Our Shark Awareness Day celebrity is a blue shark swimming in the cold waters off Cork, Ireland. The inspiration for its name comes from the blue shark’s back color, not its mood. It’s currently listed as ‘near threatened’—a status all too common for sharks today. Why celebrate an apex predator that most humans associate with horror movies? Because without sharks acting as population control on other marine life, the world’s oceans would be a very different place. Blue sharks eat a lot of squid and fish, and like land predators, help to keep their prey from overpopulation. Mother Nature keeps us in a delicate balance, so it’s important that we don’t accidentally remove a vital member of that system… even if that creature seems scary to most of us.
Does this shark have an Irish accent?
Today in History
More Desktop Wallpapers:
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Totally Thames Festival, London
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The Bahamas
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Banggai cardinalfish with sea anemone
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Badlands National Park in South Dakota
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A bridge comes full circle
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A light at the edge of the world
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World Meteorological Day
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Celebrating National Park Week, April 21-29
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Happy Thanksgiving from an expert face-stuffer
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World Book Day
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Daintree Rainforest and Noah Beach, Queensland, Australia
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European hedgehog
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International Moon Day
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Skyscraper Day
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Misool Island, Indonesia
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The Wave at Coyote Buttes
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Maritime forest on Cumberland Island, Georgia
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National Bird Day
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Cousins Day
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Manhattan
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Freeze frame
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Lighting the way to new beginnings
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A wonderland in winter
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Waiānapanapa State Park, Maui, Hawaii
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Spire Cove in Kenai Fjords National Park, Seward, Alaska
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The meeting point of the winds
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Three cheers for polar bears!
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Quilts as high art
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National Lighthouse Day
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Mute swans