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- [00:00]
Capital One Bank Announcer
With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com Bank Capital One NA member FDIC
- [00:31]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Grainger knows when you're a procurement manager for an office park, you're not managing one building, you're managing all of them. And to stay ahead, you need to see through walls and around corners. Lights about to fail. Filters ready to clog H Vac on its last leg. If you wait until something breaks, you're already behind. Count on Grainger for quality products, easy reordering and 24. 7 support. Call 1-800-granger click granger.com or just stop by Granger for the ones who get it done. We all belong outside. We're drawn to nature. Whether it's the recorded sounds of the ocean we doze off to or the succulents that adorn our homes, nature makes all of our lives, well, better. Despite all this, we often go about our busy lives removed from it, but the outdoors is closer than we realize. With Alltrails, you can discover trails nearby and explore confidently with offline maps and on trail navigation. Download the free app today and make the most of your summer with Alltrails. Once a year, we here at Curiosity Weekly get to devote an entire episode of the show to a topic we're all super passionate about. Actually, it's more like something we're all obsessed with. Obsessed with sharks. And this year is no exception. It's Shark Week, baby. One of the hardest parts about putting these episodes together is deciding what to cover from all of the interesting research that comes out every single year about these misunderstood creatures. So I hope you have a few hours as we go through it all. Don't worry, I'm just kidding. We'll actually keep it brief with just a few highlights. Like did you know? In June of 2026, researchers announced a new species of shark discovered near Papua New guinea that uses its fins to walk along coral reefs. They actually walk. Or that there was a great white spotted in the Mediterranean. It's so rare to see great whites there that they're called ghost populations. It was seen by volunteer divers removing abandoned fishing gear, which poses a threat to marine life. I could go on and on, but instead we've narrowed it down to the best stories on sharks. Some pretty wild science happening at the frontier of shark research. We'll talk about what's happening to shark teeth now that the ocean is getting more acidic and how sharks are so old that it's making researchers rethink if all sharks are really sharks. We'll also talk with shark behavior expert Dr. Tristan Gutridge about his research and experience up close and personal with the apex predators from For Shark Week and for even more shark science, be sure to check out Shark week starting on July 26, only on Discovery. Welcome to Curiosity Weekly. I'm your host, Dr. Samantha Amin. Let's swim with the fishes. You may have heard about ocean acidification. Some call it climate change's evil twin brother. All that carbon dioxide we're pumping into the atmosphere gets absorbed by the ocean and it's slowly making the water more acidic. New research says that by the year 2300, the ocean could be acidic enough to corrode sharks teeth. The study was published in August of 2025 in the Journal Frontiers in Marine Science. Remember that science fair experiment from grade school where you'd put an egg in a cup of soda for a week to see what happens to the shell? Or you might have tried it with your teeth once they fell out instead of giving them to the tooth fairy. Well, that's what these scientists in Germany did, except let shark teeth. Sharks are constantly losing teeth, replacing them every few days to weeks depending on the species. They can get stuck in prey or break and fall out. But they have this amazing system, kind of like a conveyor belt to keep the teeth coming. See, they have multiple rows of teeth, so when a front tooth is lost, a replacement from the back moves forward and locks into place. With 10 sharks at sea Life Aquarium in Germany, the scientists had a huge supply of discarded teeth to work with. In fact, they collected over 600 teeth and picked out the 16 in the best, least damage condition, plus 36 more that were in pretty good condition, what they called grade two condition. Then they split them into two tanks of seawater. One tank was kept at the ocean's current pH of about 8.1. The other was set to 7.3, which is where the ocean is projected to be in the year 2300 if carbon emissions continue at their current pace. Now remember, a lower ph means more acidic. To put it into perspective, that drop represents almost a tenfold increase in acidity. After eight weeks, they looked at the teeth using a scanning electron microscope and the difference was pretty major. The teeth soaked in the more acidic water had visible cracks, pitting, root corrosion and just overall structural breakdown. The teeth at the current ocean ph were in much better shape. These teeth came from black tipped reef sharks who have to swim with their mouths constantly open just to breathe. That means their teeth are exposed to seawater all the time. So the acidified water would be washing over their teeth nonstop. But that isn't true for all sharks. And while sharks can regrow teeth, they use multiple rows at the same time, sometimes for weeks at a time. The damage could add up faster than they can replace them and have a metabolic cost as the tooth replacement mechanism is forced to speed up. Now the study did have some limitations. These were loose teeth shed from aquarium sharks. So the study doesn't account for any kind of tooth repair mechanisms that might exist while the tooth is still in a living animal. But the study does make a good point that even nature's sharpest tools aren't immune to what we're doing to the planet and oceans. And the best part? This study was led by an undergraduate science student. It just goes to show, it's never too early to follow your curiosity.
- [06:23]
Capital One Bank Announcer
With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends it's pretty much all he talks about. In a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com bank capital1na member FDIC. Your team just added its 67th AI tool and also your 67th security blind spot. The good news? The Vanta agent works like a GRC engineer in the background, finding every app your team uses, scoring the risk and drafting fixes for you. Vanta is the platform used by over 16,000 fast moving companies like Ramp, Cursor and Harvey who are shaping the future with AI and staying ahead of AI risk.
- [07:17]
Curiosity Weekly Host
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- [07:50]
Carvana Customer
thing that's ever happened to you financially.
- [07:52]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Go easy.
- [07:53]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Sold my car on Carvana.
- [07:55]
Capital One Bank Announcer
Amazing offer really.
- [07:56]
Curiosity Weekly Host
I hit 200 on a scratcher.
- [07:58]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Did the scratcher come to your house
- [07:59]
Capital One Bank Announcer
and hand you a jack?
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Podcast Sponsor/Guest
No.
- [08:01]
Capital One Bank Announcer
How many scratchers did you hit to get that? I hit a button on Carvana.com once.
- [08:06]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Okay, that's fair. It's like the lottery, except you always win.
- [08:11]
Carvana Customer
Not like the lottery at all actually.
- [08:12]
Capital One Bank Announcer
Exactly. Inexplicably good offers worth bragging about.
- [08:17]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Sell your car today on Carvana.
- [08:19]
Capital One Bank Announcer
Pick up. These may apply.
- [08:26]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Sharks are among the most misunderstood animals on the planet. But as we learn more, we beginning to understand how complex and amazing they truly are. From navigating complex social lives to returning to the same coastal waters year after year, to how critical they are for keeping our oceans in balance. They're honestly so, so cool. But many shark species are in serious decline. So we're diving into the real science of sharks. Their behavior, migration and what it takes to protect them. With someone who has spent more than a decade in the field and underwater trying to figure it all out, we're talking with SHARK Behavior expert Dr. Tristan Gutridge. Welcome to Curiosity.
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Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Hey, nice to be here.
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Curiosity Weekly Host
So lovely to chat with you, Tristan. Now you've studied social behavior in a bunch of different shark species. So I gotta ask, to what extent are sharks actually social?
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Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Well, I guess it depends on your definition of what is social. You know, a lot of shark species are very social. You know, take the nurse shark, they rest and in kind of aggregations, they're actually quite tactile. They rest next to each other. Same with white tip reef sharks. But then you have other species like the scalloped hammerhead, that school in these massive, massive groups over seamounts that can be, can be thousands of individuals in almost like a polarized school. And they're socializing in that kind of formed. So although traditionally we don't think of sharks as being very social, across the different species, there's lots of different contexts when they are being social.
- [10:02]
Curiosity Weekly Host
It's true. I really picture like a lone shark just doing its own thing. But when you're underwater with them, are you often seeing them in groups? Like what is that like to see?
- [10:11]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
They're regularly in groups and often for example, like your scalloped hammerheads, you know these animals get usually up to about 8 to 10ft long, but most of them are around 6 to 8ft. So they're quite small and in a group for them it's actually probably More anti predatory that they're in a group to ensure that they don't get eaten by other big sharks and other predators, like for example, orcas.
- [10:34]
Curiosity Weekly Host
I'm just imagining being beneath the surface, surrounded by the quiet of the ocean and then this massive group of 10 sharks passing by. It's probably normal for you, but for me that'd be pretty wild.
- [10:46]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Oh, it's, it's the most. I think one of the most iconic views for a scuba diver is to be kind of like latched onto a rock at about 100ft depth and then looking up and having all of those silhouettes of the weird looking hammerheads just swimming over the top of your head. When I was a little kid, that was the dive that I was desperate to do and I got to do it a few years ago. Yeah, it's just incredible. And imagine hundreds of these animals just swimming over the top of you and you're just seeing these silhouettes and they're all interacting with each other.
- [11:16]
Curiosity Weekly Host
It honestly sounds too beautiful to be scary. That would just be incredible.
- [11:20]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Yeah, it's not scary at all. Obviously there are times where you have moments with these animals. They can be a little bit unpredictable. Some of the reef sharks particularly, they kind of play off each other. They can be a little bit more intimidating and bold and come right up to you. Same with the silky sharks. Whereas the hammerheads are a bit more skittish and they kind of pull back and it's hard to even get close to them to get that really cool experience of seeing them flying over the top like airplanes.
- [11:46]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Now Tristan, you're all over Shark Week this year, which we love. And I can't wait to watch all the things you get up to in one show in particular, it's called how to Train a Shark. You test out whether great whites can learn how on earth does one do that kind of research with sharks?
- [12:03]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Yeah, I mean, it is extremely tough, I have to say. I did my PhD working with little lemon sharks and, and that was difficult to run these kind of training tests. And I did an experiment on social learning where I had them bump targets to receive food rewards and they could kind of pick up information from each other. But then to scale it up to white sharks is another step again. And no one really has ever done any kind of proper, empirical, standardized tests on white shark cognition. And although as part of this show we weren't able to do that in a standardized way, I think you can definitely see that there's massive capability that these white sharks, I mean, a lot of These animals are 25, 30 years of age, the ones that we're interacting with. These animals live in their environment all of their lives, and it makes sense for them to be able to be adaptive, to pick up on cues that are predictable. It makes perfect sense that they would be able to learn about associations between locations and good places to get food. So it was a matter of kind of scaling up. A simple, simple kind of experiment or test you might do with a dog where you give them a food reward and repeat doing a food reward. When they do an action. For example, you do the same thing with the sharks. If they go to a certain area and they do a certain action or movement, they get a food reward. If they keep doing that same thing, they build this association and then you can create this opportunity to then see if they're able to learn how quickly they can learn. And yeah, it's really exciting. And to do it with a massive shark, like a white shark, was, was so cool.
- [13:39]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Can you give us a size comparison between the lemon sharks you studied in your past research and the great whites that we'd see on the show?
- [13:46]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Yeah, I mean, we're basically talking a 3 foot shark versus a 12 to 14 foot shark, you know, and we're talking being able to test these animals in shallow waters in captivity versus in the wild with massive sharks, multiple individuals, which, with wave action and wind and all these, the current and everything else going on, and it's very challenging.
- [14:09]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Is most of the learning in these or any other sharks, is it about finding food and learning locations so you can return to the same spots? Or are there also social dynamics and partnerships or companionship, things that they're learning too, do we know?
- [14:26]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Well, I mean, if you imagine you're a shark and you live in this environment and you've got different prey items that you could potentially eat or hunt, you know, over time, as you repeat, you know, eating these items and chasing them down, then you're gonna, you're gonna learn the best ways to do it, the best ways to handle them. Think about a great white. You know, these animals basically spend most of their lives as they get older, they're feeding on pinnipeds, on seals and sea lions that are at the surface, you know, and they're following them from the bottom, and then they have to time it and zoom up and hit them at the surface or subsurface. So they're trying to figure out in the islands or the areas that they live and work in, where's the best place that I'm likely to get success with catching certain prey items. And so if they're building on their experiences and learning, then it gives them a better chance of getting food. Sharks don't have parents that are there for them. They literally are born and that's it. So they have to learn kind of almost on their own. But there are opportunities where they can kind of learn from each other, observe other animals perhaps feeding in certain areas. And so there is opportunities to also learn kind of socially, too.
- [15:41]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Now, as someone who clearly loves all sharks, and you've studied lemon sharks, Port Jackson sharks, you've done shows with hammerheads and great whites. How do you choose one to study or focus on? And do you have a favorite?
- [15:57]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Wow. I mean, I run a nonprofit called saving the blue, and that I run it with my wife, and the nonprofit is dedicated to working on threatened sharks and rays. So although I have a passion for behavior, and I like to advance our understanding of behavior complexities of sharks, and perhaps it might be better for me to work with lemon sharks and nurse sharks in captivity to showcase some of these behavioral complexities. You know, the nurse sharks and lemon sharks, their species are actually doing okay. You know, the populations are fairly stable. You know, they haven't been assessed as critically endangered or endangered. So a lot of our focus is actually on the species that are in trouble, that have between 50 and 80% population declines documented through stock assessments.
- [16:48]
Podcast Sponsor/Guest
Except.
- [16:49]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
So a lot of our work is tagging and tracking these species. And for me, I love the hammerheads. They're just such a cool animal. I've spent time in the water with them, both with the scalloped hammerheads and the giant great hammerheads, too. And they're just that bizarre, weird head. And then they're also just. They seem like. I mean, I'm not saying that other sharks aren't thinking, but some sharks you look at and you're like, it doesn't seem like there's much going on up top, but with the hammerheads, you're definitely looking at. And the same with the white sharks. You're watching them, and they are eyeballing things. They're adapting, they're changing, they're making decisions. And because of that, I love working with the hammerheads, particularly.
- [17:33]
Curiosity Weekly Host
I'm curious, which are the sharks that are priorities for being endangered, the ones that saving the blue might focus on?
- [17:42]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Right. So we actually focus on three species of hammerheads, the great hammerhead, the scalloped, and the smooth. And all of those species are in trouble. The scalloped hammerhead, particularly critically endangered Great hammerheads as well. I was just part of a genetic study where we found the great hammerhead population within the northwestern Atlantic is basically around 8 to 10% of what it was 200 years ago. And that's through a genomic analysis. It's crazy to think that. So these animals are in trouble. And a lot of it's to do with overfishing. But also some of them, they just are very sensitive to fishing. We have very strict protocols in place with how we tag the animals, because if you keep them too long or if they're on the hook too long, then they have a very high risk of dying. So you have to be very aware of that as well. But a lot of our focus is actually on the hammerheads, and sawfish is another species we work with quite a lot.
- [18:40]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Speaking of genetics of sharks, for Shark Week's House of Sharks, you're looking at newly migrating great whites off the coast of New Zealand. Right. And it seems like something interesting is going on there. Can you give us a little teaser of what you were trying to uncover there?
- [18:57]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Right. So across the last kind of four years, I've been lucky enough to go to this aggregation site of the southern island of New Zealand. And these white sharks, every year we see the same individuals, and often you see them with the same individuals. So it kind of starts you to ask questions. Well, you know, are they kind of co occurring with individuals that might be related and how is that kind of population structure? You know, of all the animals that are using that location, are any of them related to each other? Is it just random individuals from kind of New Zealand and Australia, you know, or, or is there some kind of, I guess you could call it some family lineage that are using these locations? Because we know with other species, like for example in Bimini, where I worked with lemon sharks, we would sample the population every year for about 20 years. And across that 20 year period, you started to have the same females would come back every two years, years to pup in the same system. So you would get this family heritage of animals using the same site that were related to each other. So is this happening with white sharks? Are they using aggregation sites that are almost passed down? Is there like this familial relationship between these animals that use this aggregation site? And it was a really big collaborative project with lots of scientists and groups involved, other local scientists, Riley Elliott, as well as well as the Auckland Museum, to really try and figure out these relationships between these animals.
- [20:30]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Now, I read that you've been tracking migration patterns of sharks, especially in the Bahamas, you spent a lot of time doing that. Right. I'm curious what changes you might have noticed there, especially with warming waters.
- [20:42]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
I mean, I wouldn't say at this point I've noticed anything major in the Bahamas. I know that other studies in the US along the east coast there, that some, I think bull shark pupping grounds have perhaps extended further north than they used to be or traditionally were. But at the moment we haven't so much seen that. Now we did have some scalloped hammerheads that went extremely far north to climate change and in some cases are going to be expanding or increasing their ranges if they're able to go into these areas that now have warmer waters. You know, I love the idea that white sharks might go back to England or go to England, because then I'll be able to go and work with white sharks in my home country. I mean, I don't think there's any person in England that would ever say that sentence. Yes, we want white sharks, but I would love nothing more.
- [21:38]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Speaking of travel, for Shark Week, you're in five different shows. So you were diving into sharky waters from Mexico to New Zealand and one of those adventures had you hunting for a record breaking mako.
- [21:53]
Carvana Customer
Yes.
- [21:53]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Is that how you say it? Mako.
- [21:55]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
I call them makos.
- [21:56]
Curiosity Weekly Host
I'm going to go with what you say. Mako. Okay, so you're hunting for a record breaking mako. What can you tease for us there?
- [22:04]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Well, yeah, there was this incredible mako shark interaction that was documented off Mexican waters in a place called Cabo. And we were exploring that kind of evidence because, you know, photographic evidence. And then we went to a location off Catalina island in California and we definitely had some interactions with some big mako sharks can't reveal more than that, but one of them was really big.
- [22:34]
Curiosity Weekly Host
It's fascinating. There's something about, it's such a simple thing, but just the sheer size really just captures our, I don't know, our attention and just fascinates. Right. What is it for you about just like how large these things can get?
- [22:48]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
I mean, we work, you know, we run these research expeditions where we do around six to eight expeditions every year. We're running research, we're tagging sharks and every time everyone's like, oh, I wonder if we're gonna get the big hammerhead or the big tiger shark. And I'm the same, I'm like ramping everyone up going, I have a feeling we're gonna get a massive tiger today. It's just human nature to kind of Want these experiences with these incredible animals. I mean, there's nothing more incredible than seeing a massive shark and knowing that that animal has probably lived 50 or 60 years to get to that age. It's like meeting. If I met David Attenborough, you know, in a room, I'd just be in awe of him. And I think these big sharks, they have a presence too. They know that they have lived and that they deserve respect and that it doesn't matter what is in their immediate surroundings. That person, that object, that animal, whatever it is, has to respect them because they are this big, powerful shark. So I definitely think these big sharks have an aura and you can see it and feel it when you get the opportunity to be with them, whether in the water or seeing them from the surface. It's just my wife just caught a 4 meter, 12 and a half foot great hammerhead off Jupiter and you can feel the energy in everyone's voice when that shark came to the side of the boat.
- [24:11]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Wow. I mean, Tristan, hearing you talk about sharks, it's clear you're obsessed with them. You're super passionate and it's contagious. And I saw a little Easter egg on your website that your mom has receipts of your love of sharks dating back to when you were seven years old.
- [24:30]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
She has a card, Mother's Day. Love your sharky son. TR yeah, it's been part of my life ever since I can remember. I've always been obsessed with them. You never think at that time that you're going to work with these animals, but yeah, they've always been something I've just been fascinated by.
- [24:46]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Is there something that sparked your interest in them initially and made you actually want to pursue them beyond just loving them as a hobby, as a kid kind of thing?
- [24:55]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
I don't know. I just think I was always interested in behavior. My grandfather told me stories about sharks. He was in World War II and had some encounters with sharks during plane crashes and things that were crazy. And I wonder whether some of those early experiences with him and him talking about sharks and adventures and traveling and I just kind of got that bug. But I think sometimes also you've just got this. You can't explain it, you just imprinted. It's almost like it's part of you. You don't really know why, you just. You just love them. And. Yeah, I never really thought that I could do it as a career, but it became kind of clear when I got to about 18, 19 and I did a degree in zoology that you could explore things that you were passionate about and that, you know, I met professors. One guy was obsessed with periwinkles, like these little snails. And I'm like, what? And he said, yeah, I love them, I work with them, I've done my PhD on them. And I was just like, well, I love sharks. He's like, well, there you go. He said, if you're going to do a PhD, if you're going to do something for the rest of your life, then do something, an animal or on something you love. And so that kind of inspired me, too. I was like, well, I'm not a periwinkle guy, but. But the sharks are super cool.
- [26:09]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Do you have a favorite thing about sharks, a favorite fact or even a misconception?
- [26:14]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
I mean, I always think that the. I think the thing that surprises me the most is their ability to navigate from the one place to the other. Like, I just find it extraordinary. You've got these white sharks that every year at this time of year, they turn up at this mini little island in the southern part of New Zealand, and then three months later, they're 1200 miles north of some other islands in the South Pacific. It's. It's crazy to me. You know, we've only just started to touch the surface of their kind of navigational abilities and the fact that they use the Earth's geomagnetic field, and they do it every day, all day, every year, and they're very precise with it, too. And they turn up at certain sites, like the whale sharks in Australia. They turn this place where the crabs are spawning exactly when they're doing it. It's like, how. How did they know that? How do they get there like that? It's. It's really cool.
- [27:05]
Curiosity Weekly Host
You're nonprofit, saving the blue that you run alongside your wife, Annie. You're focused on improving the conservation status of imperiled sharks and rays. Can you tell us more about how you all do that?
- [27:18]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
We have various different projects that we work on and as you said, mainly with threatened sharks and rays. So for a lot of sharks, we don't really know anything about where they go, where they migrate to their preferred habitats, whether they move between, let's say, the Bahamas and the us. Do they go to Cuba? Do they go up to Canada? And so one of the things that we do is we place these tracking devices on all these different species. Scalloped hammerheads, silky sharks, great hammerheads. And we then monitor where they're going. And we are able to then generate these data sets that allow us to see where they're going and what they're doing. And if we can do that, then we can use that information. We can feed that information to fisheries, for example, and we can provide information about key areas for those species and perhaps recommend locations and regions at certain times of year that might be a good idea to close off to fishing, for example. So that's some of the ways that our data is being used. And with the genetics as well, and with the movement stuff, you can also see, okay, well, do we need to manage this species as one big stock? So, for example, great hammerheads. There are hammerheads that seem to be from the Bahamas into the Gulf of Mexico, but it's fairly rare that they do. But it does seem to be that that's one big, big kind of stock of animals. So sharks that are in the Gulf of Mexico can sometimes go to the Bahamas, that go up the US East Coast. So we need to manage them all as one big unit. Whereas with blacktip sharks, they're a bit smaller coastal species. There's quite distinctive populations, and the, the one on the US east coast is kind of differentiated from the one in the Gulf of Mexico. So they need to be managed as two separate stocks. So if you see declines in one side, that doesn't necessarily mean there's a decline in the other. So it's also about providing that information to the fishery management to be able to make decisions about how you manage them and whether you manage them all together.
- [29:23]
Curiosity Weekly Host
How can everyday people who might share your love of sharks help with conservation efforts in their everyday lives?
- [29:31]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Support your local charities, you know, go online, learn about sharks, you know, support Saving the Blue, various other charities as well, nonprofits with their, with their research goals. Also, you know, make decisions and choices about perhaps what you eat when you go into restaurants. You know, I don't, I don't really eat any fish products, and unless I know where they've been caught. So kind of eating more sustainable fish, for example, mahi, they grow very quickly, they reproduce very quickly. They're a species that I would feel comfortable eating. Whereas other animals, they have much longer life histories. And sharks, for example, like mako sharks, apparently they taste great, but they don't reach maturity till they're around 20 years of age. So, you know, they just can't sustain really any fishing pressure. And so that's why a lot of these shark populations are in trouble, because their life history traits, how long they take to reach maturity and how many pups they're able to have, is basically a lot more conservative than let's say a yellowfin tuna that can double its population time in the space of a couple of years because they're having millions of eggs and they're growing to reach maturity a lot quicker. So, you know, it's making some decisions about perhaps what you're eating and where you're eating.
- [30:51]
Curiosity Weekly Host
I mean, you've inspired me to want to get that underwater view with the silhouette above. I've never dove before, but I'll figure that out. First. Go from there.
- [31:00]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Start with a little nurse shark maybe, and then work your way up to the scalloped hammerheads.
- [31:05]
Curiosity Weekly Host
Thank you so much, Tristan, for being on the show. What a delight to chat with you.
- [31:08]
Dr. Tristan Guttridge
Of course. Thank you. Really appreciate the opportunity to share my love and passion for sharks.
- [31:15]
Curiosity Weekly Host
That's Dr. Tristan Guttridge, a shark behavior expert. You can follow Tristan in many adventures discovering new science about sharks during Shark week starting Sunday, July 26th on Discovery.
- [31:30]
Capital One Bank Announcer
With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking. With Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees, fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends, it's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capitalone.com Bank.
- [32:01]
Curiosity Weekly Host
At Edward Jones, we believe rich is about taking care of what gives your life meaning. That's why your financial advisor personalizes your plan to help you preserve your progress and create something that lasts. Let's find your rich Edward Jones Member
- [32:15]
Carvana Customer
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- [33:54]
Curiosity Weekly Host
The thing that will always get me the most hyped about sharks is just how ancient they are. Sharks and their ancestors date back over 400 million years. That makes them older than trees, older than dinosaurs by a long shot, possibly even older than Saturn's rings. In a study published In October of 2025, scientists explained their amazing find on Australia's northern giant shark vertebrae. I mean, huge. Each one was 4 to 5 inches across, and that's pretty big compared to a great white. Today their vertebrae grow to about like 3 inches. The researchers estimate that the shark was probably around 20 to 26ft long and approximately 3 tons. And from just those bones, they identified the animal as part of a now extinct group of giant mackerel sharks from about 115 million years ago. That's smack in the age of dinosaurs. This big bone beauty suggests modern style shark giants were already out cruising cooler, high latitude waters way earlier than we thought, by about 15 million years. That's way before even Megalodon, the largest shark that ever lived. In fact, the more we study sharks and their history, the more questions we're uncovering, including a question of whether all sharks fit into one biological group and are all sharks sharks. A recent preprint compared the genomes of dozens of sharks, rays and skates. In general, what researchers do with this type of genomic information is look at specific regions of DNA that are shared across many species, comparing how similar or different they are. Species that have more similarities likely inherited these traits from a common ancestor and may be more closely related. When the team from Yale did that with 48 species of sharks, rays and their relatives, they found the family tree for sharks was a lot more branchy than expected. For example, cow sharks and frilled sharks seem to sit together on their own branch, separate from all other sharks. But the other twist, you know who was sitting up all cozy in the main shark side of the family tree, raisin skates. Their flat bodies are not exactly what I picture when I think of sharks, but I guess technically they're more related to the average shark than cow sharks are. Now there's a slight catch. This type of analysis all depends on which stretch of the genome you look at, and while the branchy version is the one these scientists favor, another stretch of the genome gave them a bit more cohesive shark groupings. So let's call it unsettled for now. Materially, this doesn't change much for our everyday lives or for the sharks, but it helps us understand how key traits evolved, like their iconic jaws. This research plus the finding of the super old large vertebrae all adds to the storied lore of sharks. And we can never get enough. Give me 14 of them right now. Celebrate more with Shark week starting Sunday, July 26th on Discovery for Warner Bros. Discovery Curiosity Weekly is produced by the team at Wheelhouse DNA. The senior producer and editorial correspondent is Teresa Carey. Our producer is Chiara Noni, our audio engineer is Nick Karismi. Our fact checker is Lauren Colella and head of production for Wheelhouse DNA is Cassie berman. And I'm Dr. Samantha Yuimin. Thanks for listening. Listening.
- [37:26]
Capital One Bank Announcer
With no fees or minimums on checking accounts, it's no wonder the Capital One bank guy is so passionate about banking with Capital One. If he were here, he wouldn't just tell you about no fees or minimums. He'd also talk about how most Capital One cafes are open seven days a week. A week to assist with your banking needs. Yep, even on weekends it's pretty much all he talks about in a good way. What's in your wallet? Terms apply. See capital1.com Bank Capital One NA Member FDIC
- [37:56]
Podcast Sponsor/Guest
this episode is sponsored by Michaels. Your destination for all things birthday parties. We just had Lucky's first birthday and it was so great to be able to go into Michael's and get everything. Of course I knew they had craft supplies there, but I didn't realize how expansive their party supplies were. And Michaels Michael's really is where you can go to get everything for a party, whether you're planning a kid's birthday or even an adult celebration. They've got over 4,500 party supplies, more than 60 different themes and prices starting at just 99 cents. Plus they've recently lowered prices on hundreds of items. We found adorable decorations, balloons, everything we needed to pull the party together without making a bunch of different shopping trips. Plus, I always have a good time going to Michael's. I love shopping there. I could just browse the aisles forever. But if you're short on time like I always seem to be, you can also get same day delivery or buy online and pick up at the store. They even offer free helium inflation on select balloon styles, which is such a lifesaver. And it was for our party, truly. So if you got a birthday coming up or just a celebration, remember Michaels everything. To celebrate anything, visit Michaels in store or shop online now.
- [39:07]
Curiosity Weekly Host
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- [39:37]
Podcast Sponsor/Guest
Hey, this is Jonathan Fields, host of the Good Life Project. So there's something about summer that hits different the backyard evenings that stretch past golden hour. The citrus and salt smell of a road trip with the windows down. The moments that feel like yours. Pura's Summer Fragrance Collection is designed to bring those feelings home. Literally. Smart diffusers, clean scents controlled right from your phone. It's a small thing that makes your space feel more like you. Visit pura.com to explore the summer collection.