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Sharks are people-eating monsters … right? They never sleep and they have no natural predators, they’re unstoppable! Well, literally all of that is untrue. In this episode of Misconceptions, host Justin Dodd debunks some myths about the great beasts of the ocean, from whether or not punching them in the nose is a valid defense tactic, to how Steven Spielberg's Jaws changed people's perception of these creatures. Dive on in, the water's fine. 0:00 Intro 1:53 Jaws Made People Terrified of Sharks 3:55 Sharks Love to Eat People 6:32 Sharks Have No Predators 10:38 Sharks Can Bite Through Diving Cages 13:07 Sharks Are Loners About Mental Floss: Mental Floss is where curious people come for trivia-tastic information. Mental Floss produces lists of fun facts, debunks common misconceptions, and tells untold stories from history, science, culture and more. Follow Mental Floss: Website: https://www.mentalfloss.com/ Mental Floss Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/mentalflossmagazine Mental Floss Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/mental_floss/ Mental Floss TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/@mental_floss Mental Floss X: https://twitter.com/mental_floss Mental Floss Discord: https://discord.io/mentalfloss Copyright Notice: This video and YouTube channel contain dialog, music, and images that are property of Mental Floss. You are authorized to share the video link and channel, and embed this video in your website or others as long as a link back to this YouTube Channel is provided. 2025 Mental Floss Misconceptions About Sharks | Mental Floss https://www.youtube.com/@MentalFloss
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0:00
Picture this. You're in open water. Your boat or mega-yacht has capsized. While you await rescue
0:06
a giant great white shark approaches, its mouth agape, its enormous teeth ready to tear your
0:11
appendages off. With a mighty blow, you strike it directly in the nose, and the beast swims off
0:16
stunned and embarrassed. For decades, people have believed getting into a fistfight with a shark is
0:21
a viable way of warding off an attack. Let me be really clear on this. It is very, very difficult to
0:27
punch a shark in its snot box. Even if you could, the chances of it getting discouraged
0:32
and not slurping you up like a piece of human spaghetti are slim. According to zoologist R. Aidan Martin
0:38
who once spoke with the New York Times on the topic, sticking your fist right near a shark's mouth
0:42
is a bad idea. If you should find yourself in a fight to the death
0:46
with the great white, it's better to aim for the eyes or the gills
0:50
But the odds of you being treated as a delicacy by a great white in the first place are shockingly low
0:55
That and shark boxing are but two of several misunderstandings about sharks we'll be covering in this installment of Misconceptions
1:10
Hi, I'm Justin Dodd, and like many of you, I've long been fascinated by sharks
1:15
At first glance, they're enormous predators that can devour anything, have no natural enemies
1:21
and can be fodder for wildly lucrative feature film franchises, as well as movies you drunkenly rent from a red box at two in the morning
1:29
There are over 500 different species of sharks in all shapes and sizes
1:33
from that of a frisbee to something out of Jurassic Park. They can also exhibit a wide variety of behaviors
1:39
But because of their fearsome reputation as the schoolyard bully of nature
1:43
they're among our most mischaracterized species. And no, it wasn't Steven Spielberg who first
1:49
sullied their reputation. Let's just roll that first misconception. Jaws made people terrified of sharks. The modern blockbuster was ushered in during the summer of
1:59
1975, when Steven Spielberg's Jaws was released in theaters. Based on the best-selling novel by
2:06
Peter Benchley, Jaws saw Spielberg managing to make the best of a very glitchy mechanical shark
2:12
By keeping glimpses of the beast to a minimum until the finale, he somehow made it even more horrific
2:18
Suddenly, people were afraid to go into the water. There's no question Jaws was anti-shark propaganda of the highest order
2:26
but that's not exactly where our modern deep-seated fear of them began
2:30
For that, you have to go back to 1916 when a rash of attacks off the New Jersey coastline made headline news
2:37
The first, on July 1st, claimed the life of Charles Van Sant, who had his femoral artery severed after a bite
2:44
Just five days later, another man, hotel worker Charles Bruder, had his legs bitten clean off and also died
2:50
More attacks followed, with one kid succumbing to bite-related injuries and another child surviving
2:57
This burst of violence managed to change attitudes about sharks practically overnight
3:02
Even President Woodrow Wilson convened a meeting about the crisis, and the Coast Guard was sent to
3:07
hunt sharks in the hopes of preventing future attacks. Prior to this, most people believed
3:12
sharks were largely harmless, or at least had no appetite for humans. These attacks were such a
3:18
weird anomaly that it's reputed to be one of Peter Benchley's inspirations for Jaws
3:23
And while the resulting film certainly reignited a fear of sharks, it was the Jersey events that
3:28
first made the public at large fully aware that the animals could indeed take a bite out of the
3:33
human population By the way before we move on I have to note my favorite piece of Jaws trivia Following the success of the first two films Universal considered making a satire of the series under the National Lampoon banner
3:46
co-written by none other than 80s staple John Hughes. The title, Jaws 3, People Zero
3:53
And speaking of people… Sharks love to eat people. People. We're full of protein, good fats, and whatever we ate last night is a little
4:03
after dinner mint. Of course, sharks love to nosh on us, except they really, really don't
4:09
It's true, there was something really wrong with that Jersey shark who seemed to go on a bit of a
4:14
rampage there, but the overall data on attacks indicates that we're not really their idea of a
4:20
main course. The gold standard of research is the Florida Museum's International Shark Attack File
4:25
a very comprehensive log of attacks, bites, and deaths. In 2022, the last full year numbers are
4:32
available, just 57 unprovoked bites were recorded, and that's worldwide. There were also 32 provoked
4:38
bites, which the museum defines as a chomping preceded by a human deliberately trying to
4:43
interact with that shark. Of all possible causes of death, a shark bite represents just the one
4:49
and 4,332,817 chance. That means your odds of getting into an accident driving to the beach
4:56
are appreciably higher than a giant fish using your leg as a toothpick. Even when sharks have
5:01
the opportunity to attack. They're probably not doing it because they like the taste of tourists
5:07
Most attacks are considered hit-and-run type encounters, with the shark biting or slashing
5:12
and then swimming away rather than devouring you. One theory posits that sharks may confuse
5:17
people for their preferred meal of seals, and there's research to support the idea that
5:22
from a predator's point of view, a human on a board and using a paddle may somewhat resemble
5:27
a seal and its flippers. The motions are pretty similar. But sharks tend to devour seals, with
5:33
humans that generally just go in for a little taste. Also, many of the sharks that bite people
5:38
are not the sharks that tend to eat seals. They're often young great whites, at an age before they
5:44
start eating seals, or sharks that eat small fish. So, some researchers have suggested the prey
5:50
exploration hypothesis. Essentially, since many shark species don't have schools, which by both
5:56
fish and students travel in schools might make a good future video, anyway. Since they don't have
6:01
schools, they have to learn what's tasty themselves. In that way, a shark biting a human
6:06
isn't that different from a toddler eating something weird. They're exploring the world
6:11
with their mouths. It's just that in the case of sharks, their mouths have lots of pointy teeth
6:17
Ironically, it's really sharks who should fear humans, thanks to commercial fishing and a market
6:22
for their fins in food and other products, an estimated 100 million of them are killed each year
6:29
But humans are far from a shark's only predator. Sharks have no predators. What could be more
6:36
imposing than a 16-foot eating machine moving through the water? Other species must tremble
6:41
in fear at the mere sight of a shark. But as in most areas of life, there's always a bigger fish
6:46
or in this case, a bigger killer whale. In 2009, researchers at Monterey Bay Aquarium in California
6:52
tagged 17 great whites to observe their movement patterns over time. Curiously, the moment two
6:58
groups or pods of orcas emerged, all 17 sharks got the hell out of there. Researchers noted the
7:04
same behavior again and again. Now, it's hard to say sharks are afraid of orcas, but they most
7:10
definitely realize that orcas can ruin their day and instinctively knew they should find a new place
7:16
to hang out And it not just due to their size either Orcas have demonstrated real creativity in killing sharks like turning them upside down to induce what known as tonic immobility which is kind
7:28
of like being in a trance. On other occasions, orcas have been known to rip out a shark's liver
7:33
which is full of nutrients. In March 2023, one of the biggest wholesale slaughters of sharks by
7:39
orcas took place near Cape Town, South Africa, when 20 of them washed ashore, having been
7:44
disemboweled. All had telltale orca bites and the orca's serial killer signature of removing the
7:50
liver. A year prior, orcas had been captured on film chasing down a great white. The local orcas
7:56
are so notorious they even have names. Port and Starboard. Here's an alternative suggestion
8:02
Hannibal and Lecter. Orcas aren't the only worry sharks have. Baby sharks, no, don't think it
8:08
can be targeted by crocodiles. Sea lions and even baboons have been observed eating shark eggs
8:15
A marine snail can also suck out the contents of the eggs. So while they're very fierce creatures
8:21
other animals can and do make their own version of shark fin soup
8:26
Sharks never sleep. As the boogeyman of the ocean, it makes sense that a shark would never
8:32
need to sleep. It is way scarier to think about an animal that would rather stalk prey than catch
8:38
some shut-eye, and a myth has long persisted that these fearsome beasts don't need to get their eight
8:43
hours in order to function. We now know that's not quite the case, but don't worry, their method
8:48
for resting is still exactly as terrifying as you'd expect. According to research conducted by
8:53
the University of Auckland in New Zealand and others published in 2022, the drotsboard shark
8:59
native to that country has been observed to take some power naps. But how can you tell a fish is
9:04
nodding off by observing them in holding tanks. When scientists looked at the shark, they saw that
9:10
it would settle on the bottom of the tank. By using instruments to determine the amount of
9:14
oxygen in the water, scientists could measure their metabolism. When the sharks laid low
9:19
their metabolism slowed down, and like a high school student, they were also less responsive
9:25
All are indications that they were sleeping or at least ceasing their activity. The unsettling part
9:30
the sharks often rested with their eyes open, like a doll's eyes, as the great Quint from Jaws would
9:37
say. Though they did sometimes close their eyes, researchers believe they did it mainly to block
9:42
out daytime sunlight. But there is some science behind the longstanding myth that sharks are light
9:47
sleepers. You may have heard that sharks have to always keep moving. Not quite true. Some species
9:53
of shark, like the drotsport shark, can move water into the mouth and over the gills to get oxygen and
9:59
stay fairly still. But sharks, like the Great White, get the lions, or sharks' share of press
10:05
and attention, and they need to almost constantly be on the move in order to keep water and oxygen
10:10
passing over their gills. So surely they can't sleep, right? Well, it's not exactly clear
10:17
It's extremely poorly studied, but there are some extremely circumstantial suggestions that some of these sharks can cheat and lay down in a current so the water is moving over their
10:27
gills without them having to move. There's not much in the way of actual evidence for that, but
10:32
even great whites probably sleep. It's just the hows that remain elusive
10:38
Sharks Can Bite Through Diving Cages When I mentioned that shark movies were a cottage industry, I wasn't kidding
10:44
Every year seems to bring new shark tales from 47 meters down to 47 meters down uncaged to the
10:51
Reef, The Shallows, and Mega Shark vs. Giant Octopus. In some of these movies, there's a
10:56
scene trope where a diver goes into a diving cage to get a better look at a shark and winds up terrified when it begins to bite its way through the steel bars Can sharks really do this Yes but only in the movies
11:09
Shark diving is actually an industry onto itself, with businesses arranging for tourists and
11:14
adventurers to dive into the water to get a closer look without becoming a meal. The cages are
11:19
fabricated from aluminum, which is lighter than steel, doesn't corrode, and is plenty strong
11:24
enough to withstand a bite from anything. While it's difficult to get a reading on that kind of
11:29
pressure, bull sharks have been observed to bite through the shell of a sea turtle, but it's not
11:34
quite enough to go through metal. This doesn't mean a shark won't try to bite the bars, especially
11:39
if food is placed nearby, but they will generally learn that aluminum is not part of their balanced
11:45
diet. Every now and then, a shark may be able to burst through a cage, particularly if it's not
11:50
great quality, but that's very rare and involves the cage's structure being compromised in some way
11:56
It depends on how well the cage is built and whether a shark can brute force its way through
12:01
kind of like an aquatic Kool-Aid man, though they rarely want to enter the cage. It's more that the
12:06
delicious bait was put right next to the cage, and they sometimes find it difficult to negotiate a
12:11
sudden stop. One thing sharks do seemingly enjoy trying to chomp on is underwater internet cable
12:18
Google took notice of the creatures destroying communications cables and began wrapping them in
12:23
a bite-resistant material not unlike Kevlar in 2014. That may lead you to wonder that if a cable
12:29
can be made to be bite-proof, why can't a wetsuit? Well, a lot of companies have tried
12:34
though it's difficult to say with certainty that any of them will protect you in the event of an
12:39
attack. One company, Neptunic, offers a wetsuit that's a little like chain mail but with a little
12:45
more freedom of movement. Although it's probably better than not having any armor, Neptunic makes
12:50
sure to warn consumers that it does not guarantee against injury. That peace of mind will run you
12:56
about $7,500. A more practical option may be to avoid wearing a wristwatch or any kind of jewelry
13:03
which may catch light closer to the surface and catch their attention. Sharks are loners. Sharks are often depicted in popular culture as being the lone wolves of the
13:13
ocean, traveling solo and seeking adventure wherever they can find it. Turns out that sharks
13:18
can not only make shark friends, but that those friendships can last for years. Research conducted
13:24
by Florida International University from 2011 to 2014 looked at 41 Gray Reef sharks off the Palmyra
13:30
Atoll. The scientists were able to identify several social groups that clustered together
13:35
with some members going off to forage before returning to the same group. Even when sharks
13:40
mixed with other groups, they tended to return to their own, signaling that there's some kind of
13:45
preference. So why do sharks do it? Scientists don't have a complete picture of that
13:50
but it's possible they're able to find food more easily when sticking by a group than if they were
13:55
off by themselves. We hope this clears up the many outstanding myths and misconceptions
14:00
surrounding sharks. But should you ever find yourself in the crosshairs of one
14:04
remember some tips we once picked up from shark expert and former Australian Navy clearance diver
14:10
Paul de Gelder. First, don't panic and try to hurry away. Sharks aren't really interested in
14:16
you, but they may be intrigued by you fleeing. Try to maintain eye contact. Yes, we are serious
14:21
Let the shark know you're no pushover. If you have to fight, the gills and the eyes are good
14:26
targets, but you should hit whatever area you can. And worst case, if you have something bitten off
14:31
try to keep the stump above your heart to reduce the bleeding until you get to shore
14:36
And always remember that you're more likely to get bitten by a human than a shark, especially in New Jersey
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