratory habits.…
laelaps | May 11, 2010
The jaws of C. megalodon as restored by Bashford Dean for the AMNH in 1909. Image from the American Museum Journal.
My early elementary reading school choices often got me into trouble. Every week I would pass over the recommended, grade-appropriate sections for the few shelves containing the books about dinosaurs, sharks, and alligators - if it was big and hard sharp teeth, I wanted to learn about it. The school librarian was not too pleased with this, even calling my parents in on one occasion to insist that I read something fit for younger children, but I just could not get enough of…
zooillogix | September 16, 2008Basically this session is about making a media story out of a zoo or aquarium's conservation efforts. I'm making a story out of making a story.
Challenging Media Myths About White Sharks
Speaker: Karen Jeffries, Monterey Bay Aquarium
The Monterey Bay Aquarium examined the possibility of exhibiting a great white shark in an effort to change perceptions of an animal most commonly associated with the movie Jaws. The husbandry challenges were formidable. Of the 37 previous attempts to exhibit a great white, all had died quickly, the oldest living only 16 days.
The PR challenges were also…
zooillogix | August 7, 2007In two tantalizing shark discoveries, scientists in Germany have learned that playing certain songs to sharks in aquariums increases their libidos. Meanwhile, a different group of scientists may have discovered the secret rendezvous spot where great white sharks go to mate.
Bon-Chicka-Bow-Wow
Out of sheer frustration with the lack of sexual behavior in their captive sharks, researchers in German aquariums tried playing different music to the fish, hoping that it would help put them in the mood. The same tactic has proven successful with captive panda bears and primates in the past, and lo…