Haley, we're gonna need a bigger VOTE.
Posted on 06/19/2014 11:51:48 AM PDT by nickcarraway
In the past, it was hard for scientists to know much about great white sharks because they're too big to capture and study while they're alive. But scientists are figuring out more about the animals -- and this week, they've learned a shark they've named Katharine could be headed straight for the Mississippi Coast.
Katharine, a 2,300-pound, 14-foot-long great white, was tagged with a tracker off the coast of Cape Cod, Mass., in August. Whenever she swims to the surface and her fin leaves the water, it transmits a signal to scientists at the nonprofit research organization Ocearch to show where she is. Early Wednesday morning, she was just south of Panama City, Fla., and heading into the northern Gulf of Mexico near Mississippi and Alabama.
"She's getting close. These sharks move 100 miles a day, no problem. She could be anywhere near the beaches in less than a day," Osearch founder Chris Fischer said Wednesday afternoon. "We've heard in the past that there's been some great whites in the Gulf, but we're really just learning that for the first time now."
A great white shark named Betsy has also made her way into the Gulf, but her tracker last "pinged" in early June near the southernmost tip of Florida. Since then, she hasn't raised her fin from the water.
"Some of the sharks come up and put their fins out of the water more often than others," Fischer said. "Katharine is a real extrovert. She likes to be at the surface, so we get very regular updates. Betsy has only come up about once a month since she's been tagged, so she's a little more shy."
Katharine is about 20 years old, and researchers aren't sure what's driving her so close to the Florida, Alabama and Mississippi coastlines.
"We're watching it unfold in real time together," Fischer said of Ocearch's shark-tracking website, which lets anyone with Internet access see where the tagged sharks were last pinged.
"We never dreamed those animals would be spending time in the waters there during this time of year," Fischer said. Scientists thought the sharks would spend summer months farther north in the Atlantic Ocean. "It really shows us how little we knew and how much we're learning right now."
Fischer said nothing has changed with the migration patterns of the sharks, it's just that scientists are now starting to figure them out.
"These sharks have been doing this for millions of years," Fischer said. "We just know for the first time.
"People shouldn't be afraid. The sharks have been making these moves forever."
The calories provided by a couple of buoys, a few license plates, and the occasional bite out of a surfboard.
Haley, we're gonna need a bigger VOTE.
Indeed-you’d think people might just watch out or stay from areas where sharks and other dangerous animals are prone to go, instead of wanting to kill off every species God made that bites-but that would require too much sense, I suppose...
Why is he wearing a jacket with little anchors on it?
Yes, but not because of this shark.
Thad: Who's there?
Katherine: ....
LOL!!!! Post of the Day winner ;)
We were just in Mississippi last week and lots of people were talking about the beaches in Alabama being closed because of sharks. So they might, indeed, be headed west.
One of my favorite character actors of all time.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Murray_Hamilton
If you’ve never seen The Drowning Pool with Paul Newman, rent it this weekend. The interaction between Newman and Hamilton is world class.
J.H. Kilbourne: You know what she wants to do with that land, Mr. Harper? She wants to turn it into a Goddam sanctuary for birds!
Lew Harper: I think that’s kind of sweet.
J.H. Kilbourne: Well now, look, I’m all for saving wildlife like the next fella, but we gotta think about America’s future. Energy sources just aren’t that easy to come by.
Lew Harper: Aha! Did you come to that conclusion out of patriotism or just greed?
J.H. Kilbourne: [after a pause] Little of both, Mr Harper, - like most men of wealth.
Whenever she swims to the surface and her fin leaves the water, it transmits a signal to NSA! Metadata only!
I hear McLame is headed to Miss to support TC. Maybe he could be enticed to go swimming?
I hear that there are these things called, “firearms.” Anyone here know anything about them? :)
And the LORD God said, It is not good that the man should be alone; I will make him an help meet for him.
No point in hoping for that. There’s some trash that even sharks won’t eat.
Indeed. What an ignorant post that was!
I do remember the movie, vaguely.
In the woods here there are wild hogs, coyotes, and the occasional mountain lion-like most people, I hike there several times a week-and if I see fresh tracks of hogs or the mountain lion, I’m going to back out of that trail, making lots of noise, and take one. But I will not put one toe into water where sharks might be-ever. They don’t leave tracks, and there is no other trail...
Oops-”take another one”...
Hurricanes named Katrina, great white sharks named Katharine - the Gulf Coast has it all! What next, I wonder?
I'd say yes, shark or not.
Thinking of moving to Detroit proper. I love this town. Urban dystopia. Full speed ahead.
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