The original item was published from August 9, 2019 9:12 AM to September 23, 2021 4:41 PM
Day 1
Shortfin mako sharks have been observed leaping up to 30 feet out of the water. With that ability, a mako could easily hop over Nucleus, the spiraling sculpture in front of the PACE Center, which stands at 24’ tall.
Day 2
Basking sharks, second only to the whale shark in size, primarily feed on plankton, krill and small fish by filtering water through their gills. At maximum, basking sharks can filter 2,000 metric tonnes (528,340 gallons) of water per hour. That’s enough water to fill H2O’Brien Pool (147,000 gallons) 3.6 times per hour!
Day 3
Mature spiny dogfish sharks are, on average, four feet in length, approximately the same as a traffic signal. The Town’s Traffic Services Division maintains 88 traffic signals throughout the community.
Day 4
While migrating between the North Atlantic Ocean and Caribbean Sea, tiger sharks have been tracked traveling more than 7,500 kilometers (4,660 miles). To cover the same distance, you’d have to complete the So Long to Summer 5K/10K and Family Fun Trek’s 10 kilometer course 750 times.
Day 5
Thresher sharks are known for the long upper lobe of their caudal fins. These fins can extend to up to 20 feet in length. That’s just slightly less than two of Parker’s trademark 5-globe lampposts (each 11’6”) stacked atop one another.
Day 6
Greenland sharks are the longest-living vertebrates on the planet, with estimated lifespans ranging 200 to more than 400 years! That means some living Greenland sharks are older than the oldest permanent structure in Parker, the 20-Mile House built in the early 1860s.
Photo courtesy of Encyclopædia Britannica
Day 7
While exact counts vary, there are more than 400 known living species of sharks around the globe. If each type sent one representative, they could fill 200-seat Schoolhouse Theater two times over. Although several species, like the whale shark that grows to more than 50 feet in length, would need some extra fin room.
And if that is not enough facts for you, swim over to our 2018 Shark Week fact series recap.