Is this shark dangerous to humans?
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pp. 116-117:
Bull Shark
Of all the sharks swimming the continental coasts of tropical and subtropical seas, the bull shark, *Carcharhinus leucas*, may be the most dangerous. In number of attacks on humans, it is one of the three
species of sharks most often implicated. It may not have the white shark's reputation, but its large, heavy body, huge jaws, and very large teeth make it meter for meter just as formidable. Even though it appears to move slowly when cruising the shallows inshore, it is capable of fast, agile movements when it wants to attack prey. In Natal, South Africa, the bull shark is particularly notorious as an aggressive species, and it is caught four times more frequently than either the white or tiger sharks in the protective anti-shark nets set off the beaches.
pg. 117:
The species is relatively large, purportedly growing to a length of 3.4 m, but with an actual record of only 3.2 m (based on a report from Brazil). Individuals over 3 m are rare.
pg. 160 (from Appendix Three: Lengths of Selected Sharks): Bull Shark (*Carcharhinus leucas*)
at maturity: male 1.57-2.26 meters; female 1.8-2.3 meters; maximum total length: recorded 3.2 meters, reported 3.4 meters. smallest free-living 0.56-0.81 meters
pg. 117:
The bull is the only shark known to live in the saltwaters of the oceans, the brackish water of estuaries and river mouths, and the far upper reaches of freshwater rivers and lakes. Even its newborn young and juveniles enter freshwater without difficulty. It travels from the Caribbean 100 km up the Rio San Juan to Lake Nicaragua, where it was long thought to represent a different land-locked, endemic species. It has also been reported from Lake Ysabel in Guatemala, the Mississippi and Atchafalya rivers in the southern United States, 3,700 km up the Amazon to Peru, the Gambia River on the middle upper west African coast, more than 550 km from the sea up the Zambezi River on the middle lower east African coast, the Tigris River of Iraq, the Hooghly River of northeastern India, and Lake Jamoer in New Guinea. These are but a few of the bodies of freshwater frequented by bull sharks. As recently as August 12, 1985, a large, 2.7 m bull shark weighing about 216 kg was caught in the Chesapeake Bay along the western North Atlantic seaboard.
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[So they're fairly big, and they live virtually everywhere. What do they eat?]
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pg. 118:
Bull sharks feed on a variety of prey and are almost as omnivorous as the tiger shark, the ocean's junk food eater; however, the bull is less likely to eat indigestible garbage. It favors bony fishes and other sharks, particularly young ones in the nursery grounds. In the sea, it will also kill and eat dolphins and sea turtles. In rivers, it has been known to kill hippopotamuses. Even the remains of large land animals, including antelope, cattle, dogs, and humans have been found among its stomach contents.
Dr. Leonard Compagno, who was the ichthyological consultant to the film *Jaws*, believes that the bull shark is quite possibly the most dangerous of all sharks, and that many attacks attributed to other species may actually have been committed by bull sharks. The famous, closely spaced series of five attacks -- four fatal -- that occurred in New Jersey in 1916, have been attributed to the white shark. At least three of the attacks, however, occurred two miles up a narrow tidal creek, a habitat type in which no white shark has ever been confirmed to occur. A tidal creek is a likely place for bull sharks to be found, and few other species of sharks have been reported from such a habitat. No other western Atlantic shark species is known to enter tidal creeks.
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"They're big, they live virtually everywhere, and they attack and kill
humans even today. They're one of the main reasons South Africa and
Australia have erected expensive anti-shark nets on their beaches."
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