Birdman's a Madman !!!!!

i'd probably pee my wetsuit

doody.[/QUOTE]


Only on COLD dives!

Regards,
John

 

The old joke goes that you don't need to be able to swim faster than the shark, you just need to be able to swim faster than your buddy.

Seriously, I have a great deal of respect for the work that Birdman does. If I ever see him, I'll bring my copy of "Beneath the North Atlantic" for him to sign.

-Gio P

 

Hey You guys,

Thanks! Yes, it is a picture of mine. I was thinking of making my avatar a periodically changing display of my images, but then I thought that would be too much work. Incidentally, the shark on my avatar is a Sand Tiger shark. I shot it on a wreck off North Carolina where they gather every summer to mate. They are aggressive looking animals but that's it...just aggressive looking. They are not actually aggressive at all. That's why they are one of the most popular sharks for captivity in large aquaria (like the New England Aquarium). They look mean but they are pretty easy to control in captivity.

I do a lot of work with sharks. (I did a book last year about my adventures with sharks). I'm currently working on a film for National Geographic Channel about pelagic sharks. It should be done by the end of the year. I'm off to Hawaii next week to work with Oceanic white tip sharks. Most sharks are pretty docile and they don't bother me that much, but Oceanic white tips are f-ing aggressive. I'm a little concerned about some of the shots I need and plan to use some remote cameras for some of them! I'll let you know how it goes! I'm planning on returning with all my limbs though.

Birdman

 

If you want to check out some more pics:

http://www.jonathanbird.net

 

I have a funny story about sharks in captivity. I used to work summers at the Mystic Aquarium in CT, and volunteered in their fish and invertebrates dept. They had a big central display tank with 5 sand tigers and a bunch of other fish, including a little school of crevelle jacks. I didn't see this happen, but the story goes that one of our visitor services people was standing in front of the tank one day explaining to a group of visitors why the sharks don't eat the other fish in the tank (well fed, not aggressive, etc). As she talked with the tank behind her and the guests in front of her, one of the sand tigers attacked one of the crevalle jacks and just about ripped it in half. The employee had no idea why the visitors had these horrified looks on their faces till she turned around and saw the carnage! Guess the staff missed that shark on the pole-feeding rotation that day.

Taking care of the sharks was fun, but man, they were strong. We had to move one to a hospital tank one time and it took 4 people to hold down one 5-foot shark.

Sorry for the off topic post, but marine biology is right up there with cars as one of my favorite hobbies.

-Gio P