sharks

Great white sharks in the Illinois River? Not a chance!

As a kid growing up along the banks of the Rock River in Oregon, my parents made it quite clear that I was not to be swimming in the Rock. The river, they argued, was a drowning hazard--swift, full of dangerous currents, and was inhabited by creatures (like the garfish) that would bite off large chunks of my flesh. When you're 12 years old, that kind of warning sticks with you. Plus, the movie &qu

I have an image in my head of the continent of Australia. Beautiful land, interesting and welcoming people, fascinating animals, and man-eating sharks surrounding it all. I've always been amazed at the "I don't worry about it" attitude of your average Aussie when it comes to the perils of the sea...

If you just didn't get enough Great White Shark high-flying action during Discovery Channel's recently concluded "Shark Week," you're in luck. This video was taken last month off the coast of South Africa (which, by the way, has taken the number one spot on my list of places to NEVER GO SWIMMING, narrowly topping the entire continent of Australia)...

It's a shark-filled summer so far. Attacks in North Carolina (7 at last count), paddleboarders being harassed by great whites in California, and now, Captain Ben Chancey, off the coast of Stuart, Florida, doing battle from his kayak. As I started to watch the video, my first thought was, "Oh, _____...

I guess this week has been a sort of warm-up act for "Shark Week." Yesterday, I posted the video of two paddleboarders who encountered several great white sharks while off the coast of California (ICYM, click here), and of course, there have been several shark attacks off the coast of North Carolina this week, bringing their summer shark attack total to 7 people...

I think pretty much everyone has a list of things they won't do. I mean sure, there's things like crime, breaking commandments, and other things like that. However, I'm talking about things you won't do even if others swear it's lots of fun, not at all dangerous, blah-blah-blah...

After reports of twin shark attacks off the shore of North Carolina, some are asking the Jaws-esque question, "Is it safe to go into the water?" Christopher Ingraham of the Washington Post crunched the numbers and says...yes, it is, at least compared to other potentially deadly animals: If we want to properly contextualize shark attacks, we need to compare sharks to their peers -- bears

For some people, getting into a shark cage in a sea full of great white sharks is bucket list material. It has to be, because I've watched "Shark Week," and I've seen dozens of clips of giddy people excitedly facing one of the ocean's greatest predators, all while safely behind the bars of a dangling metal cage...

This has been quite the animal-centric week. First, we're treated to a flurry of black bear sightings in and around the Rockford area, then we get the story about something so big it ate a 9-foot shark, then Scot wrote about the world's oldest cat losing the title (in the usual way)...