When you think of piranhas, you probably think about a fierce fish with razor sharp teeth. You might even think of a river that looks like its boiling with swarms of hungry fish, eating an animal all the way down to its bone in just a few minutes. I don’t think you would want to get close to a piranha. But in reality, if you did, the piranha would look at you and decide that you weren’t really good to eat and just leave you alone and swim away.
Even the scientists who study piranhas don’t agree with each other on how dangerous piranhas are to people. There is no proof that a piranha has ever killed a person. Most piranha bites happen when fishermen try to take the piranha off the hook and piranha bites them. A lot of fishermen have lost fingers and toes to piranhas this way.
Piranhas live in most of South America and nowhere else in the world.
The piranhas range from southern Venezuela to the northern part of Argentina.
They are found in all of the major rivers in South America that flow into the
Atlantic Ocean, including the Amazon, Orinoco, Esscquibo, La Plata, and Sao
Francisco. They are lowland fish that live in big rivers and small streams. They also inhabit lagoon, ponds, lakes, and reservoirs. They live in fresh waters in tropical forests and tropical savannas, or grasslands. Piranhas don’t live in mountain streams or mountain lakes, probably because the water is way too cold and also because the water flows too fast that they can’t catch the fish living in it.
The piranha’s ancestors first showed up 100 million years ago. They showed up in a fresh water lake on a continent that is now South America. They had one feature that made them different from the earlier fish before them and that’s a chain of small bones called Webster’s Ossicles. These are the first four
uncovers the truth about the fish, and how it and its environment was abused by the old
The Legend of the Chupacabra has been around for many years now and is almost becoming more and more believable. There have been plenty of sightings and detailed descriptions of what this beast looks like. Many say it stands at about three feet with big red eyes and has shriveled hairless skin (“National Geographic Society”). Even though there are multiple facts and sightings that could potentially prove that this creature is real, some still do not believe it. There are scientist and researchers that go out everyday to try and find more about this creature, with all this effort being put into this, it is very hard to believe that it is not real. There are many facts out there to prove that it is real, the stories themselves prove it, now it is time to convince everyone why they should believe in this furless beast.
Seahorses have no teeth and no stomach. Food passes through their digestive systems so quickly, they must eat almost constantly to stay alive.
could not get attacked by a Tyrannosaurus Rex. There is no way to tell how an animal
The Palumbis’ article emphasizes how there are many more dangerous creatures in the ocean besides sharks. Even though people are crazy about Shark Week, they should be interested in finding out the different species that live within the water. Everyone is obsessed about sharks for the fact they think they are the most dangerous fish in the water, but there are scarier animals that swim below. As a result of the national concern about sharks, people get excited when Discovery Channel videotapes the annual show Shark Week. As Palumbi tries to prove their point that sharks are not the most dangerous animal in the water with using logos and ethos but they should have more pathos.
being bitten by a mosquito. This is unheard of in the wild, but orcas in captivity
extinct for 4000 years, it is difficult to tell exactly what they lived on, but
Sharks have several ways to dispatch their prey with surprise attacks, agility, and camouflaged sneak attacks. The shark’s dentition also tells the story of their diet as well as their method of attack. The Great White Shark, (Carcharodon carcharias), is the largest extant predatory shark on Earth and has large serrated teeth that tear through the flesh of its prey. Their teeth are 2.5-3 inches in height and have prominent serrations which allow them to tear large chunks out of prey including large fish, seals, sea lions, other sharks, carrion, dolphins, elephant seals, stingrays, and fish [8], [13]. These sharks hunt by swimming below the intended prey item and with a sudden burst of speed; they will attack with a large single bite and then swim off to allow the prey to bleed to death. These sharks are famous for breaching the water to grab seals and sea lions around the coast of South Africa in an area called Seal Island [7]. When the seals swim farther off from the island where the water is much deeper, the shark’s rate of a successful attack increase compared to the lowered success rate in shallower waters where the seals can easily outmaneuver them [7]. The bite force of the Great White measures around 4,000 pounds and is able to bite prey in half [10]. Great Whites
Fishing gear that is the most harmful is illegally placed in areas such as near the rivers, shores, and cays, commonly in the southern region in Belize. This region is where most of the small fishery villages reside. Entanglements in fishing nets are a source of many deaths to free-swimming manatees. These nets are sometimes engulfed by manatees which cause their digestive systems to fail. The nets also get caught onto their appendages, which sometimes tear causing a severe infection. There have been several cases reporting amputation of manatee appendages due to this reason. Calves usually drown when they are entangled, especially if t...
It is no secret that sharks have a bad reputation for being blood-thirsty man-killers. Sharks are known as the “killers of the sea.” Every year, on average, 10 people are killed by sharks; however, every second 3 sharks are slaughtered by humans. So who is the real “killer of the sea?” Sharks are victims to a cruel and inhumane practice known as finning. Finning is a practice that is more practiced in the pacific today but used to be practiced all around the world. Finning refers to when commercial fishermen will pull a shark onto the boat and slice off the fins. The typical target fins that are cut off the shark are the primary dorsal fin, secondary dorsal fin, the lower caudal fin, anal fin, pelvic fin, and the pectoral fins. The removal of these fins leaves the shark a slender, finless carcass. After cutting the fins off, the fisherman toss the still living shark back into the water to die a gruesome and painful death. The practice of finning sharks should be banned and enforced internationally.
They are creatures that have no clue what we are and are afraid of us. Every year, thousands of more people are killed by other people than by sharks; thousand more people are killed in car accidents than by sharks, and more people are killed by lightning strikes than by sharks. Each year humans kill tens of thousands of sharks, yet, there are fewer than 100 shark attacks upon humans. For example, The Great White shark also known as the man-eater, has the greatest reputation for attacking humans. Recent studies of Great Whites show that they mainly feed on sea-mammals. Seen from below the surface a person swimming with a shark looks much like a seal, with arms and legs sticking out. The shark usually surprises its victim, being a person or seal, by one massive bite, and then retreats in order to allow the victim to die before digesting the food. For this reason, many humans survived the attack of a Great White shark if they are saved before being eaten. Not only getting out of the water and be safe, but the result of loss, blood or
States and southern Canada. In the west, the species was found from Mexico to California.
...s are trying to conserve the world’s extraordinary animals so that people will never have to answer this unsettling question.
temperatures kill the fish eggs. As the water gets warmer, their metabolism increases, and in
The exotic pet trade is a vast industry and is one of the largest sources of criminal earnings. These animals are smuggled and sold in stores, auctions, or on the internet. Many animals do not even survive the long journey from their habitats; and the ones that do usually suffer ...