Shark Week - shark vs. croc - June 30

Firstly, some good news, (relatively speaking): we fixed our TV, at least to a point, so we have some channels back on, (at least). Ergo, this bring us to the following – a, I will be able to see ‘Expedition Mungo’ in the upcoming weeks on TV, (and not just the Internet), and b, I was able to watch – once more – the ‘croc-shark showdown’ show, also on TV, (as part of the Shark Week). And?

And it was an interesting, informational, and educational show, of the sort that AFO had not been, (though it tried). It showed the interactions of the saltwater crocodiles in Australia with various species of local sharks: initially the saltwater crocodile was found primarily in Australia’s rivers due to human depredations regardless of its’ name, but now it is found off the Australian coasts, where sharks live. And?

And contrary to what AFO has depicted in its own ‘croc vs. shark’ episode, (remember, I talked about it?), the sharks and the saltwater crocodiles were shown peacefully coexisting with each other off the Australian coast; the smaller sharks, such as the tawny nurse shark and the hardnose shark, (no, seriously, apparently these are real names for real life shark species), follow the crocodiles and pick up scraps from their meals, as some vultures and ravens do with big cats and bears. This is a sharp contrast to AFO, and it does explain as to why AFO used CGI simulation rather than RL life animals, but-

But the sharks shown in this program were smaller and weaker than the saltwater crocodiles were, overall. Plus, they were able to coexist with the great reptiles, (and the saltwater crocodiles may be the biggest modern reptiles, period), by living very different lifestyles: at night they would follow the crocodiles around, true, but during the day, when the crocodiles remained active and stayed near the coastline, (in mangrove swamps and the like), the sharks went into deeper waters and stayed there instead. And this brings us to the tiger sharks.

The tiger sharks may be smaller than the great whites are, but they are still powerful, (and alongside the great white and the bull sharks they are some of the most dangerous sharks, to humans), and would be more evenly matched to fight a saltwater crocodile if the occasion arose. However, they do not, and are apparently avoiding the saltwater crocodiles instead.

This makes sense, actually – both sharks and crocodiles can sense vibrations through the water, (and AFO pointed this out, BTW), so should a tiger shark sense a saltwater crocodile, (or vice versa), it would figure out, (both sharks and crocodiles are more intelligent than they are credited with), that this is an animal that is about as big as it is, (and a tiger shark is about the same size as a saltwater crocodile is, BTW – so’s a great white; it is twice as heavy as a croc is, but more about this later), it doesn’t appear to be bleeding, or sick, or in distress, so it should be left alone instead. Dolphins are not as intimidating (from a human point of view) as crocodiles are, but they can kill sharks, even such big ones as the great hammerhead shark, (we’re talking bottlenose dolphins here), and the killer whales, who are as big as a great white shark, but more physically powerful and mentally smarter than they, kill and eat the great whites on a regular basis if they like their tastes – but killer whales are very complex and interesting creatures and should be discussed on their own, if at all.

Back to the saltwater crocodile. It may not be as intelligent as the killer whale is, but it has plenty of power of its own, and its bite is actually stronger than that of the great white shark. The AFO episode in question was quite good, actually, as it highlighted the similarities and the differences between the two carnivores; in particular, the croc was a ‘crusher’, while the shark was a ‘slicer’. Or, while the teeth of a shark (a great white, a bull, or even a tiger) are designed to slice through flesh, (and even the shells of sea turtles, and more), the crocodile’s are not. Rather, they crush and grip, and since crocodiles cannot chew, they have to shake their prey to pieces instead or go for the death roll, as people know.

(Now it might be a good time to mention the T-Rex and its own crushing bite, but T-Rex never went out to the sea, so let us not go there, period. Another time, maybe).

This means that a crocodile should have, and does have, more powerful musculature than a shark does. This is not surprising; the big reptiles – crocodiles and alligators, monitor lizards and constrictor snakes, even some of the turtles – have to compete and to hunt with even bigger creatures – the mammals. Since the end of the Mesozoic, 65 MYA, reptiles had to live in the mammals’ world, and evolve accordingly: they couldn’t be bigger anymore (for various reasons), so they got to be proportionally tougher; the Nile crocodile defeated the African lion in their own AFO episode by right, as we discussed it back then; and the sharks, well, haven’t. They live in the sea, which is their domain, and they actually tend to avoid marine mammals; even such bigger species as the bull and the tiger sharks do.

The great white shark does not, which is why it might be the most dangerous – through physical power – shark of the modern times. It hunts the marine mammals – the sea lions, the fur seals, even the elephant seals, but most of its’ prey is still smaller than it is, and when it comes to something bigger, or even equal – i.e. the killer whale, the great white shark is in trouble.

By contrast, the killer whales often kill animals bigger than they are, namely the baleen whales, just as on land, wolves, wild dogs and spotted hyenas also kill animals bigger than they are, such as the moose and the antelope. Size-wise, big mammals are bigger and smarter than their rivals – fish, amphibians, reptiles and birds – are, but the birds and the reptiles, especially the bigger ones – evolved to handle this…while the fish not so much. The great white shark may be heavier than a saltwater crocodile is, but the saltwater crocodile is tougher than the great white shark is.

And not just metaphorically, literally too. All sharks are cartilaginous fish, their skeletons are not made from bone, (ossified), but from cartilage, (in humans, cartilage is found mostly in ears and noses), which is softer than bones are. A crocodile’s jaws evolved to crush bone and shake it apart with nothing but a good grip and physical strength; as soon as it clumped its jaws on a shark – on a part of its’ body and started to crush and rip, the shark would fall apart…literally. Regardless of its’ size, too. Most dolphins did not evolve to kill opponents bigger than they are, (the killer whales are an exception), and they kill sharks; and the crocodiles have.

So, firstly, why did the crocodile lose in AFO? For the same reason that the American black bear won over the American alligator, and the anaconda – over the jaguar. The show’s cast decided that it was so and that was that. DW, at least, tried to justify its’ decisions with numbers, and that had its own problems, but AFO did not have even that…and that why it ended after a single season, for all of its’ good qualities.

And secondly? This is why the tiger sharks avoid the saltwater crocodiles off the Australian coast, for example. I cannot guarantee that the sharks are smart enough to comprehend this sort of thing, but instinctively, this is what they do. It’s possible that a tiger shark might overpower and kill a saltwater crocodile, but the reverse is also true, and in RL, animals don’t like even fights…unless they are between two rivals for females, or territory, but that is another story.

Until then – see you!