They’re everyone’s worst nightmare when it comes to swimming in the ocean: great white sharks. That’s despite the fact that the number of fatal shark attacks annually can usually ____1____. But a new study finds that until great whites get at least three meters long, they’re less [Jaws music] and more [gentle music]. Because a full-force bite could ____2____ hurting them.
In research published in the Journal of Biomechanics, scientists used 3-D computers models and advanced engineering techniques to study how sharks hunt and kill their food.
Great whites have jaws and teeth that are perfect for a powerful ____3____ on prey ranging from small fish to large marine mammals. But the researchers were surprised to find that a shark less than three meters long only looks like it could manage that killer bite. Because it hasn’t developed enough ____4____, mineralized cartilage yet. A bite that would be ____5____ to a large marine mammal could damage the shark’s jaws.
The finding may explain why the few shark attacks that do happen on people are rarely fatal—until it’s pretty big, the great white’s reputation is worse than its bite.
【視聽版科學(xué)小組榮譽出品】
be counted on the fingers of one still attached hand wind up chomp stiff lethal
年幼大白鯊咬人不會太嚴(yán)重 大白鯊——這是每個海中暢游者最大的噩夢。盡管事實上，每年發(fā)生的致命的鯊魚攻擊屈指可數(shù)，人們依舊談鯊色變。一項新研究發(fā)現(xiàn)，在大白鯊兇殘。成長到三米之前，它們的溫柔大過兇殘。這是因為如果它們竭盡全力一口咬下去，恐怕會以讓自己受傷告終。 這項研究發(fā)表在《生物力學(xué)》雜志上，文中表明，科學(xué)家們利用3-D計算機模型和先進的工程技術(shù)來研究鯊魚是如何獵殺獵物的。 從小型魚類到大型海洋哺乳動物，捕食這些獵物需要強壯有力的咬合力，大白鯊的顎跟齒對此而言堪稱完美。然而，研究人員驚奇的發(fā)現(xiàn)，體長小于三米的鯊魚僅僅是看上去兇巴巴，因為它們還沒有發(fā)育出擁有足夠剛性和礦化的軟骨，對一個大型海洋哺乳動物的致命一咬會損壞鯊魚自己的顎。 這一發(fā)現(xiàn)或許可以解釋為何一些人的確受到鯊魚攻擊卻極少致命——只要大白鯊的體型還不夠大，它咬下去的那一口就沒有它的名聲大。