[Paddlewise] Sharks etc and a website

PeterO wrote
>Now Crocodiles and Funnel Web Spiders are a different story

Mark wrote
>Ooooh kaaay.  Since we're on the subject to creatures that might not > like 
>us(or might like us too much), can we have that story, please? > 
>(Relevance: this could be something yakkers might need to be aware > of?)

Peter Treby
>I'm afraid I reacted to some of the sentimental
>anthropomorphising of sea creatures which we are sometimes exposed  > 
>to,particularly with respect to whales and dolphins.

G'Day,Peter, Mark & Paddlewisers

Peter, I'm an avid follower of your posts and quite a bit of your advice but 
I have to say that I haven't come across any anthropomorphic references to 
sharks in this list - they all seem to be pretty much along the lines of 
healthy respect. Now anthropomorphising kayaks on the other hand - well I'm 
a notorious offender - my Pittarak will be named and launched with all due 
champagne this weekend:~)

Mark, Regarding the crocodile, the funnel web spider and my sea shoes. There 
was a well publicised croc attack on a kayaker in Australia within the last 
year and I think it was referred to in Paddlewise recently. The kayaker 
survived but the lesson is well known here that you don't go near the water 
when saltwater crocs are known to inhabit the area. This compares with two 
shark attacks on kayaks in Australia over the last few years - the croc 
attacked the kayaker but the sharks concentrated on the kayaks, even when 
one of the kayakers was forced to leave his boat. I subsequently checked 
that my boats were insured against shark attack and falling meteorites.

Regarding Funnel webs - these are quite a poisonous spider resident in 
Sydney for which there is now an antivenene. In the days when there wasn't 
an antivenene I had the pleasure of accompanying such a spider in the top 
right hand corner of my car windscreen across the Sydney Harbour Bridge in 
the middle of rush hour - the only relevance to kayaking is that I always 
check my kayak boots to ensure there are no spiders in them! (My boots 
aren't allowed in the house).

I should correct the statistics in my previous post - from 1852 to 1997 in 
Australia there were 249 confirmed unprovoked shark attacks of which 96 were 
fatal. The Florida Natural History Museum Web Site has a comprehensive 
bibliography on sharks, which includes ways of avoiding them. 
http://www.flmnh.ufl.edu/

All the best, PeterO.



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