Jaws Of Death Pa

by Maniguet,Xavier

• ISBN13: 9781602390218
• ISBN10: 1602390215
• Edition: 00
• Format: Trade Paper
• Copyright: 2007-08-17
• Publisher: FRWHEEL

Summary

Biggest of all fish and the best-equipped for hunting, sharks live in every ocean. They are threatened by no natural predator except the killer whale. Built like torpedoes, they possess an extraordinary physiology that includes eight incredibly developed sensory organs and a set of jaws whose extensibility, power, and teeth are unrivaled in the animal kingdom. Their tenacity for staying alive is impressive. Gaffed, shot, harpooned, and ripped open, they are still capable of moving about and tearing apart their victims. And they have existed unchanged for 350 million years.

Author Biography

Xavier Maniguet is best known as a survival specialist, but he is also a medical doctor, pilot, and parachutist, as well as the author of Survival: How to Prevail in Hostile Environments.

Table of Contents

Preface	p. 9
Acknowledgements	p. 11
Introduction	p. 13
Statistics Versus Myths
Total numbers	p. 15
Preconceived ideas	p. 17
An Historical Account
Devil sharks and god sharks	p. 23
From myth to symbol	p. 28
The reasons for fascination	p. 30
Sharks and the media	p. 32
A chapter of history	p. 35
An Extraordinary Machine
Devilish jaws	p. 45
A flawless set of teeth	p. 45
Sequences of a bite	p. 48
Feeding, appetite and digestion	p. 49
Exceptional sensory organs	p. 55
Hearing	p. 56
Smell	p. 57
The lateral line	p. 60
The pit organs: "taste buds" on the back	p. 62
An extraordinary eyesight	p. 64
The visual system of the Great White Shark	p. 69
The ampullae of Lorenzini: a unique organ	p. 70
Hydrodynamics and performance	p. 74
An organism for hydrodynamism	p. 75
A predator with two gears	p. 81
Variations and adaptations	p. 81
Respiration	p. 83
Peculiarities and Curiosities
The "Great White Death"	p. 87
Innocent giants	p. 89
The Tiger Shark: the "hyena of the seas"	p. 91
Display swimming of the Grey Reef Shark	p. 92
Motivation for an attack	p. 98
The markings of the Oceanic White-tip: lure or identity badge?	p. 101
Attacking nuclear submarines	p. 102
The shark's companions	p. 103
Attacks: Instructive Dramas
Accursed places	p. 107
Shipwrecks: sites of unsuspected carnage	p. 115
Boats are not always safe from attack	p. 131
Determined attacks	p. 137
Remarkable attacks	p. 144
Courageous victims	p. 146
Heroic rescuers	p. 148
A painless torture	p. 153
Post-mortem of an attack	p. 155
Some impossible statistics	p. 159
Preventive measures against sharks	p. 163
Prevention through education	p. 164
Prevention through facilities	p. 171
Passive on-the-spot protection	p. 178
Aggressive on-the-spot protection	p. 183
Conclusion	p. 186
Fact and Speculation
Captivity and adaptability	p. 189
The shark's brain	p. 191
Reproduction and maturation	p. 192
Reproduction	p. 192
Maturation	p. 196
Social behaviour and ecology of sharks	p. 196
Theories of evolution and the shark	p. 198
1001 Uses of a Shark
The shark as police-informer	p. 201
The shark as alibi	p. 206
Ecology and the fishing industry	p. 209
The shark as a game fish	p. 214
Shark cuisine	p. 220
The shark memento	p. 221
Sharkskin	p. 222
The shark in pharmacy and in surgery	p. 223
The shark and the cinema	p. 223
The shark virility test	p. 2244
The Other Jaws of Death
Piranhas: myth or reality?	p. 227
The Killer Whale	p. 229
Crocodiles: fearsome predators	p. 230
Elementary precautions	p. 235
Barracudas: innocent animals unjustly accused	p. 236
Directory	p. 239
Glossary	p. 315
Bibliography	p. 317
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