After Sketchy Science, Shark Week Promises To Turn Over A New Fin NPR. This photo from Discovery Channel shows a great hammerhead, one of the largest sharks in the world, during an episode of Shark Week. Discovery Channel AP. Discovery Channel AP. This photo from Discovery Channel shows a great hammerhead, one of the largest sharks in the world, during an episode of Shark Week. Discovery Channel AP. It has been called the Super Bowl of the ocean. Shark Week is a ratings bonanza for the Discovery Channel with more than 4. Shark Week kicked off this weekend with the most hours of programming ever in its 2. But many scientists think the huge audiences and the hype have come at the expense of real science. Watch the official Shark Tank online at ABC. Get exclusive videos and free episodes. A generation of shark scientists cut their teeth on Shark Week. Ive loved sharks since I was a little kid, says 2. Jonathan Davis. Ive always dreamed of being on Shark Week, he says. It was my ultimate goal when I was a kid. I always watched it, and it was extremely informative when I was younger. So imagine Davis joy when Shark Week producers called him two years ago to make a documentary, which they said would be about his research on bull sharks in Louisianas Lake Pontchartrain. As a graduate student at the University of New Orleans, Davis was thrilled when they paid for a day of tracking and tagging sharks. The producers interviewed Davis about his work and at the end, he says, they casually asked if he ever heard of a legendary shark of the bayous called the Rooken. And I said, No, of course not. Shark-Week-2017.jpg' alt='Shark Week For' title='Shark Week For' />That sounds like a ridiculous fisherman story, Davis says. You can guess what happened next. To his horror, Davis found himself featured on a documentary that had little to do with his research. Voodoo Shark strongly suggested that Davis believed in the Rooken. Theres no way I couldve known they were going to portray it like that, he says. Shark Week For ToddlersShark Week 2017 is starting soon See the full lineup of new specials. Voodoo Shark shows Davis and his team doing real research, pulling sharks out of the water and tagging them on the deck. Davis says he did not see any unusual sharks. DCdg68yW0AEpVIH.jpg' alt='Shark Week For 2017' title='Shark Week For 2017' />What was unusual was a producers reaction when they hooked a big one. One of the guys was like, Oh, maybe you should just let it bite you, that would be so exciting. And I was just thinking to myself, Are you kidding me You really think I wanna let the shark bite me just for ratings Are you serious Ellen Prager, a marine scientist who has taught at the University of Miami and writes books for children about sharks, says she and her colleagues have a list of things that drive them crazy about Shark Week, such as the emphasis on sharks attacking people and feeding frenzies. Thats not what you typically see in nature, Prager says. And in fact, some of the shark researchers I know have hardly ever even seen sharks feeding in the wild. Then theres the frenzy of factual errors. Shark Week For Kids' title='Shark Week For Kids' />Shark Week continues Wednesday with two new specials and a new episode of Shark After Dark. Discoverys Shark Week features Michael Phelps racing a Great White and Sex and the City alum Chris Noth narrating a special. Shark Week has become a TV staple since it first debuted in the 1980s. Now its making an encore at 35,000 feet. Book shark cage diving and encounter the beauty of the shark in its natural habitat. Our tours aim to be a safe and educational for every guest. Perfume Jpop here. Contact us. Discovery Communications will team with social media site Snapchat to develop a new original series based on Discovery Channels upcoming Shark Week programming. Shark Week is here, and scientists are afraid. Not of the toothy swimmers but of inaccuracies, bad science and the demonization of animals that arent. Shark Week is televisions longestrunning and eagerly awaited summer TV event, delivering allnew groundbreaking shark stories and incorporating innovative. David Shiffman, who studies sharks at the University of Miami, has spent the past few years calling out Shark Week in public. Shark Week two years ago did not appreciate it when I recommended an 8 year old neighbor to fact check the scripts for them, he says. Because that 8 year old knew more about sharks than whoever was writing those scripts did. All these scientists agree that Shark Week hit bottom two years ago with an infamous, fictionalized documentary about a 1. It was presented in such a way that you could very easily watch it and not know it was fictional. Scientist David Shiffman on MegalodonThat shark, named Megalodon, also happens to be extinct and has been for more than a million years. But Discovery resurrected Megalodon, with made up stories of sightings and attacks. The narrator even threw in some exciting Nazi connections. If the shark thats in the Nazi U boat photo is in fact the same shark thats in the shark i. Photo that was taken just after the boat attack, then that means theres been a 5. Megalodon The Monster Shark Lives was the highest rated program in Shark Week history. Even though the network ran a disclaimer saying it was fake, experts like Shiffman were unimpressed. It was presented in such a way that you could very easily watch it and not know it was fictional, he says. But Discovery says its turning over a new leaf or a new fin when it comes to Shark week, says Howard Swartz, who recently took over as head of development and production. This year were focusing quite a bit on research and science, more so probably than we have in the past, Swartz says. Shark Week For Women' title='Shark Week For Women' />The Discovery Channel has promised it will produce no more fake documentaries. Weve toyed with a lot of different types of storytelling over the years, Swartz says. And I just think now in a forward looking direction, I think we wanna focus more on the research angle. But how do you make anything as sexy as a 5. Nazi affiliated shark Swartz says you go to Cuba, where there are stories about a monster great white roaming the coasts. Allegedly, a 2. Swartz says. So the question was, you know was that the biggest great white ever caught And if it was, was there something unique to these Cuban waters that these animals are growing so big or attracting animals so bigThis year, Shark Week sent some of its shows in advance to some critics, including Shiffman. He says sharks need the Discovery Channel to not demonize them. Game Catur Terbaik. When I say one out of every four species of sharks, skates and rays are threatened with extinction, there are some people that say, Good it should be more of them going extinct. Sharks are bad Sharks are scary But theyre notShiffman says sharks are beautiful and wild. He hopes this year Shark Week will make them reality stars. Instructor Solutions Manual For Visual Communication.