A Few Facts About…Sharks

Greenland sharks are the longest-lived animals on earth: up to 500 years.

Sharks kill about 5 people a year in the United States. Bees kill 62.

Humans kill three sharks every second of every day, or 100 million a year. 75 percent have their fins hacked off—many while they’re still alive—for shark fin soup.

180 species of sharks are considered vulnerable to extinction, 124 are endangered, and 89 are critically endangered, according to the International Union for Conservation of Nature.

Laws work: Populations are rebounding in California and Australia because of government protections.

Sharks used to be a lot bigger. Today’s full-grown great white is about the size of the clasper, or penis, of a male megalodon shark, which lived from 23 million to 3.6 million years ago.

Cookiecutter sharks, named because they cut out perfectly round holes from living prey, migrate 3,200 feet vertically from the deep ocean to the surface each night to feed.

Some sharks, such as nurse sharks, can breathe while at complete rest