The second 2008 Premiere tonight on Shark Week: “How Not to Become Shark Bait”

Tiger Beach

Oh, this looks good: “Let’s go to Tiger Beach, chum the water, and jump in on surfboards.” Excellent.

They’re starting, very smartly, in a shark cage. The guys had planned to provoke a shark attack when there were just lemon sharks in the area (I know - “just” lemon sharks) but with tiger sharks in the area, they’re going to have to reconsider.

The Bite Lever

Concerned that even Caribbean Reef Sharks might have a stronger bite than the team was willing to endure, one of them decided to rig up a lever system on the beach that would show the strength of a reef shark bite.

Turns out 2000 pounds of bite pressure are stronger than you’d think: even though reef sharks are a small breed that I can’t ever remember causing a fatality, the jaws-lever device bit clear through a lamb leg, bone, muscles and all.

The Clown Suit

Eager to examine theories about visual cues in shark attacks and the contrast and patterning of clothing, the team decides to send someone into the water in a high-contrast outfit - namely, a clown suit, complete with a curly multi-colored wig.

The test didn’t provoke a bite, but he got a couple of close calls, and one shark went straight for the suit before realizing the guy in the suit wasn’t food.

TO BE CONTINUED - I have to head out for a minute, but I’ll be updating when I finish watching the DVR version.

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