They’re everyone’s worst nightmare when it comes to swimming in the ocean: great white sharks. That’s despite the fact that the number of fatal shark attacks annually can usually ____1____. But a new study finds that until great whites get at least three meters long, they’re less [Jaws music] and more [gentle music]. Because a full-force bite could ____2____ hurting them.
In research published in the Journal of Biomechanics, scientists used 3-D computers models and advanced engineering techniques to study how sharks hunt and kill their food.
Great whites have jaws and teeth that are perfect for a powerful ____3____ on prey ranging from small fish to large marine mammals. But the researchers were surprised to find that a shark less than three meters long only looks like it could manage that killer bite. Because it hasn’t developed enough ____4____, mineralized cartilage yet. A bite that would be ____5____ to a large marine mammal could damage the shark’s jaws.
The finding may explain why the few shark attacks that do happen on people are rarely fatal—until it’s pretty big, the great white’s reputation is worse than its bite.
【视听版科学小组荣誉出品】
be counted on the fingers of one still attached hand wind up chomp stiff lethal
年幼大白鲨咬人不会太严重 大白鲨——这是每个海中畅游者最大的噩梦。尽管事实上，每年发生的致命的鲨鱼攻击屈指可数，人们依旧谈鲨色变。一项新研究发现，在大白鲨凶残。成长到三米之前，它们的温柔大过凶残。这是因为如果它们竭尽全力一口咬下去，恐怕会以让自己受伤告终。 这项研究发表在《生物力学》杂志上，文中表明，科学家们利用3-D计算机模型和先进的工程技术来研究鲨鱼是如何猎杀猎物的。 从小型鱼类到大型海洋哺乳动物，捕食这些猎物需要强壮有力的咬合力，大白鲨的颚跟齿对此而言堪称完美。然而，研究人员惊奇的发现，体长小于三米的鲨鱼仅仅是看上去凶巴巴，因为它们还没有发育出拥有足够刚性和矿化的软骨，对一个大型海洋哺乳动物的致命一咬会损坏鲨鱼自己的颚。 这一发现或许可以解释为何一些人的确受到鲨鱼攻击却极少致命——只要大白鲨的体型还不够大，它咬下去的那一口就没有它的名声大。