A shark midwife
This is almost too bizarre to be true:
Visitors to Kelly Tarlton’s Underwater World were stunned to see one shark give another shark an impromptu caesarean section.
Staff were initially dubious when visitors came running to tell them there were baby sharks spilling from a wound in a female school shark’s stomach – courtesy of a large bite by another shark.
But they found a female with a large gaping stomach wound and four babies swimming in the tank.
A shark as a surgeon – no need for all those years at medical school.
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Tags: Fun Things
November 11th, 2009 at 8:36 am
Maybe the baby sharks were dinner?
November 11th, 2009 at 8:49 am
When was the last time you had to pay a medical bill? Shark surgeons aren’t all that uncommon.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:27 am
Sharks are smarter than we give them credit for maybe ?. The Assistent Producer for Jaws called G White was a hint maybe ??.
November 11th, 2009 at 9:31 am
So it’s not lawyers but surgeons who can swim in shark-infested waters
November 11th, 2009 at 11:16 am
“A shark as a surgeon.”
Dont you mean sturgeon.
Hey, you’re crazy! A sturgeon, he’s a doctor cuts you open whena you sick.
November 11th, 2009 at 1:24 pm
The Shark’s skill at amputating the limbs of surfers is well known and documented.
November 11th, 2009 at 3:40 pm
Amazing!!! Could this be a way National could cut costs on Health expenditure. Employ a couple of sand Sahrks (not the great white variety) and supply swimming pools to local hospitals. Any quick operations that are needed you just jump in the pool. I suppose Great Whites could be housed in the ‘amputation pool’.
November 11th, 2009 at 4:13 pm
How appropriate is it to have a story about one shark maiming another under “Fun Things”…
November 11th, 2009 at 7:02 pm
Jeremy – teh shark did not main – the shard mid wived.
November 12th, 2009 at 8:53 am
Hmmm, a homebirth caesarean. But if the shark really was a midwife, he or she probably would have obstructed the surgery for as long as possible, assured the other shark that her body knew how to birth this baby, offered some homeopathics and assured her it was perfectly safe to go four weeks overdue.
The shark was clearly a well-trained obstetrician.
(Disclaimer: I’ve known some excellent, safe midwives. And I’ve known some who are completely the opposite. That minority of unsafe midwives pose a massive threat to the wellbeing of women and children, and would do well to have a conversation with the shark. Most of them probably would believe they could communicate quite well with non-humans, so probably wouldn’t object to a shark-chat until they discovered that the shark had medicalised childbirth, and then they would put a hex on him).