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June 03, 2005
"It swims and eats and makes little baby sharks, that's all"
Dr. Evil: You know, I have one simple request. And that is to have sharks with frickin' laser beams attached to their heads! Now evidently my cycloptic colleague informs me that that cannot be done. Ah, what do I pay you people for, honestly? Throw me a bone here!
Somewhere in Australia, they're trying to save the Grey Nurse shark. It's called that, not only because it's a gentle creature, but because it herds fish into a tight school before feasting. Though it was once extensively hunted it has been protected as a species for 40 years. Scientists worry that there are insufficient numbers to sustain the species and estimates on extinction vary from twenty to forty years time. They now need saving it from themselves.
The grey nurse has a slightly unusual reproductive system that allows it to give live birth - though it does have eggs. It has two separate uteri, and up to twenty eggs hatch in each one. But only two of those frisky little pups are ever born – they are the ones that eat the others. “Intrauterine cannibalism”, it's called.
So how does one confront the conundrum of increasing the numbers born? Test tube babies will be individually wrapped in artificial wombs. Which is an interesting idea and I hope it works out quite well. After that, the little bundles of joy will be released into the wild where they will be monitored for survival rates, growth and movements. Nifty stuff, this science business.
Regarding their demanour, aside from the siblicide, they're called "Labradors of the sea" for their gentle nature, I'm sure most people would rather tussle with a labrador of the regular kind.
Scrawled illegibly by Meathe at June 3, 2005 09:51 AM
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