toned, slim, motivational girls
I’m sweet with the people I love. I take care of them. But there aren’t a lot of those people.
The taxonomic name for polar bears is Ursus maritimus, which means sea bear, a fitting name for these champion swimmers. They have been known to swim more than 60 miles (about 100 kilometers) without rest in search of food, using their broad front feet for paddling and their back legs like rudders to steer. Unfortunately, due to loss of ice, the bears are now having to swim longer distances, as much as a few hundred miles, which takes a toll on their energy and fat storage.
photos by juan oliphant of ocean ramsey, who notes, “it’s difficult to express the incredible joy and breathtaking emotion experienced locking eyes with a great white shark. watching the shark acknowledge and observe me, while i peacefully and calmly allowed it to swim towards me, and then experiencing it accepting my touch, allowing me to dorsal and tail ride.”
but she says, “i’m not advising that people go out and just jump in to the water with white sharks or tigers or other large species, just as i wouldn’t recommend jumping into a yard with a strange dog. sharks do need to be respected as wild animals and appreciated for their role as top predators in the ocean ecosystem.”
“my shark experiences have all been positive in part because while i know sharks are not mindless man eaters, i simultaneously have respect for their capabilities, a lot of experience interacting with animals and reading body language, behaviour, and i am comfortable with my own water abilities while also trusting my dive partner.
“given the number of surfers and swimmers who frequent shark territory in low visibility often dressed in black wetsuits or floating on surfboards portraying a seal like silhouette, it is a huge testament to sharks sensory systems and intelligence that mistaken identity bites “attacks” are so rare.”
Cool pics but uh…. dont do this kids at home
This is fucking stupid, pardon my language.
Do not fuck with the giant wild predators. Do not romanticize fucking with and ‘communicating’ with the giant wild toothy predators.
Y’know how you massively fuck up white shark conservation? By encouraging people to swim with white sharks and try to touch them and bond with them and generally get themselves hurt. One person gets munched and decades of work towards making them not seem evil goes down the drain. And ‘do as I say, not as I do’ is in major effect here - nobody is going to really listen to your disclaimers when there’s gorgeous photos of you with these animals right above them.
Also, like, it’s just amazingly bad form to go out and touch the wildlife and hang on them and ‘ride’ them. Jeez, it’s bad enough when people try to do this to cetaceans. Much less with something giant and toothy when you’re counting on your ability to read the body language of an ancient, alien-minded fish whose ability to signal pretty much consists of the ability to open it’s mouth and/or eyes. There’s no ‘reading facial tension’ here. It’s a freaking shark.
Excuse my language, but there’s no way to be civil about this. Don’t fuck with the wildlife. Don’t try to get close to, touch, commune with, or otherwise disrespect the animals at the top of the trophic chain. Oh, and as @zooophagous said, if you’re in US waters it’s very very illegal to even end up near a whale, much less touch it.
this response “is fucking stupid, pardon my language.”
no one is “fucking with giant wild predators”. no one is “romanticizing fucking with and communicating with the giant wild toothy predators.”
“y’know how you massively fuck up white shark conservation?” by demonizing sharks and getting people to fear them.
so who really knows “why-animals-do-the-thing”: ramsey ocean, who is a shark conservationist, marine biologist, ethologist (shark behavior) and interaction specialist, scientific research diver, united states coastal guard captain and dive safety officer, or you?
and here is the link to the water inspired conservationist group which she co founded with fellow shark specialists, conservationists and professional photographers “to help inspire and further public education about the importance of sharks and promote awareness of their plight in an effort to gain support to protect and conserve sharks and marine life.”
ps. there actually is “a way to be civil about this.” and it starts with eschewing your ridiculous claim that “nobody is going to really listen to your disclaimers when there’s gorgeous photos of you with these animals right above them.”
just because you clearly aren’t capable of looking at pictures and reading text at the same time - and clearly you didn’t read the text - doesn’t mean other people won’t or can’t.
so go and read my original text again and then go watch this….
or look at these other conservationists swimming with sharks…
http://nubbsgalore.tumblr.com/post/101055997119/photos-by-free-diver-and-conservation
[…notes fred, “freediving is the best way to interact with marine life. the animals are more confident. you just have to stay still and, driven by curiosity, they will check you out.”]
http://nubbsgalore.tumblr.com/post/95239740693/photos-by-raul-boesel-jr-of-freedivers-carlos
http://nubbsgalore.tumblr.com/post/118241667824/an-average-of-5-humans-are-killed-each-year-by
and note: only 5 humans are killed each year by sharks on average, while 100 million sharks are killed each year by humans on average. so who really needs to fear whom?