Reply by shadowz August 11, 2010 08:42pm PDTReport Abuse

true, very risky...many swimmers, waders and surfers have discovered that sharks think humans taste like chicken!!!

Reply by ana aranda August 12, 2010 06:58am PDTReport Abuse

I DISAGREE WITH THAT WHOLE THING OF SHARKS NOT LIKING HUMAN MEAT. IF A SHARK IS HUNGRY ENOUGH HE WILL EAT ANYTHING. SO BE SMART AND DON'T GO TO FAR IN THE WATER MAYBE JUST SOAK YOUR FEAT AND THAT'S IT

Reply by jett benedict August 12, 2010 07:29am PDTReport Abuse

Sharks DO NOT like human flesh, and ANA if they were hungry enough there is always an abundance of sea life around, sharks would just as much rather stay away from us as much as possible than attack us. Attacks happen to stupid people who do stupid things. Look it up many attacks are people who anger sharks by going into its territory and disturbing the sharks or by surfers who do in fact look like seals the sharks primary source of food. Many cases recorded are by people who have met a BULL shark not a Great White, Why? Because the Bull shark will come to shorelines of our warm water and people not seeing it will step on them. I'm currently in school studying to be a marine biologist and my field of study is Sharks and the myth of them being cold blooded killers. The proof is amazing as to how little people do actually know about the mind of this creature.

Reply by dee dee menacho August 12, 2010 07:37am PDTReport Abuse

Is this guy tempting fate or what ? Other people have lost body parts not to mention some of them their lives. Crazy or smart ?

Reply by ml3 August 12, 2010 09:05am PDTReport Abuse

All sharks are killers, all whales befriend small children and all fish play calypso music at undersea parties when we're not around. Everyone knows that.

Reply by captain99montano August 12, 2010 09:12am PDTReport Abuse

lol, I have been a fisherman in the pacific for 10 years and all I can say is sharks are different from sharks such as people are different from other people, they have attitudes, and they will attack anyone under specific circumstances. Like the crocodile some will eat anything if they're hungry and there is no other reliable food source available. Great whites here in the pacific are sometimes caught by fishing vessels and when they open them up. they see cans, scuba goggles, half part of a coconut shell and apparently some chomp up parts of wood from wooden canoes. So in conclusion they just don't resolve to the abundance of sea life around. SOME will attack people in the water if it can't catch their fish or if they're too lazy. They are like people also different personalities for each one. One wants to attack anything, once likes to avoid the humans, but as usual there are also JERK ass sharks who will attack a canoe tied rested on a nearby shore RANDOMLY. So some attacks are not based on territorial or provoked. Some will really ATTACK you at random. SO BE SMART WITH YOUR ACTIONS when you encounter one!

Reply by bengardner August 12, 2010 09:55am PDTReport Abuse

Ya'll know me. Know how I make a livin. I'll catch this bird for ya. Aint going to be easy. Bad fish. Not like going down to the pond chaseing Bluegill. This shark swallow you whole. Little shakin, little tenderizin..down you go.I value my neck alot more than $3000, Chief. I'll find him for three....but I'll catch him and kill him for ten. I don't want no volenteers, I dont want no mates. Too many captains on this island. Ten for me alone. For that you get the head, the tail, the whole damn thing.

Reply by captain99montano August 12, 2010 10:11am PDTReport Abuse

@ ddschroe August 12, 2010 09:16am PDT

I agree with you my boy.. 100%! lol... I'm a fisherman and I don't even enjoy swimming in some parts of the ocean if I know there are sharks around.

Reply by drudown August 12, 2010 11:05am PDTReport Abuse

@ jet benedict:

Actually, to someone who has been studying the White shark's predation habits and ecological niche, your regurgitated propaganda (read: pseudo-science) has a decidedly "stupid" premise. Namely, "attacks happen to stupid people who do stupid things," as if, in the end, 99% of all serious shark attacks aren't purely acts of predation by a generalist feeder, apex predator. Like so many other simpletons who "arrive on the scene" to "enlighten" others about the "truth about sharks", incredibly, you sound as if you have never studied sharks at all. We are a known, tertiary prey item- BOTH White sharks and Bulls have been dining on humans & our progenitors for over 2 million years. Tell me, what scientific evidence is there to support the "mistaken identity" theory? Absolutely zip. Likewise inapt is your bogus "territorial response" attack theory. Youtube search "shark takes woman's leg," missy. What, are you suggesting a nomadic White shark ate Heather Boswell's leg in the open ocean out of "territorial response"? The White shark was migrating and food is scarce in the open ocean. As such, and by way of example, White sharks will eat BOTH Petrel birds and humans when their instinct to feed overrides any evolutionary-driven, behavioral aversion to people. But spare us the "sharks DO NOT like human flesh" bit. If that were the case, hundreds upon thousands of soldiers wouldn't have lost their lives to sharks when stranded in the open oceans, e.g., USS Indianapolis. Wait, I forgot, you simply start with thoughts ("We know nothing about the shark's mind; they are not 'cold-blooded' killers; sharks want to stay away from us and not attack us") with no evidentiary support to any of your childish wishes. Listen. Sharks have a very unique ecological niche that not only realizes feeding opportunities from the sick and infirm, but sharks attack vulnerable prey. The record irrefutably contradicts every factual assertion you make- yet, you think you are right. How?

Reply by whiteweretiger August 12, 2010 11:16am PDTReport Abuse

ROFL! For the person that said sharks think humans taste like chicken...they don't even like chicken. In a shark week show, they threw a whole turkey out to see if the great white would eat it, it bit it and spit it out. IF, and I stress that IF very highly, if sharks like human flesh, there would be NO shark attack survivors.

Reply by hanawilgliamd August 12, 2010 11:27am PDTReport Abuse

It's not the sharks that will kill you out there... did you see that nasty toxic yellow-green froth on top of the water. That algae is sick... literally. ^_^ Very cute article.I love it ,life is boring. My boyfriend think the same with me.he is almost 10years older than me .i met him via agegapsingles.coma nice place for seeking age le ss love.which gives you a chance to make your life better and open opportunities for you to meet the attractive young girls and treat you like a king. Maybe you wanna check it out or tell your friends.. Just love it

Reply by drudown August 12, 2010 01:03pm PDTReport Abuse

@whiteweretiger

Humans share, what, 98% of the same DNA as Chimps? Chimps and humans share a similarly high percentage of DNA with monkeys, correct? So there is no need for us to guess if we taste like chicken. It seems a virtual certainty that the genes that code for the organs, skin and flesh of monkeys and apes- er, the meat- probably tastes very much like human meat. Perceiving this, it seems the threshold inquiry is not whether or not a shark attracted to tuna chum at a single boat (did or did not) deign to nibble on a turkey in some goofy Discovery show "experiment", but rather: do wild predators routinely prey on and consume primates? The answer, as is well known, is unequivocally yes. Tigers, crocs, lions, birds of prey, snakes, wild dogs, wild pigs- all these, among others, will hunt and eat monkeys. Chimps and humans will often hunt and eat monkeys, and even each other. Accordingly, isn't it rather disingenuous for anyone (e.g., you) to even intmate that, for example, a Tiger shark (aka the least finicky eater in the sea) wouldn't like the taste of humans given we probably taste like monkeys, and well, nobody spits them out based on taste. What's that?The actual evidence corroborates this! That too. Lloyd Skinner was just devoured by a White shark in Jan.2010. How many Haitian immigrants were completely devoured by Tiger sharks on 5/04/07? A lot more than the phony ISAF numbers stated that entire year.

As for the purported fallacy of "starving sharks", perhaps you should study pelagic shark migrations and the scarce resources available to (1) migrating White sharks and/or (2) Oceanic Whitetip sharks...two known man-eaters.

Are White sharks not man-eaters? If memory serves, a White shark had three whole bodies inside of it off the Mass. coast in 1916. Hmm. Jaws was a movie about man-eating sharks that instill fear upon sight because they have always been known to attack and EAT humans, albeit rarely. What about that is subject to debate? Zip.

Reply by xcj August 12, 2010 02:39pm PDTReport Abuse

Your argument about DNA and chimps is irrelevant. And the fact that you said "Jaws was a movie about man-eating sharks that instill fear upon sight because they have ALWAYS BEEN KNOWN TO ATTACK AND EAT HUMANS, albeit rarely" is enough to show that you are not knowledgeable on the subject matter or how to present a solid argument. In other words, you are using a 1975 thriller movie (media, propaganda) as a source of SOLID FACT. What about that is subject to debate? Try reading a book. Great whites most likely attack humans because they believe them to be food, like a seal or sea lion. In response to - " 'But spare us the "sharks DO NOT like human flesh' bit. If that were the case, hundreds upon thousands of soldiers wouldn't have lost their lives to sharks when stranded in the open oceans, e.g., USS Indianapolis"- If they take more than one bite, it is called an "exploratory bite" because they are not expecting the taste (aka, muscle- NOT FAT) and once they "realize" the object of their bite is lacking the fat (aka ENERGY) that they are seeking, they are no longer interested, because it ends up being a waste of energy for them to take another bite. And I don't believe "hundreds of thousands of soldiers "lost their lives to sharks" proves that sharks like the taste of human flesh. If you want to discuss feeding frenzies, that's an additional topic. Yes, if a shark takes a chunk, or even two chunks, out of your body, you are likely to die if stranded in the open ocean. Nothing about this proves that sharks "like" the taste of human flesh. Peter Benchley himself attempted to change peoples brain/media-washed minds to say that in fact sharks are NOT man-eating killers.
Also- do you mean the Jersey Shore attacks of 1916 that prompted the beginning of the evil shark stereotype? Can you please clarify "If memory serves, a White shark had three whole bodies inside of it off the Mass. coast in 1916" Little was known of sharks at the time. tbc

Reply by sk8r4lyf8 August 12, 2010 02:39pm PDTReport Abuse

I don't care what anyone says, I will never be comfortable in the same water as a shark. I read somewhere a man in Antarctica (or somewhere similar) was walking along the water and wrote logs about how a shark had followed him for days just watching him, that sounds pretty creepy to me. And that right there is enough to keep me out of the ocean forever, not to mention those shark cage videos. Although to be fair, they always bait those sharks, so they're hungry to begin with. Mainly though, I think it's a safe assumption that being in the water with a shark, particularly a Great White, is a very bad thing to do. How are we supposed to assume they won't eat us, when they don't know not to?

Reply by richard sun August 12, 2010 02:50pm PDTReport Abuse

Seriously!!! This dude is crazy!!! one chomp, he would have loss his ass. All for what?? U white people are crazy...Maybe the Great "White" shark is named that for a reason...cause all you crazy "white' people keep them fed.

Reply by mbb12 August 25, 2010 05:55pm PDTReport Abuse

bottom line you can never trust nature

Reply by alex kratzke September 14, 2010 03:33am PDTReport Abuse

bottom line, we are fragile creatures. a shark's mouth is like his hands. it does not take much pressure to break the skin. have you seen the videos of a great white almost ripping a seal in half? a seal's body and skin is much thicker than ours. if all sharks wanted to eat you, trust me, there would be no such thing as a shark attack survivor.

Reply by drudown September 15, 2010 10:12am PDTReport Abuse

Your assertions may be true in the abstract (i.e., we are fragile creatures in a shark's mouth), but you are dancing around the threhold issue: why a shark would place a person in a shark's mouth to begin with. It is simple predation. And you imply sharks don't want to eat people, ever. Did you not read about the White shark that just ate Lloyd Skinner whole in Fish Hoek, South Africa or, just last week, an entire body was found inside a Tiger shark in the Bahamas? That is the evidence in the record. You are drawing conclusions based on your own arbitrary notions of how Nature "works", e.g., if sharks "really" wanted to eat us, there would be survivors. That presupposes that it is not to the shark's advantage to employ "hit and run" predation tactics whereby the shark bites off a limb or two and sates itself to its next, more traditional prey.

Reply by marques brown August 12, 2010 08:25am PDTReport Abuse

hes sitting inside it. its somewhat like a canoe

Reply by edm goes swimming with sharks August 12, 2010 01:12pm PDTReport Abuse

Why go back out on the paddle board where you can easily get bumped and fall off - like what it seems almost happened at the end of the video? Why not go back out in some type of rowboat or canoe or sea kayak where you can sit and balance much more easily? If he had been bumped off the paddle board this story could have ended in a much more tragic way. Even if those sharks don't typically eat people, or other things that are too big, I'm sure they're curious enough to perhaps try to take a nibble just to try to figure out what's in the water with them. Then who knows, a nibble might turn into a bite once the blood hits the water and the guy starts thrashing around trying to get out of the water. I wonder if the sharks would get scared off by the thrashing guy or if they would be attracted to it thinking it was a possble easy meal in distress or if even perhaps they feel threatened and instead of flight they choose to fight and attack more agressively. Any shark experts out there have an opinion on what those sharks may likely have done in a situation lke that? Does the fact that there were two of them together (maybe even siblings) change the dynamic of how they might behave? Do they communicate with each other in some way and say "lets gang up on this thing and have some fun tearing it up" or does one of them tell the other "lets get out of hear because I have no idea what that thing in the water is with us and I don't want to even check it out"? Do any REAL shark experts out there that have actually studied shark behavior have an opinion of how this could have played out. And lets all keep in mind that these are wild animals that often times may act in unpredictable ways. Heck, even us humans act in unpredictable ways sometimes - just look at this guy who paddled out HOPEING to see these sharks AGAIN after he saw them in the same place the day before - now that's what I would call unpredictable animal behavior for a wild or domesticated (human) animal.

Reply by john fronzaglia August 11, 2010 08:27pm PDTReport Abuse

well then I guess that makes you a dumb ass too cuz u no nothing about sharks

Reply by liv4now10 August 12, 2010 12:05am PDTReport Abuse

He's not the stupidest but he is pretty stupid. Even if you know all there is to know about sharks, this is still a stupid thing to do. I don't care if he's a champion anything. Paddling out to a shark nursing habitat with just yourself, your board and your camera is pretty damn stupid. Whatever happened to the buddy system?? Whatever happened to a good old fashioned rowboat?? Whatever happened to, if you see a shark, swim "away"? No, this guy must be suicidal because sharks may not be the monsters some people make them out to be but quite a few species, great whites in particular, are still wild and very aggressive creatures that should be approached with extreme caution. You never know what could happen. That means having something in between you and their teeth a bit sturdier than a surf board! You never know what could happen. This very well might've been this guys final act on earth!
But I will admit, I really enjoyed that video!

Reply by peifc August 12, 2010 07:00am PDTReport Abuse

Actually, bull sharks are considered more dangerous than great white, according to marinebio. Bull sharks are known for their unpredicatble behavior...with extreme aggression. On top of it, they are river sharks. Great white is dangerous but with more predictable behavior. Read up MarineBio website on them. Give good details of their behavior.
However, I have to agree, the surfer should have another buddy with him...or at least use another way to capture the sharks...other than standing on the board.
Great video though.

Reply by waltherppk01 August 12, 2010 08:13am PDTReport Abuse

Great Whites, especially in CA., have plenty of food. They would much rather be eating elephant seals than people. However, the fact that these sharks were 7-9 feet means they are juveniles and probably more dangerous to humans than the bigger ones. The are less experienced and would probably be more likely to bite out of curiosity. I would not have done what this guy did, but the fact is the chance that he would have been attacked was low. Especially in water that shallow. Great Whites attack from below.

Reply by benevolent dictator August 12, 2010 08:38am PDTReport Abuse

Perceived stupidity and sensing fear are sometimes derived from the viewer's ignorance. Some people who take risks see no risk as they are confident in their knowledge base with the environment they are in. How often have we commented on a gifted athlete making it look so easy? For that athlete it is because of his/her heightened acumen-no fear, no lack of kowledge or as we sometimes say, in the zone. Fear can be abated if we study, learn and master what we are afraid of.

Reply by chaparra31 August 12, 2010 01:09pm PDTReport Abuse

Oh "benevolent dictator" even your title is an oxymoron. "Knowledge base??!" You can "study, learn and master" whatever the hell you want, but the fact is this. Anytime we enter the ocean, we are in THEIR world. Got that? We humans would like to think we have dominion over everything that exists, but when we enter the liquid wilderness that is the sea, we do so at our own risk. Sharks, bull, great white, tiger, ALL of them are wild creatures and as such are always unpredictable.
Check out the guy standing in less than 3 feet of crystal clear ocean with a reporter, surrounded by bull sharks. Says you have to watch your back but hey!, they're not interested in us. Then WHAM, out of the blue, this midsize bull gently bumps his calf, then decides to lock onto it. No feeding frenzy or thrashing water but the shark makes a slight turn with the guy's leg in its jaws and whips him around like a ragdoll, which is how almost everyone who has survived a shark attack or wtinessed one, describes how the shark flipped the person about the water. When they lift the guy up out of the water, his leg looks spaghetti dangling off a fork.
With teeth like razors and about 3-4,000 PSI of pressure per bite, just a casual investigative nibble can result in a fatal event for any human. Puncture the femeral artery - if you're unable to receive immediate emergency treatment or are not near a hospital, sayanara pal. I grew up swimming in the ocean and have done so in remote areas in several parts of the world. Shark presence was always on my mind. Now after all I keep learning about them, I'll just bet they were close by more than once. I shutter to think about it and am not sure if I would ever do it again, which does play into my fear. Mastering fear does not change the shark/human relationship in the water, but may help you survive an attack
FYI - Ms. Boswell's injury was apparently so clean that the artery snapped back up into the leg and actually helped prevent a quick bleed out.

Reply by mbb12 August 25, 2010 05:56pm PDTReport Abuse

john franzaglia your an idiot, you act like you know so much about this animal that i bet youve never even touched before

Reply by sje August 11, 2010 08:24pm PDTReport Abuse

Actually the article gave the estimated sizes of both whites, 7 and 9 feet. Either way, cool vid, and i am sure it was an epic experience. All the haters can stay locked in their houses with there hand sanitizers and video games, and leave life's true experiences to the rest of us. More for us. Not to say i am anywhere near as ballsy as this chap though. Cheers.

Reply by dan koval August 11, 2010 08:27pm PDTReport Abuse

that doesn't mean that the white still wouldn't investigate with a bump.

Reply by afrolova August 12, 2010 06:01am PDTReport Abuse

True, if they bumped the paddle boat over, he would start thrashing (or still moving quite alot while trying to stay afloat) while overboard, which could easily lead to an attack as he would attract the sharks with all the splashing and commotion.

Reply by jett benedict August 12, 2010 07:36am PDTReport Abuse

OK, even if he was knocked overboard he WOULD NOT cause an attack, the only way that would work would be if his swimming to get back to his paddle boat was the same swimming as that of an injured fish or seal. Not to mention that sharks not only see and smell their prey, they have an electronic signature which is what any living creature gives off at any given time. His signature would've been very strong and not given off signs of injury to give them any reason to see him as prey

Reply by mbb12 August 25, 2010 06:01pm PDTReport Abuse

your so retarded sharks check things out by nibbling, and you mean to tell me the sharks where circling him just for the fun of it, no, they were checking him out trying to figure out if it was edible, and the only way to do that is to nibble

Reply by heather nicole mattingly December 10, 2010 05:07pm PSTReport Abuse

Actually Ana, sharks really don't like human meat. They can't digest the ratio of bone to muscle that humans have. Sharks have a really bad reputation and they don't deserve it. They are really glorious animals just like whales.

Reply by heather nicole mattingly December 10, 2010 05:07pm PSTReport Abuse

How can you call that fake?

Reply by jett benedict August 12, 2010 07:41am PDTReport Abuse

Great White sharks are NOT a family unit. The Great White mother abandons her young as soon as they are born. During the pregnancy period the female Great White will starve herself because if she eats during that time, the urge to feed will actually be strong enough to cause her to want to eat her new born as soon as they are born. This in turn prompts her to leave and let the young new born pups fend for themselves their entire lives.

Reply by zattyguy August 12, 2010 10:34am PDTReport Abuse

Yeah it is hard for her to stop eating her young but she sure does not want to eat us,,lol...

Reply by batsugame August 12, 2010 12:08pm PDTReport Abuse

So...you're saying that female sharks don't eat for the full estimated 11 to 12 months of their pregnancy? Considering their ability to maintain their own body temperature and constant swimming require regular intake of high protein, high fat food sources, this is extremely implausible. Further, being a "marine biology student specializing in sharks," you would be aware that no one has been able to observe great white reproduction behaviors nor track a pregnancy or even witness a birth. Given these factors, I would certainly say it is a stretch to make a claim such as this.

Reply by jim egan January 22, 2011 10:02pm PSTReport Abuse

Wow! Everyones a Great White Shark Expert...The Fact is They will swallow and eat anything...They attack to Eat! There is no other reason. Do they have taste buds...who knows..They are unpredictable...so are Humans..I have surfed, Fished all over world, and have seen one once! Going out on a half a laugh out of Daveys Locker..A 20 fter swam all the way in to end of Balboa Pier,turned around and swam straight toward Catalina.....Of course with newscopters and Boats following until it sounded...Here is Bottom Line thee way I look at it..THE MORE HUMANS ENCROACH ON NATURE AND WILDLIFE, THE MORE WE WILL BECOME PART OF THE FOOD CHAIN..FROM CHANCE ENCOUNTERS WITH WILD ANIMALS. FISH, SHARKS,,,,,,Look at GUY in Congo Eaten by 15 ft.Croc..Kayaking stretch of water that was unexplored,etc...CROC WAS HUNGRY!! Late!! I think the Guy was Crazy, but alls well that ends WELL!!