Shark bites - and how to avoid them

Of all that swims beneath the sea, the shark is most feared. Sharks have hundreds of razor-sharp teeth, mounted in jaws possessing 10 times more power than a human bite and an ability to sniff out a single drop of blood in a million parts water. But how difficult is it to actually get bitten by a shark? For this year's Shark Weekend on the Discovery Channel, one brave volunteer tries to find out.

Shark Weekend is an annual institution on Discovery – this year it takes place over 2nd and 3rd August. The shark-based programming runs from midday to 9pm, presenting the latest knowledge on shark behaviour and conservation. This year’s highpoint is undoubtedly going to be How Not To Become Shark Bait (Saturday, 6pm) in which UK escapologist Jonathan Goodwin does his best to be bitten by the Carribbean reef shark.

Reef sharks can grow up to three metres (10 ft) long and have 90% effective muscle mass – and they bite with a force approaching a ton.

The problem is that reef sharks, just like other members of the shark family, are actually quite shy and retiring creatures. Accompanied by a marine scientist and survival expert, Jonathan heads to the blue waters of the Bahamas, which is the world centre of shark attacks – though we’re hardly talking big numbers. In the last 75 years there have only been 79 shark bites. To put that in context, there are around six million visitors to the Bahamas annually, and pretty much all of them venture into the water.

You’re far more likely to get killed by a lightning strike or a coconut falling on your head than by a shark attack. So it soon becomes clear Jonathan is going to need to give the reef sharks some encouragement.

So begins a series of experiments – by turns hilarious and alarming – as the team investigate the best ways to spark a shark feeding frenzy. For a start they try a dawn swim: when visibility is dim a shark attack is more likely. The majority of shark bites are down to mistaken identity. With this in mind, they also try to replicate the splashing and sound of a struggling fish, and offer up dead fish to try and get the sharks hungry for more.

Jonathan also ends up swimming about in a yellow clown suit. ‘High contrast’ colours are said to be easier for clowns to see in low visibility, with yellow even being called ‘yum yum yellow’ by experts in the know.

Shark bites may be rare, but we still don’t recommend you try these activities on your own summer holiday. The wannabe-victim never ventures into the water before donning a protective ‘sharksuit’. This is a kind of chain mail made of titanium or steel rings attached to a standard wetsuit.

Trials on land establish it is capable of protecting against close encounters with sharp nails – but as its inventor says, the sharksuit is only a last line of resort, and ‘things can go wrong in a dozen different ways you haven’t even thought of’. So does Jonathan succeed in his quest? You’ll have to watch the documentary to find out, but let’s just say you’ll probably be biting your nails by the end.

One of the facts that comes out of How Not To Become Shark Bait is that you are far more likely to be killed by a dog than a shark. But what goes around comes around, according to one persistent rumour, which states that sharks regard man’s best friend as a highly-prized delicacy.

Could it really be true? Who better to find out than the intrepid MythBusters team. In the MythBusters Shark Special (Saturday, 12pm), Adam and Jamie grab wetsuits and spear guns to test some of the leading tenets of shark folklore. These include, when facing a shark attack, is it better to play dead or turn aggressive and punch the shark in its eye? Are sharks really attracted to bright lights, and can they be repelled by powerful magnets? (This last one is less crazy than it might at first sound, because sharks have the ability to sense electrical fields in water).

But it is with the ‘sharks like eating dogs’ theory that MythBusters really go above and beyond the call of duty. Rather than risk sacrificing any real rovers, they build themselves a complete robo-dog, complete with fur, swimming limbs and, um, anal secretions – the reek of which, some experts theorise, might be what attracts sharks to dogs in the first place.

In the course of their investigations the MythBusters also build a full-size hydraulic-powered robo-shark, complete with working jaws and realistic attack action, then set him loose.

Sharks have been the ocean’s ultimate predator for the last 400 million years, but in recent years they have come up against a more effective killer – human beings. The best estimate is that for every person killed by a shark, a million sharks are killed by people. For this reason, global shark numbers have declined by 90%.

Another Shark Weekend documentary, Mysteries of the Shark Coast (Saturday, 2pm), takes a serious look at disappearing sharks along Australia’s north-eastern coast. These tropical seas are Shark Central, home to more sharks and more different species of sharks than any other in the world. But even here, shark numbers are decreasing.

What’s happening to them? Is it something we’re doing or do not fully understand sharks’ real lives? To answer the question, an expert team undertake the largest shark tagging expedition in Australian history, deploying ‘crittercams’ and remote cameras to explore the secrets of shark behaviour.

For more on the Discovery Channel’s Shark Weekend, sink your teeth into http://www.discoverychannel.co.uk/sharks/sharkweek.