great white on display

krj-1168

krj-1168

Member
The really scary thing is that unlike the Great White - which is a protected species. The Bull Shark can be found for sale(about $8,000) - so anyone with a very large aquarium(10's of thousands of gallons), a very deep pocket, & crazy enough to really want a man-eater - can get one.
 
krj-1168

krj-1168

Member
I didn't mean that as a good thing.
Fact is - The Bull Shark - should be banned from private sale - it's shark that should only be seen in the wild or public aquariums.
Keep in mind a bull shark is more dangerous than a great white or a tiger.
Don't get one - if you want a cool free swimming shark - get a blacktip reef, bonnethead, sharpnose, or whitetip reef. They're less likely to bite you - unless you do something stupid like try to hand feed it.
 
aw2x3

aw2x3

Active Member
Originally Posted by krj-1168
Which kind of brings me back to the real reason the female great White was released. Not to say she wasn't doing well - because for the most part she was. But she also had seriously injured her nose(raw & bloody), while in the tank. Biologist began to wonder if her health wasn't in danger, so to give her the best chance for survival - they released her. Although they claimed they released her was because she killed a couple of sharks.

I saw pics and video of the release and there was no such damage to the nose of that White.
 
cunningham

cunningham

Member
Originally Posted by krj-1168
I didn't mean that as a good thing.
Fact is - The Bull Shark - should be banned from private sale - it's shark that should only be seen in the wild or public aquariums.
Keep in mind a bull shark is more dangerous than a great white or a tiger.
Don't get one - if you want a cool free swimming shark - get a blacktip reef, bonnethead, sharpnose, or whitetip reef. They're less likely to bite you - unless you do something stupid like try to hand feed it.
come on! im not really in :hilarious
 
aw2x3

aw2x3

Active Member
Originally Posted by krj-1168
AW - The damage was to underside of her snout.
And I didn't believe either - until I was talking(thru online chat) to someone who worked at the MBA - and they sent me a few pics for the under side of her snout. But she clearly had scarring & sores on the underside of her nose.

http://www.underwatertimes.com/forum...opic.php?t=266

Wierd! Sorry to have disagreed with you, then. From the pics and video that I saw (most of it close up), there didnt appear to be such damage, but now that I think about it, most of the pics and vids were from over the side of the boat, so you wouldnt have been able to see the damage in your photo.
 
sulley

sulley

Member
how the heck can you learn about an animal in a couple of weeks? this should not even be attempted. we are not above nature. this is like someone trying trying to continuously keep a full grown tang in a ten gallon tank. when it dies in a couple of weeks go buy another let's try purple seaweed. wait that one died let's try green seaweed... wait that one died let's try this.... simple fact is to me this is just as bad as companies testing on animals. i can not wait till the day when sharks are trying to keep us. wiat this one lived for two minutes under water let's get another and try to tickle his feet maybe it will survive longer this time
 
aw2x3

aw2x3

Active Member
They actually kept it for more than 6 months...close to 9 months, if I remember right.
Then, they released it.
They have no intentions of keeping one permanently (so they've said)...but, there's a hell of a lot of info you learn from keeping them for 6 - 12 months.
 
krj-1168

krj-1168

Member
Well -as I said - AW - I didn't believe it either until I saw that photo of her nose. Plus see the shark from above or the side you really don't get that view.
My general understanding is it was caused by her bumping into the tank glass. Which is something they did differently(they kept the tank's viewing panels partly cover for several days after it was introduced into the tank) when aclimating the current shark.
Truth is I understand your point - sulley. Not doubt - there is some major questions, about the ethics of attempting to keep a great White in captivty.
But generally speaking - the work that the MBA is doing in Great White research is good quality work. It helps to expand our knowledge of this incredible beautiful and powerful apex predator - including things like growth rates, & migration patterns.
 
sulley

sulley

Member
but who are we that we need to understand this animal. sharks have survived millions of years and flourished in the ocean without our intervention. we have no right to treat these animals as lab rats to understand them. how many have been killed just attempting to keep one in captivity for a couple of weeks. even if we do learn everything about them then what? how has the sharks life improved? plus i do not care aw if they have kept one for 10 years you can not learn about this animal when it is not in it's natural habitat. let me know what you plan on learning from this animal in captivity that will benefit this animal in the long run? and breeding in captivity that is a joke as well.
 
aw2x3

aw2x3

Active Member
Who are we to understand ANY animal? If it werent for willing people, hundreds of different species would've been gone by now. The human race has already managed to kill off countless species...so, if we can save some, then why not?
We, at one point, had also never kept Dolphins and Whales in captivity either. Beluga Whales were on the brink of extinction and now they're are hundreds of breeding pair in captivity.
I dont agree with the Georgia Aquarium keeping Whale Sharks, but if it'll allow us to learn more about them and possibly be able to breed them in captivity, them I'm all for it. Whites, just like Whale Sharks, could very well go extinct in our life time. If there's a way to stop that from happening, then I say go for it.
 
krj-1168

krj-1168

Member
but who are we that we need to understand this animal. sharks have survived millions of years and flourished in the ocean without our intervention. we have no right to treat these animals as lab rats to understand them. how many have been killed just attempting to keep one in captivity for a couple of weeks. even if we do learn everything about them then what? how has the sharks life improved? plus i do not care aw if they have kept one for 10 years you can not learn about this animal when it is not in it's natural habitat. let me know what you plan on learning from this animal in captivity that will benefit this animal in the long run? and breeding in captivity that is a joke as well.
Okay, sulley - this is were you & I differ.
Humans by our very nature are highly aggressive, very curious and incredible destructive creatures.
Think of it this way. Why has most of the shark populations in all oceans seen a major drop(in some species by as much as 80%) in the last 80 years? Simple put - because of our blind ignorance. Especially from the 1920's-early 1980's -when sharks like Great Whites, Tigers, Makos, Blues, & Hammerheads were captured and killed by the hundreds - simply because they were considered "man-eaters".
By educating the general public about truths of these "man-eaters" like Tigers, Bulls, and Great Whites. We then can increase the public awareness, and are about to start to fund research programs(to gain even more info on the species), which will lead to conservation programs.
So the truth is a Great White or Whale shark is captivty - may be a necessary "evil". Because while it may be harmful & potentially life threating to the animal, itself. It also serves to gain addition info about it's species, educate the public, and gain addition funds for long-term research, which may lead to long term conservation programs.
 
sulley

sulley

Member
aw that is my point how is torturing countless great whites in captivity going to save them. what do they plan on learning about them that will save them?? just answer me that. knowing their growth rates what does that do? i agree that if an animal is on the brink of extinction because of human ignorance than that animal shouold be saved. if an animal is becoming extinct besides that than it is just natural selection. if you want to truley study this animal and understand it than it HAS to be done in the wild. with tagging etc... what can you learn about the human species by throwing a man in a jail cell 24/7 throwing trays of food in there watchng him then have tours of people walking by banging on the cell door. i understand the importance of keeping the top predator in something that takes up 80 % of the earth, but i do not see what we can learn that would make a difference.
read 99% of the responses they say oh i can not wait to see it. that is the bottom line.
 
sulley

sulley

Member
one more point you claim the ONLY reason they released it was because it was feeding on it's tankmates otherwise they would have kept it longer. let me get this straight they were on the verge of a scientific breakthrough they were collecting data in a remarkable case, but they were not that smart to figure that a great white would feed on it's tankmates? and these are the geniuses that are collecting the data? well this is the line they fed us and aw u ate it up and was anguring that point. my point is a lot more research has to be done in the field and i mean a lot more. if they do not have the capability of field research than they should in no way attempt to keep one. i am all for conservation but i do not think the expoitation of these amazing creatures is the way to go.
 
krj-1168

krj-1168

Member
The fact is, sulley - your statements could also equally apply to any of the number other animals that are captivity in various Zoo & aquariums around the world. Which includes Tigers, Lions, Leopards, Bears, Wolves, Rhinos, Elephants, Crocs, Monitor Lizards, & even Dolphins, Killer Whales & yes other sharks. And it should be noted that virtually all of those species have eventually started doing well enough in captivity to be able to breed, while in it.
 
zanoshanox

zanoshanox

Active Member
I live about 30 miles form the MBA but i went down there to check it out, pretty sweet. i just wish they had more reef tanks but yeah the great white was awesome.
 
sinaloa213

sinaloa213

Active Member
Originally Posted by zanoshanox
I live about 30 miles form the MBA but i went down there to check it out, pretty sweet. i just wish they had more reef tanks but yeah the great white was awesome.
did you got to the section where it was all reef tanks..
they have one
 
sulley

sulley

Member
maybe you misunderstood me krj. it seems like the early expolitations are just a dog and pony show for the public. i am saying that a ton more research has to be done in the oceans to understand these animals before they even attempt to be kept in the aquaria. keeping one great white a pup at that for more than 6 months then having to release while countless others perished is not success it is a fluke. they do not even know how where etc... they breed in the wild. i am not saying that the conservation programs exploit the animals i am saying that whne you attempt to keep a liviing animal (from a spider to a whale) without knowing everything about it is just plain ignorance and inexcusable. and i do not think we should all run up and empty our pockets to encourage it. the money earned is just going to catchimng transporting releasing the animals they need to keep getting fresh ones in to keep the public happy where as if you learn and can successfully keep ONE then the money can start accummalting going into conservation etc...
 
krj-1168

krj-1168

Member
First off I've never stated there aren't ethical concerns in keeping an animal like a Great White in captivity. Because the fact is there's are lots.
It's also a fact that the MBA has had more success than anyone else in keep a Great White(but they've also had some failures). But the truth is MBA's success(and yes it's still classified as a success), should be a surprise. Because they have been researching Great Whites for years, plus the Great White they kept in 2004 - wasn't their first.
The fact is when Killer Whales were first kept in captivity(back in the 1960's) - there were many failures, before there was major successes. It's only been in the past 25-30 years of keeping the Killer Whale that can truely be called a success. So in many ways - it's no really suprise that it's taken more than 20 years to be able to keep a Great White even for 6 months.
 
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