Shark Week, the annual summer tradition, is here and the Desert Museum is celebrating at our Cool Summer Nights series on July 29th!

What makes Shark Week popular?

Sharks! They are fascinating, we fear them, but we like watching them in their natural habitat. The show also sheds a light on the difficulties faced by sharks in the wild. Approximately, more than 100 million sharks are killed every year due to commercial fishing.

How does climate change affect sharks?

The rise in sea levels happens when the water heats up and air temperature increases, which causes the water to expand and increase it’s volume.

This means that when ice caps and glaciers melt, large amounts of fresh water mix with the salt water of the oceans. This causes in imbalance in the water and few fish and sharks can tolerate fresh water.

More shark sightings?

Some sharks live in cold waters, but they have been forced to migrate because of the rising water temperatures, forcing them to move to areas that are less hot and that may not be their natural habitat. Also, if their prey moves to cooler sites, they tend to follow them.

Here a few interesting facts about these awesome sea animals!

• Are sharks always moving? For the most part, yes! Some sharks have to move at all times or they will drown.
• The largest fish in the world is the Whale Shark coming in at 40ft in length.
• In 1974, American author Peter Benchley topped the best-seller list with a novel about a great white shark terrorizing beach goers. Based on the true story of a series of shark attacks in 1916, it was called Jaws. A year later, Steven Spielberg released one of the most successful films ever.
• Sharks appeared 400 million years ago, dating back to the Devonian age.

Join us this Saturday as we learn about Sharks and Rays: Busting Myths. Meet a real shark keeper, learn about the threats to shark populations from the Fin Foundation, and learn from shark expert Shaun Pipes.

And remember, live every week like it’s shark week!

Written by ASDM Media & Marketing Summer 2017 Intern, Paulina Bueno.