Torro! Torro!

Its not often I post pictures of captive animals but since those of you in the States are currently being subjected to the Discovery Channel's hysteria-tastic "Shark Week" I thought I'd share these pictures of "the most dangerous shark in the world" Carcharhinus leucas. the Bull, Lake Nicaragua or Zambezi shark. These were taken from the confines of a cage in a large public aquarium but I had a far more pleasurable experience diving unenclosed with these animals in South Africa. In South Africa they are called zambezis as a result of their ability to swim into freshwater rivers.

There is no question that (and however much I love and admire these species I'd be a liar to deny it) Bull Sharks can, have and do kill people. Very occasionally. But then people kill people all the time and so do cars and we haven't rid the world of either of these. Should we only conserve animals that are sweet and friendly? Of course not. The chances of one of these getting you are so low as to be infintissimal (and hey I'm still here). Even if you never see one, savour the fact that they're out there somewhere keeping nature red in tooth. and claw as it should be.