| Summary: | and quicker metabolism are results of simply location. The tiger shark evolved to dominate warm tropical waters, and there is no need to live a long life when food is abundant and you reach maturity quickly. If the Greenland shark lives life in slow motion, the opposite is true for the tiger shark: it lives in the fast lane. (19) To understand another factor pertaining to how one species can outlast generations of another, we might have to look to ourselves. The Greenland shark lives in solitude, alone and adrift in a sparsely-populated area, very rarely having contact with people. In fact this animal is left relatively alone partly due to its extreme habitat but also because this fascinating animal has a trait undesirable to shark hunters, a trait that has allowed it to escape the fate that many of its relatives. The flesh of the Greenland shark is actually mildly poisonous and the skin contains such high levels of urea that not only does it smell like a urinal when examined, but when consumed it causes symptoms of inebriation or even paralysis (9). Urea is a byproduct that is formed by protein metabolism within the liver. Because urea contains ammonia, it must be filtered from the liver and blood and excreted in urine, and the conversion to ammonia is what makes urea poisonous. (9) These factors have protected the animal from the shark fishing industry’s eye. However, one of the main reasons nearly every species of shark is on the endangered animals list is because of the barbaric practices of shark finning and illegal shark fishing from ocean sanctuaries (20). The predominantly Asian cultural pseudo-shamanism belief that the shark fin, which is the key ingredient in shark fin soup, somehow aids in male virility has created a very lucrative, very cruel and very illegal business that has reduced every major shark species by almost 90%. 40
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