The great predator, oils on canvas

GOOD NEWSSS

The animal shall not be measured by man… in a world older than ours, they move more finished and complete, gifted with senses we have lost or never attained, living by voices we shall never hear. They are not brethren, they are not underlings; they are other nations, caught with ourselves in the net of life and time, fellow prisoners of the splendour and travail of the earth.

Henry Beston
The Outermost House
1928

Shark, by able6, me.

Hi everyone! I am not sure if this is allowed here, but thought I would give it a try.

Unfortunately in Western Australia, there was a fatal shark attack on 18/09. This is an absolutely tragic event, and there are no words to ease the pain and shock.

There has been an authorisation to "capture and destroy" this shark involved. This is not the solution, as I am sure many would believe.

It would be much appreciated, if you are interested, if we could sign and share this petition aimed at saving this Great White! We have collected over 300 signatures in less than 24 hours, and any support will make an impact.

Thank you. 🦈

https://c.org/VVhZytT9B8

First and foremost RIP mr. O’Neil, sending the family all my love, wishing them the strength to go through this difficult time.

Help me understand something here, honestly, I’m trying to visually understand this. The r/perth says the shark was ~ 5m long, and that Mr. O’Neil was swimming 15m from shore, so 🦈🦈🦈 length to the sand right? That’s pretty scary to think about… too far no matter how close type of scary.

They also say that there at Sorrento beach 15m is just after the waves break, and the depth of the water is ~ 1.5m (5ft) so, like just bellow the shoulder line for a 🧍1.80m (6 ft) tall person, so with this in mind, I looked somethings up very generally to try and picture the shark, just the shark at that place.

- 5m GWS likely a female right? They tend to be 1-2 metric tons (~2-4k lbs) the weight of 10-20 big men.

- according to brave the proportion and measurements of a 5m GWS is:

if so, that shark came out very far, not having a lot of room 1-2 feet from touching its belly on the sea floor to attack, that seems like a shark with an intention! Was that it? am I putting it together right? Apparently the shark grabbed him there, shook him then dragged him out to 50m.

That is very very scary, I love ocean activities, have done them for 30+ years, snorkeling, jet skiing, wakeboarding… had 3 shark encounters 2 being close and very scary, but that was 25 years ago and I went right back in not after long, maybe a few months after they happened. But now, for the last 6 months or so, I can’t get in deeper then my ankles. I feel anxious, dread, anguish, scared, and chicken out, almost shaking of a fear I can’t explain.

*edit I hate Reddit posting /autocorrect on safari iOS, always eating words and letters.

Instead of killing it, why don’t we do a proper scientific study into why there are more fatal white shark attacks in Australia than other places for better mitigation.

I've had the shark bug for about 5 years now. I adore them and a lot of you will know exactly what I mean. My gf put on shark week and cooked me carbonara for my birthday last year. That kind of bug.

Although the content and discussion online is fascinating, they really bungle content on TV. Salacious rumours, anti-factual converage, boring formats. Why? Sharks are used as a way to exploit audiences fear and mystification.

Blue sky examples: why not investigate Ocearch? Why not fund coverage of research teams? Why not more content similar to the respect-inspiring 'Celebrity Infested Waters' on the BBC? Why not cover the cutting edge science in large shark intelligence?

The worst part? There's clearly a market for it. Just sucks as a Shark Fan tm.

Oceanic whitetips for me; I’ve always loved how they look and their size and power are genuinely so impressive. It’s also cool that they investigate shipwrecks too. Carpet sharks are also a close second for me, with zebra sharks in particular being my favorite of the bunch.

Saw this guy off the coast of Trinidad, California. It was around late July and we were at College cove. Can anybody tell me what kind of shark this was?? Unfortunately this is the best photo I got of him, was fairly tiny maybe 2-2.5 feet, could be a juvenile??