Why Sharks Don't Have Bones

[@BinkieMcFartnuggets]

If they had bones they'd be too heavy to lift up into a tornado.

[@kalamay]

Ha!

[@CarrShortss]

What about sharknado the movie

[@CarrShortss]

Does it include

[@TyroneMarin]

XD Sad most people won't get the reference of this. Well played.

[@ilovemysherypie01]

You have achieved the commentary impossibility of receives no dislikes. I bow to you

[@Butterworthy]

"Sharks don't have scales so much as they have skin teeth." Well that's terrifying.

[@Scarletcroft]

No, It's terrific! Terrifying and Fantastic!

[@ActuatedGear]

Scientea *Drumming* ... *Whistling* ... RUN! JUST RUN!!!

[@Moonbeam143]

I hate to think of the dentist bills.

[@ActuatedGear]

Moonbeam Mint anyone?

[@Ryukachoo]

Moonbeam what bills? you cant get cavities if your teeth keep replacing themselves

[@MattisProbably]

Sharks are made of 100% badass, there was just no room for bones in that.

[@ANDELE3025]

That mus mean that Crocs (well their entire family) are 120% badass. Also rainbow dash.

[@MattisProbably]

***** What is a "rainbow dash"?

[@zeratir7873]

Coconuts are 110% badass :P

[@ActuatedGear]

mApppel It's something that explodes twice.

[@ActuatedGear]

Nick Baars Obviously. She a fucking pegasus you philistine.

[@Darasilverdragon]

I remember when Discovery Channel shaped my young mind with its inquisitive and informative programming. It really did entertain my brain. Oh, how the mighty have fallen, just like 'History' Channel... Thank the nature of intellectualism that I now have Hank and the Scishow crew to entertain my brain as an adult.

[@michaelbarton2549]

Its sad that history and discovery are now the hill billy channels

[@TORazorback]

Can I get an Amen?!

[@Scarletcroft]

Uhg I know . Most of .. Discovery and History channel is all about storage boxes and pawn shops these days.............sjeesh And then theres crap like "finding bigfoot" Or UFO crap which contains no evidence and they achieve nothing.. Sometimes there is a How it's made or Mythbusters... I rejoice on those days.

[@Philliesfanno1]

Modern marvels as a 7 year old was the bomb!

[@Darasilverdragon]

Scientea Mythbusters is a wonderful show made by wonderful people for wonderful reasons~

[@TheGuardingDark]

I'm actually kind of proud to have sponsored an image in this episode in particular. Sharks are awesome, and I'm so happy to have, in some small way, brought this episode into being. ^_^

[@blacktimhoward4322]

Well that image made me piss myself so you also, in some small way, gave me a heart attack :)

[@nintendog11]

"with the understanding that reality is actually pretty fascinating" someone's throwing some shade

[@Snipereye64]

you'll learn more in 5 minutes here than on a week of discovery

[@sarahmcdonough7713]

Glad I'm not the only one that was pissed about the megalodon "documentary" last year.

[@TheMichael278]

Well I guess sharks aren't bad to the bone.

[@electrosthefella]

And they love sharkasm and Sharkira

[@chelsey8737]

THANK YOU! its so rare lately to find a real shark week documentary and not just a "killer shark eith a taste of prey" show

[@Showakusai]

Every topic SciShow decides to talk about is always interesting. There's more information about the topic than some other channels.

[@shr2.718ya]

Sauronis, scishow doesn’t choose interesting topics, it makes every topic they talk about interesting.

[@Magmafrost13]

You know what would be great? If Discovery Science stopped being Discovery Pseudoscience and went back to being Discovery Science.

[@calamusgladiofortior2814]

I got Stockholm Syndrome for sharks when I did a shark cage dive in Hawaii a few years ago. They didn't want to hurt us at all, but so many had fishing hooks trailing from their mouths and fins. One had clearly been hit by a boat propeller, because it had three jagged scars along it's back. We were more dangerous to them them then they were to us.

[@NotOnLand]

I had a teacher in middle school who was absolutely convinced - and taught - that sharks were mammals. MAMMALS. I even called her out on how they don't have fur, milk, or vertebrae, and she said, "Weird isn't it? They just are."

[@OlleLindestad]

Awesome video; excellent work tying ecology, evolution and ecology together. A small nitpick: the rule that predators need to have wider ranges and be faster than their prey only applies to a particular subset of predators - things like sharks, tigers, ladybugs or wolf spiders, which hunt by cruising and chasing things down. (They're called *cursorial predators* on land; not sure what the equivalent term would be in water.) Plenty of predators, such as web-spinning spiders or anglerfish (or even some species of fungus!) use sit-and-wait or ambush tactics that confer a very small range and make no particular demands on the speed of the predator's movement.

[@TheChipmunk2008]

LOL @ the dig at discovery channel making crap up, THANK YOU

[@pixx3461]

You: Scales Me, an intellectual: Skin teeth

[@Melicious87]

please hank if you can make a scishow episode on depression. i see a lot of comments pertaining to robin william's death and people seem to be confused about the whole depression thing. it would be nice to have people understand depression a little better as i have been battling it for over 6 years, since i was diagnosed. thanks hank! love this show!

[@doorhanger9317]

Sharks are fucking awesome

[@jackburrows1071]

+dammit dan was that from a show called street sharksfrom late 90's

[@unclejoeoakland]

and by awesome, I assume you mean totally sweet.

[@bowley4]

This is by far the most “WAIT WHAAAAT?!” Video I’ve ever seen on this channel. I feel like i was lied to my whole life(nobody ever mentioned this before now) and learned so much so fast I’m just astonished. Amazing

[@kmaglion]

"Which some of us here on the Internet aren't huge fans of." Amen.

[@cbohnstedt4477]

Sharks, hundreds of millions of years ago 'hey, Frank, did you check out that new thing the bony fish came up with?' "Those little scale things?" 'Yeah.' "Those are wicked, we should do that." 'But we don't know how to make those.' "We know how to make teeth." ' . . . Frank?' "Thousands of teeny, tiny teeth. Everywhere." 'Frank, no.' "Frank yes!"

[@jasper3706]

Thank you so much for this. Real science- like shark week used to be, years and years ago :/ Sigh, at least we still have youtube to provide us with the real badassery of actual sharks.

[@hawkeyestegosaurus5680]

I never thought about why sharks don't have bones, but now I know and it was a thrill ride of emotions.

[@princessjello]

I've been playing so much animal crossing that sharks just look like bells to me now lol

[@BloodDripss]

he is my favorite scishow narrator he just has so much energy

[@QuinchGaming]

Perhaps the question should be "why do fish have bones"?

[@troberts1]

Thank you for confirming an old memory about shark skin! I've no idea where I learned that a shark's "scales" are actually teeth anymore.

[@MaryLeighLear]

Shark week sucks... But Hank week would be so delightful.

[@amandaleblanc5904]

I just want to express how much I appreciate your intro (and the content, of course).

[@Moonbeam143]

This video was JAWSOME! Thank you.

[@ilovecheez7769]

A star wars fan? Interesting.

[@OmegasParadox]

Everything about this video was a pleasure to watch.

[@TheApple10]

Sharks are awesome!

[@spencerfrancis7730]

Sharks are a combinations of beauty, majesty and predatorial instinct. So yes.

[@electrosthefella]

I hope you're not being sharkastic.

[@spatuli]

I had no idea that sharks didn't have bones. Mindblowing. Dat stubble tho, Hank. Damn..

[@IsaVarg]

I wonder what the best colour of wet suit to wear around sharks is. Are we in danger if we wear black/grey because we might be confused with a seal?

[@williamkelly5689]

I scuba in thailand and I always just wear red leggings and no shirt

[@Dacronhai]

Probably not due to that specific reasons since seal hunting sharks got senses that are sharp enough for them to not confuse you with a seal.

[@gunslaverocker2008]

Thanks for that Hank. As someone who does chondrichthyan research, I enjoyed this very much. Your information was good and explained in an entertaining way. I also enjoyed the quick snap at the discovery channel for that depressing Megalodon documentary.

[@tempestive1]

His arms must really hurt whenever he's done speaking.

[@jonathaneby1440]

I'm super stoked that you guys are all doing episodes on Sharks this week, however with the exception of "Submarine" (WHAT?!???!) I think while Discovery's Shark Week is a great source of both appreciation, and the science of sharks. While they can exaggerate some aspects of the story's they tell (see the history channel effect), I have learned a TON about sharks over the years and really appreciate them because of shark weeks hard (though sometimes masked) science. Thanks for making great videos, a huge fan.

[@JoiDior]

Why are some people ticklish and some aren't? And why are people ticklish only in certain areas?

[@QuiteFranklyNoOne]

Well, for your first question, there's not really much science to it as the question runs on a variable. Some people are ticklish, some aren't. In the same way that some people can't bear to bite into ice-cream and some can, it's something that differs from person to person. As for why people are ticklish in certain areas, tickling is thought to be a result of evolution. It is thought that it's something we do to touch young children defensive behaviours. The areas that are the most ticklish on your body are the ones that are the most vulnerable. These areas are ones that we try to defend and cover up when we're panicked or startled or feel we're in immediate danger.

[@Engwarify]

Mark Casey But how come my feet tickle? I mean, feet and hands are all nice and comfy to have, but they are not as endangered as our armpits for instance with all the pretty blood vessels behind!

[@QuiteFranklyNoOne]

Your feet may not have very important blood vessels behind them, but remember that stepping on something is a common injury. In the wild, that injury could incapacitate you. Without the use of your feet, you can't do much running away, or walking in general (namely to do any hunting). And there are plenty of animals that would attack your feet from the ground (some bearing poisonous fangs or stingers). Sure, we have shoes now. But imagine walking EVERYWHERE without them. Imagine walking everywhere without them in a time when insects and snakes and a whole other assortment of creatures roamed along the ground, ready to attack those they feel threatened by. We've got to remember that our biological evolution is still to the point where we'd be hunting for food and having to protect ourselves against creatures we've since suppressed.

[@GBart]

Is there an official Shark Week now? There should be.

[@thomasbruinsma]

2:36 Was that a really fat shark, or a shark of different species than the sharks I've seen? Is it called a Great McWhite?

[@nathanyoung3266]

Learned more in 4 minutes 57 seconds, than the entire shark week.

[@sabrinarosario6499]

2:35 holy shit, that shark is very very chubby and HUGE!

[@David-ud9ju]

I think it might be pregnant.

[@theincarnationofboredom207]

The fact that when clicking on the timestamp it went to a second before it showed the shark made me think for a second that you were talking about Hank.

[@bray2964]

I once dissected a shark, them having no big tough bones made it quite easy, although I didn't expect them to have such a big liver.

[@josugambee3701]

Wait... SHARKS DON'T HAVE BONES?!?!

[@clan741]

Josu Gambee nope, it's all cartilage and mean muscle.

[@RealKKKandTerrorist]

Sharks have a backbone, their skull is made of bone and so are their fins and tail.

[@FamAD123]

@TheKKKandTerrorist, incorrect. Their "backbone" isn't literally made of bone. And you're wrong about the fins and tail as well.

[@elaineb7065]

The fins are pretty much all cartilage, so I can't help but wonder why certain peeps think there's any point in eating them???

[@alpha18412]

I learned all of this in high school biology in 1978 whilst dissecting the Spiny Dogfish under the watchful eye of one of the best teachers I ever had.

[@Bloodmuffin6]

I still never get why vertebrates are automatically assumed to be more complex organisms. Insects have just as many millions of years of evolution behind them, if not more. There are some very complex biochemical/developmental processes going on in insects, and they're at least as smart as your average shark.

[@Fortstorm]

You got a source for insects being as smart as a shark? That doesn't sound right.

[@holz_name]

***** Ants and termites are building the most sophisticated hives. Ants are known to both "domesticate" other animals and to enslave other ants, and to be farmers. That is pretty smart.

[@OlleLindestad]

It's an interesting problem. Every living species has the same amount of evolutionary time behind it, so by that metric, everything is just as "highly evolved". And to some degree, the history of biology has favored classification schemes that put humans on top (and some humans on top of other humans, but that's a story for another time). But some groups *are* objectively more complex than others - in different ways. Land plants are more anatomically complex than most algae, having more different cell and tissue types in intricate arrangements. (Also, plants tend to be more chemically complex than many animals, producing a larger range of different chemicals and often having huge genomes.) Vertebrates are more anatomically complex than arthropods, having a larger number of different organs, behaviors, etc. And some animals are more neurologically complex than others. I'd say a shark is definitely smarter than an insect.

[@Fortstorm]

Holz Name But that's a hive-mind thing, not individual actions.

[@holz_name]

***** So, what? You can also make that objections to people intelligence. If you put me in the jungle, I would not survive one day. Our civilization is build on the same hive-mind thing as insects.

[@jennyholiday97]

Wow this was really interesting! I've always loved sharks and now I just learned A lot more about them :) Thank you!

[@OwariNeko]

wait, their gonads are in their backs?

[@turtle79070]

aren't yours?

[@OwariNeko]

turtle79070 Yeah, I just thought fish were different...

[@mythicalbeastwaywardson]

love how excited and almost out of breath he is about this (may have been late uploading but hey it was good still tho )

[@cinnireseisri]

Sharks are at the top of the oceanic food chain? Better tell the orcas that. I don't think they know.

[@steelnerve762]

+cinnireseisri aren't humans at the top,,,we eat Sharks !

[@cinnireseisri]

steelnerve we're not part of the oceanic food chain indigenously...which is why the distinction was made. but, it is a good point to bring up as people do tend to forget that human over-predation is the biggest threat to marine life. Well, that and our pollution.

[@steelnerve762]

cinnireseisri i disagree, we and our uncontrolled pop explosion is the cause of pollution and over fishing. we may destroy ourselves, by our own successes !

[@cinnireseisri]

steelnerve rather failures that we think are successes.

[@steelnerve762]

cinnireseisri so the face that we are outliving any past generation is a failure ? will beg to disagree.

[@aidanhauser7432]

10/10 another solid video dank memes cant melt steel beams hank and matt you the real mvps and scishow crew too.

[@SamsonCrosswood]

And for gods sake, or science, or our own - stop hunting them! They go, the oceans as we know it goes.

[@JiffyPopLuv]

I sincerely love you guys.

[@c.i.demann3069]

Question: why do sharks have skeletons at all? If their muscles aren't attached to the skeleton, what's it for? Anyone know?

[@liam_iam]

Well, um... take a moment and think about what would happen with no skeleton :|

[@Goken234]

He said most muscles aren't attached to the skeleton.

[@cages_eu607]

They would be like a pile of jelly if they didnt...

[@geniusmp2001]

You might have noticed that being able to have a shape tends to be useful. Even jellyfish have hydrostatic skeletons, because there's only so much you can do with a blobby mass or a worm.

[@tnorki]

Liam Robertson Well, um... stop being a smart ass and think about the answer first. Humans without bones would just fall down like jelly, but remember that sharks are in water, have really tough skin and there is pressure under water. It's really different if you think about it. And stop replying to comments like a know-it-all if you are not one.

[@jewishjedi]

I'm very glad someone is picking up Discovery's slack. Thanks Sci Show!

[@Derpy_Aura]

Angel the Great White Shark

[@Snarethedrummer]

This segment blew my mind way too many times.

[@gbslaps]

Why do we Become Thirsty when we consume too much Salt ?

[@nav6maini]

The more solute in you, the more water needed to reach a balance. You'd basically have/be a hypertonic (I think, I don't remember the exact word) solution in you. There ya go

[@Darasilverdragon]

Quick Answer: Because ions, like the sodium and chlorine from salt, decrease the osmotic pressure in the interstitial fluids around our cells, which draws water out of them until both solutions arrive at homeostatic concentrations

[@spencerfrancis7730]

salt sucks up moisture

[@ghudner]

Darasilverdragon So then, wouldn't drinking deionized water be better at hydrating you than normal tap water?

[@eiram2005]

Could you eat salt that has water inside it

[@nerdfighteremma]

WHAT this is so cool. Why did I never know any of this about sharks? !! Thanks, SciShow!

[@IcEye89]

There is no such thing as a fish.

[@liam_iam]

Oh.

[@Mostlyharmless1985]

Um... yes there is. It's a general term used for any water dwelling, gilled, ectothermic, finned creature, that may or may not have scales.

[@IcEye89]

Evolutionary there isn't.

[@BragoTHEgraviyKING]

No bears or sharks or birds I suppose.... not one animal has evolved with that name.....

[@ViolettaSachra]

IcEye89 I know you're right (study biology), but the general public will call them fish no matter what taxonomics say... ;) and let's face it, remember the outrage over Plutos new status? Think that, times a billion. We know Pluto for a few decades, but we said fish since thousands of years. I don't think it'll change...

[@banndsand]

This video has made me way more into sharks than I thought I'd ever be. Wow.

[@jeank1d]

Hank-Senpai noticed Shark-chan~~~~

[@DuffyTheGander]

Im terrified of the sight of sharks... But they fascinate me... And I love scishow... This is gonna be a long episode

[@CheshireShade]

Cue religious debate in three ......... two .......... one ........ and ...... go!

[@xBIGMUSCLEx]

you fail...

[@nozoill]

Naw

[@AKLd95]

CheshireShade God is not real *flies away*

[@carriemaxwell4695]

I love sharks. One of my most fondest memories is watching Jaws with my grandpa and rooting for the shark. Mind you, I was like, four.

[@4N50N]

loved that intro, so true

[@ricardoxcaju]

Hank seems like he's drunk and pissed off that people don't understand basic science. Loved it.

[@JcXtreme72]

Thanks for saving our shark week Hank.

[@JohnSmith-td7hd]

0:35 Oh my gosh. Ratfish are adorable!

[@NiramBG]

Yessss. Brain Scoop content, always nice to hear there's more on the way!

[@chubles42971]

I really didn't expect to learn all that much from this video, but I had no idea about the muscles attaching to collagen thing. Thanks SciShow!

[@NowanInparticular]

if perpetual motion machines have taught me anything, the elasticity of the stretch on one side of the shark is directly taken from the force it took to stretch it. This is to say that they may get a rubber band like return of their tail, but they pay for it by having to push harder to stretch that rubber band

[@pragmat1k]

Thank you for this. Everyone at work was talking about Submarine today and after about 2 minutes of fact checking I put them in their place.

[@SomeDudeOnline]

Look into Sharklet Technology! It's absolutely amazing, I'm really surprised Hank didn't mention it here or do a full episode on it. The way Shark skin is designed makes it a natural bacteria inhibitor. A company has copied the design of Shark skin to produce a material that prevents the growth of bacteria by ninety something percent. AND THEY'RE SELLING IPHONE 5 CASES! I'm so jealous because I only have an iPhone 4

[@MOONWOLF7395]

I demand an hour long scishow on sharks for shark week. Lol please

[@TheEntroseth]

Not gonna lie, that skin teeth fact is news to me. Wonderful, fascinating, mildly horrifying, and trivia-tastic news.

[@JoaoPessoa86]

Oh good an actual shark week

[@Sunhawk7ajj]

Love Sharks!!! Been snorkeling with Black n white tip reef sharks. Loved it!

[@charlesarthurbrennan5215]

liking purely for the shade at the start of the video

[@yabasta13]

thanks for the cool new shark facts!

[@MrEddiyOwen]

You made the shark look worried about us being able to see it's insides!

[@sueanoimm]

O_o I have never known about shark's muscles being attached to their inner skin instead of their skeleton. FASCINATING!

[@snake698]

Loved your intro, thanks.

[@markwillams420]

If every teacher was like you, I guarantee kids would love school and pay more attention in class.

[@kcvriess]

I LOVE this show! Learning new and fascinating stuff every day, in bite size chunks. Awesome! :)

[@Aaron.Reichert]

_"this week is Shark Week on the Discovery Channel which someone was here on the Internet aren't huge fans of._ _So instead of sensationalizing sharks are just making stuff up about Megalodon still existing we thought we'd talk about science with the understanding that reality is actually pretty fascinating"_

[@StopChangingUsernamesYouTube]

Woah. Sharks are pretty awesome, and KZbin is pretty late in suggesting this one to me.

[@GKOALA7]

I loved this video! ...and, shyly, I must say, I must say, Hank, I LOVED that shirt on you. :">

[@iMapleCreator]

Yaaaay, the O.G beard is back!

[@avabelle05]

You should run your own shark week on your channel

[@patrickmurphy6775]

This was very interesting! Thanks!

[@triplex3399]

SciShow TV network would be amazing.

[@TheSilverSmitih]

this is the first video i've ever watched where the captions were accurate.

[@TragoudistrosMPH]

I had no idea their muscles connected to their skin! That's amazing!

[@Nucksallday31]

0:00 - 0:13 SHOTS FIRED EVERYWHERE

[@OneFlyingEye]

Nice, I've taken ichthyology and this talked about some things I didn't know, still needs to be longer though on a topic this interesting

[@LifeInspector]

Thanks for this episode, I learned a lot!

[@MontgomeryWenis]

That pregnant shark at 2:38 is cracking me up!!

[@theuglyzone]

ㄷ: Cool, its like all my favorite science channels are making shark videos, I was pretty excited when Itsokaytobesmart announced it.