The Sixth Sense Of Sharks

SharkFest 2021 continues tonight with “Shark Assault Investigation: The Paige Winter Story.” This particular examines what occurred on June 2, 2019 at Fort Macon Seaside, North Carolina, when Paige Winter—then 17 years outdated—was attacked by a shark.

The particular consists of interviews with Paige and along with her father—Charlie Winters—concerning the occasions of that day, in addition to interviews with scientists from Florida Worldwide College’s (FIU) Institute of Surroundings. It’s an epic and fascinating story. The last word aim, although, is to attempt to study one thing—to know the elements that contributed to the assault and see if there’s something we will or ought to do to stop related assaults sooner or later.

The factor that stood out most to me whereas watching that is how pragmatic Paige is about the entire thing. She misplaced a leg and a part of one hand from the assault. She nearly misplaced her life. However, she doesn’t blame the shark. She isn’t afraid of the ocean and he or she doesn’t imagine that others ought to avoid the ocean to keep away from sharks.

The aim of an occasion like SharkFest is to not gas concern of sharks. It’s to boost consciousness. Opposite to sensationalized headlines or the final irrational concern of sharks that many individuals have, shark assaults are exceedingly uncommon. For those who contemplate the quantity of people that go into the ocean every year and the variety of sharks, there are sure to be encounters and even assaults. However, these are the exception, not the norm.

Sharks don’t eat people. Most sharks might even keep away from people. Nonetheless, the ocean isn’t precisely pristine. There’s a fantasy that sharks have poor imaginative and prescient. Within the unique clip beneath, scientists from FIU clarify that sharks have a “sixth sense”—Ampullae of Lorenzini—that allow to them to detect prey in low visibility circumstances. Basically, sharks can detect {the electrical} discipline of potential prey.

That’s the reason the work of individuals like Dr. Charlie Huveneers might show helpful. Growing units that may intervene with or overwhelm a sharks capacity to detect electrical energy might deter sharks from attacking people.

Finally, although, it’s a little bit of a numbers sport proper now. The percentages of you being bitten by a shark while you go into the ocean are exceptionally low, however with sufficient individuals, sharks, and time, additionally it is considerably inevitable that unlucky encounters will happen. Hopefully, those that are attacked continue to exist like Paige, and hopefully they’re as rational as Paige in accepting that there was no intent by the shark.

Tune in tonight at 10pm Easter / 9pm Central to look at “Shark Assault Investigations: The Paige Winter Story.” on Nationwide Geographic.