Weird Shark Facts — Fun for a 6-year-old
Hello! Lets learn some silly and amazing shark facts one by one. Read each fact, imagine it, and try a mini-quiz at the end!
- Some sharks glow in the dark. A few kinds of sharks make light like a tiny nightlight. This helps them hide or find food.
- Sharks have no bones. Their bodies are made of cartilage the same bendy stuff in your nose and ears. That makes them very light and flexible.
- Sharks can be very tiny or very huge. Some sharks are smaller than your hand, and the biggest, the whale shark, is as long as a bus!
- Sharks can "smell" and even feel electricity. They have super noses and special sensors to find food and sense other animals moving in the water.
- Some sharks must keep swimming to breathe. Moving water over their gills helps them get air from the water. But some sharks can rest on the sea floor and still breathe.
- Sharks get new teeth all the time. When a tooth falls out, another one moves forward like on a conveyor belt sharks can have lots and lots of teeth in their life.
- Shark skin feels like sandpaper. Tiny little bumps on their skin make it rough. These bumps are called denticles.
- Some sharks can "walk" on their fins. The epaulette shark uses its fins to push along the sea floor, almost like walking.
- Some sharks can be pregnant for a long time. Mommy sharks can carry babies for many months sometimes more than a year before the babies are born.
- Sharks have been on Earth a very long time. Sharks lived before the dinosaurs and have changed very little over millions of years.
Try this!
Draw your favorite shark. Give it a glowing tummy or lots of teeth. Which fact did you like best?
Mini Quiz (True or False)
- 1) Sharks are made of bones. (False)
- 2) Some sharks can glow. (True)
- 3) Sharks are always bigger than a bus. (False)
Safety tip: Sharks are wild animals. See them at an aquarium or watch from the beach with a grown-up. They are amazing and should be respected.
Have fun learning and tell someone your favorite weird shark fact!