Sharks! | Weird But True!

What's up guys today we're hanging out in Jupiter, Florida to do a little beach in, a little scuba diving, and to face one of my biggest fears, just another day. Want to meet one of our friends? Come on in. It's weird, it's true, and today it's all about sharks. Any sec. I don't care but just freaks the heck out of me though. Hey guys Charlie here, you know my sister Kirby. Oh hey guys, Charles is being ridiculous. Okay let me explain real quick. No no no, let me explain. In a place like Southern California... Yesterday we were watching TV, flipping through the channels, when we came across this commercial. Monster chomp! Oh sharks! They're big, they're nasty, and they're looking for their next meal. Going for a swim? You're about to be monster chomped! Tuesdays at five. This show is absolutely ridiculous. I don't know man. Now I'm ready to go to the beach and Charlie's not coming because he's scared of the water. I'm not scared of the water, I'm scared that a shark might swallow me whole. I could be monster chomped! Are you scared of sharks? Of course I'm scared of sharks. Charlie, it doesn't make sense to be scared of sharks. Kirby, sharks are vicious man-eating beasts of the sea. Charles, they don't eat people. But Charlie... Kirby... Guys, I have been dealing with this for way too long, so we're gonna do something about it right now. When we're scared, do we sit around passively and wallow in our fear? No. Do we irrationally freak out about a shark swallowing us whole? Maybe sometimes, I mean. Heck no! We analyze the situation, perform a substantial amount of research to make a scientifically accurate assessment of our fears and proceed accordingly. So today we're unraveling the world of... Sharks. Okay. Sharks. How you feeling? Kind of freaking out a little. Let's take a deep breath and approach this thing calmly and from an academic standpoint. Like we do. Okay, so sharks. What are sharks? Ah, this is perfect. Come on in, guys. Check this out. So you want to learn about sharks? Well, this is the book for you. People who study sharks are called elasmobranchologists. Now, from the hard work these scientists have undertaken, we know that there are a few features that make sharks sharks. First off, sharks are fish with five to seven gills. Unlike you and me, sharks don't have a single bone in their entire body. Instead of bones, their body structure is made out of cartilage, just like our noses and ears. Simply fascinating. How about a few more? Most fish, when you look at them head on, are shaped kind of like an oval. Sharks are much more triangular-ish. Most fish stay afloat using swim bladders, gas-filled sacks in their bodies. Sharks don't have swim bladders. They have low-density livers and unfused pectoral fins to keep themselves afloat. Fancy stuff. Weird but true, those shark fins act almost like airplane wings, giving the shark lift. But just like airplane wings, they don't work if they're not moving forward. So if sharks stop swimming, they're gonna sink. Sharks have incredibly unique scales called dermal denticles. They have pretty much the same exact structure as our teeth. So it's like sharks are covered in tons of tons of tiny microscopic teeth. How weird is that? Ready for their next monster chomp! No! He didn't even say that! Okay, maybe he doesn't say that. But I think we got sharks down now, right? So if we got a fish, we added five to seven gills, made it cartilaginous, triangular-shaped from the front, tossed in some unfused pectoral fins, took out the swim bladder, and for good measure covered it in tiny little teeth scales called dermal denticles, we'd have ourselves a nice little shark. So, uh, how you feeling, bud? Fine, fine, fine, cool, cool, cool, but I'm still pretty nervous. So I think we should just get some more research done. I think that's a good idea. Awesome. Okay, guys, we're gonna get just a bit more research done, but we got like a million books back here, so it probably shouldn't take too long. Awesome, we'll see you in a bit. Weird but true, a shark can grow and lose up to 30,000 teeth in a lifetime. And that's why you should never swim in the water or you'll be monster chomped! Tune in next week for our Hammerhead Chomp special. Aw, dude! This show is absurd. All I can say is swimming in the water at the beach, never gonna happen. That's ridiculous. But... Charlie. But... Charlie! But why do people get chomped all the time? They don't, that's exactly what I'm saying. The chances that you will get bit by a shark while you're swimming in the ocean are less than one in a million. They're one in 11.5 million. Yeah, here's some other things that are more likely to happen than getting bit by a shark. Remember, your odds of getting bit by a shark are one in 11.5 million. The odds that you will become president of the United States are one in 10 million. The odds that a woman gives birth to conjoined twins is one in 200,000. Probability of tossing a nickel up in the air and having it land on its edge is one in 6,000. And the odds that your house gets hit by lightning is one in 200. In 1996, 13 Americans were injured by sharks. Guess how many were injured by toilets? Toilets? Toilets, just guess. Uh, three. 43,000! Wait, weird. But true. 43,000 people were injured by toilets in 1996. That same year, almost 11,000 people were injured by buckets. And 2,600 people were injured by air fresheners. Air fresheners. Dude, how could you possibly be injured by an air freshener? I have no idea, but 2,600 people figured it out. This is what I'm talking about. The chances of getting bit by a shark are super low. Sharks don't want to eat us, so they're not going to bite us. I've been looking into it, and sharks have all the senses that humans have, except they're like super amped up, like super senses. So they're fantastic predators. For example, sharks can smell like us, but way better. They can smell something about a third of a mile away. They can hear low frequency sounds underwater. They have vision like cats. They can see in super low light. They can sense touch with their dermal denticles and taste too. Smell, hearing, vision, touch, taste. We have all these senses too, but sharks have more. Think about that. Additional senses. So sharks don't eat people, and they use those extra senses to tell that we are not fish, so we're not food. Oh, very interesting, Curb. So you're saying sharks could use their senses for good and not evil? Exactly. Okay, guys. One non-human super sense that sharks have is electroreception. All right, game time. Non-human shark senses. First up, electroreception. All living things emit super small amounts of electricity when they contract their muscles. Even though it's a very small amount, sharks can sense it, which allows them to find fish even if they're hiding. Sharks can find hiding fish based on the electricity that they emit. And remember, Charles, sharks don't eat people, so they use that electroreception to tell you are not a fish. Okay, okay. We got it already. All right. Another non-human shark super sense, water pressure. Sharks can sense vibrations and changes in water pressure. This is super neat because injured fish thrash around in the water, creating all sorts of irregular vibrations and changes in water pressure. Sharks can detect these, use them to locate fish, and... So sharks can smell their prey, they can hear their prey, see their prey in low light, taste and feel them, locate by electricity, and find them using changes in water pressure. And remember, the great thing is they can use all those super senses to tell that we're human. Experts believe the rare times that sharks bite humans are when they're confused with real prey. And because they eat fish, not humans, they won't eat us. Are you sure about that though, Curve? I mean, people get bit on that show Monster Chomps like all the time. Charlie! Way too long. All right, we're doing this. Guys, stick around. I gotta send a quick email, but you're gonna want to see what's coming up next. Hey, Bryce, any openings this week? The more sharks, the better. Wait, what? Weird but true. Nurse sharks often rest on the seafloor during the day in groups of up to 40 sharks, sometimes piled on top of each other. Hey guys! Hey! Just hanging out in HQ waiting for... Perfect, he responded. This sounds awesome. What's up? We're gonna go hang out with some sharks in Florida. What? Yep. But I think... I think that is perfect. Come on! I guess we're going to Florida. We'll see you there. We're headed to Florida, the Sunshine State, known for its beautiful coastline, seasonal orange harvest, and bountiful crop of retirees. All great things, but we're here in Jupiter to meet some sharks. And this is the guy who's going to introduce us. Bryce, shark expert, shark whisperer. This guy spends every day swimming with sharks off the Florida coast. He knows everything about them, so he's the guy to help Charlie get over his fear. Bryce's favorite weird but true fact. Sharks can live to be 75 years old. Cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool, cool. All right, so here's the situation, guys. Kirby brought us here to Jupiter, Florida to check out some sharks in real life because I'm freaking out right now and I'm a little scared of sharks. If all that shark info didn't help me out with my fears, hopefully meeting some might. At least that's the plan. That's the plan. How are you feeling? I'm like anxious, nervous, excited, like a little hungry, happy, and sad. Just kind of a general freak out mode right now. Yeah, stay calm. Yeah? You're good. Okay, okay. We're okay, guys. We're going to be okay, all right? Let's go check out some sharks. How's it going, guys? How's it going? I'm Charlie. I'm Kirby. Nice to meet you. I'd shake your hand, but I got a bunch of tools here. You're busy. Guys, Ken and Bryce? Yeah, you guys ready to see some sharks? I'm not going to lie. I'm kind of freaking out right now. There's going to be a lot of sharks out there. Yeah? Yeah, there's a lot of sharks out there right now. Real close, a lot of species. It's going to be good. Let's get on the boat and get out there and see some sharks that are waiting for us. All right, so Bryce, what's the game plan today? What we're doing, we're going about six miles offshore. We're going to get a lot of sharks right to the boat and dive with them. What kind of sharks are we going to see? A lot of silkies, a lot of duskies, hammers, maybe a bull shark, maybe even a tiger shark today. Hammerheads, I know hammerheads. Yeah, man, hammers are an awesome shark. We see a lot of them. Whoa, let's get a quick rundown on what kind of sharks we're talking about here. Hammerheads are famous for their mallet-shaped heads and wide set eyes. They come in a lot of sizes, but the biggest, the great hammerheads, grow up to 20 feet long and weigh 1,000 pounds. Their favorite meal is stingrays. The silky shark, aka the gray reef shark, has a slim body and smooth skin, which is where they got their name. They grow up to 12 feet long, and their favorite food is bony fish. The dusky shark has a slender, streamlined body with a short, round snout. They're long-distance migrators that grow up to 12 feet long and eat lots of different fish. Bull sharks have a bad reputation for headbutting their prey before they attack. They live all over the place, including inland and rivers. They have short, blunt snouts with thick bodies and can grow to just over 11 feet. They eat fish, dolphins, and even other sharks. And last on Bryce's list, the tiger shark. It gets its name from its dark, vertical stripes found mainly on the juveniles. They have super powerful jaws, grow up to 14 feet, and can weigh 1,400 pounds. They eat practically everything. In the stomach contents of captured tiger sharks, they found license plates and old tires. These guys are the biggest risk to humans on the list. I seriously hope they're busy somewhere else today. So basically what we're going to do is get sharks to the boat first. Once they get to the boat, we're going to watch them from the surface. Then we're going to actually get in the water with them. How many sharks are we talking here? So we're talking like 10 to 30 sharks on this dive. They're going to show up instantly and pretty much stay with us the entire time. Sharks are really elusive animals, all right? They don't like people. They don't like boats. The only way you're going to even see a shark is to just bait the water a little bit. So is it okay to chum the water like we are? Because I feel like if you get them hungry, it'll like make them pretty fierce, you know? This is the only way we're going to see sharks and show them to the world, so we have to do it. We got a no shark bite policy today, so you'll be good. Sharks to me are the ultimate animals. Bryce explains that chumming is sometimes controversial, but we'll make sure to play it safe by heading way offshore, away from the shoreline. You ever been bit before? So I've been diving with sharks for about 10 years and I've never been bit. It just goes to show these sharks are not out here to kill you. How to act when you're in the water with sharks, because I know there's some things you shouldn't do or shouldn't do, right? Calm, cool, collected, right? Don't freak out. Just maintain yourself. Stay nice and calm. These sharks are going to act like you're not even there. That's all you need to do to stay safe? That and just do whatever I tell you to do. Calm, cool, collected. Follow Captain Bryce. That's right. All right. Our life is in your hands here, man. So confident. I feel like with a guy like Bryce around, you can't help but feel a little confident, right? Yeah, 30 sharks. We got this, guys. We got this. It's okay. So we're heading out to the open ocean where the sharks hang out. I can't believe I'm really doing this. Weird but true. Hammerhead sharks can give birth to 40 babies at once. So we're hanging out in Jupiter, Florida, somewhere off the coast. Not sure where we are, but I do know that there's some sharks nearby. And Charlie's scared of sharks. Well, obviously, because they're vicious, ferocious predators. And don't eat people. Okay, that's what we're going to find out today. We're going to interact with these sharks and determine once and for all if they're the ferocious monster chompers that we think they are or if they're just big marine animals with a lot of teeth. It's going to be great. Be careful of your hand. So we're baiting the water right now, which means throwing out fish bait to attract the sharks. That's all that's left. How about that? You got a big school of bull sharks right here. Bull sharks are a top three species in the world in terms of aggressions. Great white tiger bull. A lot of people think bull sharks are some of the most aggressive animals in the world. That being said, they're real elusive sharks, but they are pretty fired up right now. So this is definitely a serious shark. A very serious shark. And in a minute, Kirby and I are supposed to jump in and hang out with them like it's no big deal. Got my attention off the bait for one second. That's all it took. Shark just came right up and grabbed it. Bull sharks, when they open that mouth, there's like a vortex. It just sucks that prey at them in and then they close down with those vice grips. The final bait. Kiss it before it goes in. You're going to kiss it. Well done. Do you want to jump in? I do. And by the way, I don't think we're using the cage today. I think we're going to do a free dive. And it's a lot easier. The sharks come a lot closer. You're not as restricted. What do you guys think? No! I like her. That's the way right there. We're following her today. Charlie, what are you doing? All right, I'm feeling okay. We got this cage here. I feel like it's hard for a shark to really chomp through here. So we're going to be safe. All right. Nope, we're getting straight in the water with our scuba gear, just us and the sharks. But we have such a nice cage. Nope, we're not going to use it. I really think we should use this cage. We're going to be the real deal and get in that water. No gate. They're just friends. It's going to be fine. It's just a shark. It's just a shark, guys, right? It's just a shark. We're okay. We are surrounded. It's right there. Oh, man. You can see their teeth. Get your hands to yourself. Just like biceps. Calm. Confident. So far, most of these are silky sharks, and it's amazing. They know we're here and don't seem to care a bit. I'm feeling pretty good, actually. Not too bad. Let's go in this way. So cool. Here it comes again. Oh, man. When you're underwater, you can really tell that they're not there to charm you. They're just curious. They want to see what's going on. Check it out. We have a friend shark right now. Oh, man. These are beautiful. They're beautiful. No problems at all. Calm. Confident. They're just another aquatic animal. I see what he was talking about. There are 26 here. It's weird. It's true. And today, it's all about sharks. All right, guys. I think we're going to hand that cup to one of our shark friends. Coolest thing ever. How cool is that? At one point, there were like 10 sharks. 11. 11 sharks in there. Huge. I touched one. Not even scary. Touched one with my bare hands. All right, guys. I think we did it. Fear tackled. Time to head back to HQ. We'll see you there in a few minutes, okay? Awesome. See you there. Weird but true. Bull sharks travel long distances up rivers and have even been spotted leaping river rapids like salmon. Welcome back, guys. We're just celebrating the great news. Charlie dove with a shark. A bunch of sharks and so did Kirby. Dude, sharks not out to eat humans. Still though, they attack when they're confused or startled. So like all big animals, it's best to keep your distance. What else did we learn today? Humans are not shark food. Sharks eat fish. You are more likely to be elected President of the United States than be bit by a shark. Sharks have all of the senses that humans have plus two others. They can sense changes in water pressure and detect moving creatures using electroreception. People who study sharks are called asthma braincologists. Sharks have no bones. Their body structures are made up entirely of cartilage. This is perfect, guys. Sharks swimming deep water, not an issue. Hey, want to go to the beach? For sure. Let me check the weather real quick. I think the forecast is on. The Kamikaze Seagulls! Gladys and Frederick went for a nice lunch on the beach. Little did they know they were about to be served by the Kamikaze Seagulls! Guys, there's some absurd stuff on television. All right, I think we're going to go to the beach, but thanks so much for stopping by. Come by again when we discover more things that are weird but true. See ya!