'I Love Sharks To Pieces'

Annapolis-born Expert Talks Up The Predator On Discovery's Shark Week

Animal intelligence is very, very difficult to measure, but we do believe that sharks are comparable in intelligence to dogs or cats or horses. Within the Aquarium setting, we've been able to train sharks to come to various targets, training one shark to come to one target, one shark to come to another. They are able to learn that within a matter of weeks, and will remember that behavior for a good amount of time, even if you stop the behavior.

They're certainly not eating machines. Sharks actually have a very slow metabolism, do not eat all that much. Typically, we think that many shark species eat roughly 10 to 20 percent of their body weight a week. A large great white shark might eat a humongous elephant seal, but then won't eat for a good time after that.

Question: : Are sharks still trying to live down "Jaws"?

Answer: : We all have to understand, "Jaws" was just written to be a good horror novel. It was never meant to vilify sharks. The movie "Jaws" and the movie "Cujo," they're both about an animal that has kind of gone awry, and for some reason we don't fear the Saint Bernard like we do the sharks.

A lot of it is not just the fact that it was a good horror novel, and then obviously a great horror movie. But there's an innate fear of sharks as a species, and also because they live in the ocean. They certainly have a tough P.R. road ahead of them. They're not fuzzy and cute like the baby seals.

On TV

Shark Week continues on the Discovery Channel through Saturday. This year's final new program, "Shark After Dark," with infrared cameras tracking what sharks do after the sun goes down, premieres at 9 p.m. Thursday.