​Will shark culling become a thing in the United States?  Ever since I documented the political agendas behind shark culling in Australia I've had a fear that these ideals would continue to spread like a disease and eventually take seed in the Untied States.  I expressed these concerns to Dr. Christopher Neff during an interview in 2014.  He stated that if it were going to happen, Cape Cod would be the most likely place.  He also made me aware of the fact that culling already has taken place in the U.S...more than once.
As far as I'm concerned culling already does take place regularly across the United States.  We just call it something else and hand people trophies for it.  Read and watch more here.

How do we survive the moments when we unintentionally enter the food chain?  Inspired by interviews with Chris Fallows, Andrew Fox, Alessandro de Maddalena, Neil Hammerschlag, and more, host Skyler Thomas looks at possible explanations for our survival.

This video was originally made as an episode for Animal Bytes TV in 2014.  Although not my best work, the topic of content is worth watching.  Alessandro de Maddalena provided many amazing predation photos to assist the video.
#andrewfox #neilhammerschlag, #chrisfallows, #skylerthomas

​A playful and curious boxer tries to interact with nurse sharks in French Polynesia.  
Sorry for the BS headline - just pretending to be the Daily Mail, or The Telegraph, or a Shark Week episode.
I had to remove the audio because whatever song was playing on the beach radio flagged the copyright content monitor.

Rogue sharks, or as Shark Week refers to them, "Great White Serial Killers" (thanks again for all you do for sharks, Shark Week, barf) are sharks that have supposedly developed a taste for humans and intentionally target us. It just so happens that I met and interviewed someone in South Africa who witnessed one of the rare occurrences of a white shark consuming a human. That particular area, Fish Hoek, has had two apparent consumptions. Does this mean there's a rogue shark in those waters? Several years after that interview I asked Dr. Christpher Neff about his work on the "rogue shark theory." ​

What's wrong with the phrase shark attack?  After all, the term is used so commonly that even scientists and shark advocates use it.  Dr. Christopher Neff helps explain how using the phrase is damaging for both sharks and people.
Watch the full one hour interview at whitesharkvideo.com/chrisneff

#sharks #sharkattack #sharkbite #sharkpresence #sharkthreat #sharkencounter #sharksighting #chistopherneff #skylerthomas #whitesharkvideo #greatwhitelies #wsv #sharkcull #mediahype

This is an extended scene from Great White Lies featuring Dr. Christopher Neff.  For the sake of pacing I cut all my interviews heavily, but All of Dr. Neff's words are worth hearing so I am rolling out his entire interview to the public over the next several days.
In this segment we are discussing his early research regarding Western Australia's reactions to shark bites and basically predicted Colin Barnett's shark cull.  He then goes on to explain how killing sharks is a political platform, whether it makes people safer or not.  Perhaps most disturbing is that manipulating the public rather than educating them puts them at even greater risk.  

Nothing spectacular here, just a fun and unexpected encounter with a large group of baby great white sharks.

​Oops, I mean leopard sharks. :)

Wolf Bear and Skyler decided to share a little info about these sharks, even if they aren't great whites.

Active-swimming predators, groups of leopard sharks often follow the tide onto intertidal mudflats to forage for food, mainly clams, spoon worms, crabs, shrimp, bony fish, and fish eggs.

The leopard shark occurs in the Northeastern Pacific Ocean, from the temperate continental waters of Coos Bay, Oregon to the tropical waters of Mazatlán, Mexico, including the Gulf of California. It favors muddy or sandy flats within enclosed bays and estuaries, and may also be encountered near kelp beds and rocky reefs, or along the open coast. 

There are a few sharks that use the word "leopard" in their title.  The leopard shark featured in this video is found on the Pacific coast of North America.

zebra / leopard (Stegostoma fasciatum) Australia / Asia

leopard catfish (Poroderma pantherinum) South Africa

leopard shark (Triakis semifasciata) Pacific North America

Footage shot by Skyler Thomas for White Shark Video unless otherwise stated. Stock footage licensing is available at www.whitesharkvideo.com/footage

Dogs and sharks!

Un perro se encuentra con docenas de tiburones

#dogsandsharks #paddleboarding #paddleboardingwithsharks #leopardshark #skylerthomas

I wish I was making this stuff up, but my parodies are inspired by the behavior of so-called "researchers" and "shark advocates" who appear on Shark Week.  Yes, they are credentialed scientists and the cameramen and hosts are familiar with sharks...which is what makes it so bad.  The willingness to lie and portray situations in a false light while being fully aware of what they are doing is something I can't stomach, although most "shark fans" I know are quick to turn a blind eye when someone they know commits the crime.  If that wasn't bad enough, the "research" I made fun of are actual studies. 
I'm not sure what's more upsetting, that humans are so detached that we consider what should be common sense to be "amazing discoveries" or that the scientists milk our ignorance and portray these things as unprecedented science.

#SharkWeek, #sharkweek #falsescience #savingnothing #boostingcareers #fishingshows #shame #fakescientists #sellouts #craigoconnel #joeromeiro #gregskomal 

Watch our first Shark Week episode below

It's Shark Week 2018! Every year the question for shark advocates is, "Should be we happy that it's Shark Week or dreading the new shows?" Make sure to watch our first Shark Week (parody) episode - Blood Resurrection. ;) What's your opinion of Shark Week in recent years? Is it getting better or worse? Our parody was inspired by accidentally seeing a few minutes of Shark Week 2017's Phelps VS. Shark right before going diving with Blue Ocean Dive Resort in South Africa so we were a little amped up on the silliness of Shark Week narratives and spontaneously recorded this on our way out to dive with the sharks of Aliwal Shoal. Can you really blame the producers when humans consistently show that they love fear and drama? Maybe, maybe not. All footage shot by Skyler Thomas, Ollie Putnam, and Dan Abbott. Music by Tyler Newman.

#sharkweek #blueoceandiveresort #sharkweek2018 #sharkweek2017 #sharkfear #hype #greatwhiteserialkiller #skylerthomas #ollieputnam #danabbott #sharks #sharkshows #discovery #fearoreduction #southafrica #aliwalshoal #durban #sharks #raggytooth #oceanicblacktips #whiteshark #whitesharkvideo #wsv #greynurseshark

​How are Endothermy, Climate Change, and Increased White Shark Sightings Related?
Endothermy is a pretty special physical feature of white sharks, but did you know they aren't born with this capability!?

Instead, it develops as they get older.   I learned that for the first time at a lecture where both Dr. Chris Lowe and Dr. Aaron Carlysle presented their research regarding the movements of white sharks (and other lamnid sharks) along the California coast and how water temperature affects these movements.  Why is that significant?
There's been a bit of hype the last two years regarding increased sightings of white sharks in California, sometimes in areas and times of the year, we don't expect them.  There's a pretty good chance these are juvenile white sharks that have altered their normal course, but why?  For that, you'll have to watch the video.

Many people won't take the time to read research papers, so I turn the research into quick videos like these, but, for those of you interested in learning more, here's a link to Dr. Lowe's work
http://www.csulb.edu/shark-lab

And Dr. Carylsle's presentation can actually be found on Youtube via Moss Landing Marine Labs.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=QPBjVVKLmX8

Specifically, thank you, Dr. Lowe, for sharing your Power Point presentation.  Footage shot by Skyler Thomas for White Shark Video unless otherwise stated.  Segments of both the researchers' data appear in the video. White shark footage in the bonus section provided by Skyler Thomas and Andy Dellios.