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In the Middle of Shark Week, 27 Bites of Shark Data
Sharks are fascinating animals. They are as old as dinosaurs, they are top predators in the water, they come in strange shapes and sizes, they have magnetic sensors, they have rows and rows of teeth. And they have a little piece of the calendar to call their own – Shark Week, which happens to be this week.
As you might expect with animals so unique and powerful in popular culture, there’s also tons of data on them that’s great for infographics. Here are 27 infographics about sharks to get you swimming for your life.
1. For a great overview of sharks, Shark Wranglers covers lots of the details of what makes them so fascinating.
2. Part of what drives our fascination with sharks is the Discovery Channel’s Shark Week. This year marks the 25th, and 25 Years of Shark Week: The History by Lemon.ly covers how far the event has swum.
3. For the more cynical among us, Shark Week in 30 Seconds covers the bare essentials.
4. From the shark week officials themselves, Status of the Shark covers some of the general info about sharks.
5. We have a love-hate relationship with sharks. Despite being so fascinating, they are scary animals that sometimes eat people. 100 Years of Shark Attacks by newsillustrator helps to quantify attacks against people.
6. Part of what drives this fear are movies that exaggerate sharks’ abilities. Of those movies, Jaws is undoubtedly the most famous.
7. Megashark is another hugely exaggerated shark that has driven the imaginations of people everywhere.
8. And not much is better than a battle between two made-up titans, Mega Shark and Crocosaurus.
9. Unfortunately, in the real world sharks attack people. Shark Attacks aren’t always for food, sometimes the shark is just curious.
10. Unfortunately, that still doesn’t keep those Shark Attacks from being fatal.
11. Knowing How and Where Sharks Attack can help you avoid one, though.
12. Attacking you really isn’t the shark’s fault. Sharks are Super Predators, and their behavior is built into their genetics.
13. Despite being built for hunting, they do have differences. The Shark Awards shows how diverse sharks can be.
14. They also have a wide range of Shark Speeds.
15. And they get to be extremely Massive
16. This diversity makes sharks an important part of different Shark Ecosystems.
17. One of these ecosystems is the Sardine Run, taken advantage of mostly by the Copper Shark.
18. Knowing all this brings up an important question: Who Has the Most to Fear- Man or Shark?
19. iLanskiii’s other shark graphic, Shark Extinction has an answer for us.
20. It seems in the large scale battle of Man vs Shark, man will always be the winner.
21. It’s no wonder, with practices like Shark Finning (by kikikarpus) still being done.
22. Unfortunately, Catching Sharks is a widespread practice, happening throughout the European Union.
23. It’s a real shame we are endangering so many of these beautiful creatures. There are some really Weird Sharks out there.
24. The Smooth Hammerhead (by memuco) is one of the weirdest, and is severely endangered.
25. The Scalloped Hammerhead is another strange one.
26. The Tiger Shark’s diet might be the strangest. They eat just about anything!
27. If you are thinking of going to see any of these amazing creatures, shark diving may be the best way to experience them. Droid Projects has put together an infovideo and an interactive on some of the best places to go shark diving.
![Great White Shark Cage Diving Hotspots of the World [INTERACTIVE]](http://thumbnails.visually.netdna-cdn.com/great-white-shark-cage-diving-hotspots-of-the-world-interactive_50291a7eaee84_w587.png)
Drew Skau is Visualization Architect at Visual.ly, a PhD Computer Science Visualization student at UNCC with an undergraduate degree in Architecture, and a fast swimmer. You can follow him on twitter @SeeingStructure
