WHOI Says Great White Sharks Live 50 Years Longer Than We Thought

Glopalpost.com – Great white sharks may live until their 70s, more than three times as long as previously thought, according to a new analysis of the marine predator’s backbones out Wednesday.

Using radiocarbon dating technology, researchers analyzed vertebrae from four male and four female adult white sharks from the northwestern Atlantic Ocean.

The largest male was 73 years old and the largest female was 40, said the report by scientists at Woods Hole Oceanographic Institution (WHOI) in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.

(previously) …the oldest white sharks ever found were a 22-year-old from the southwestern Pacific Ocean and a 23-year-old from the western Indian Ocean.

FUCK. This is not helping my irrational fear of sharks. They are already nature’s most perfect killing machine, and now we find out they are old too? For some reason age matters when it comes to conflict. You always feel like you can take someone younger than you. It is rare that a younger brother can beat up their older brother. Sons would have no chance in a fight against their father. It’s just one of the accepted rules of the universe.

It may not make a bit of sense but somehow I took a tiny bit of comfort from knowing the oldest Great White was 23 years old. I know it sounds crazy but I figured the only single advantage I had over a shark was that I have more life experience and could outsmart them. Now not only do I have to worry about their speed, size, agility etc. etc. but we find out the fuckers have old man strength too? Yup, swimming pools for me from here on out.

P.S. Nice job by whoever used to figure out how old sharks are before WHOI. You were only off by a measly FIFTY YEARS.