Ping delays

So I've gotten a lot of grief via tweet that I'm not pinging as often as YOU would like. 

While I really enjoy chatting with you #sillyhumans, sometimes I just can't get to the surface. I'm trying to travel the distance of Houston to Boston using only my fins and tail.

Let's see how many of you can do that on your feet in as many days - while constantly checking in on Facebook or Four Square.  I mean I know you do it in your cars - but if you were on your feet you'd be tired and hungry. 

I love that you are all following me, but maybe the most important message I can impart - besides that you humans are #notmyflavor - is patience. 

On a different note, had a great mini reunion with Genie, Mary Lee and Lydia.  

Now I'm heading home to my splashing grounds while my buddy Chris and the team are chillin' during #ExpeditionBrazil. I really do wish them the very best and hope they have safe travels. 

See you in an hour, or a day, or a week, or whenever I decide to rise to the surface again.

Happy Birthday, America

OK, so I'm a creature of the ocean. Really I have no allegiance to a "country" per se. However, I have this really strong connection to the United States.

It's shores are beautiful and bountiful (yes, even New Jersey).

While other countries allow for sharks to be dragged on board their ships to be stripped of their fins and dumped back into the ocean to die, the U.S. is actually making moves to protect sharks - like the decision this week to protect hammerheads. (See the story: http://on.flatoday.com/1lDwjw1 - thanks to @OCEARCH for tweeting the link)

All sharks should be protected - but especially hammerheads. As I've explained on Twitter, we don't call them hammerheads because of the shape of their heads. We call them hammerheads because, quite frankly, they are as dumb as a bag of hammers.

But I'm getting away from my point...

My point is that while you're all celebrating your independence, I, too, am celebrating a country that seems to be getting a better understanding of its role in protecting the oceans. Maybe you #SillyHumans aren't so silly after all.

And to show you my appreciation, here's a little number written by my namesake, Katharine Bates. Truly beautiful "From Sea to Shining Sea"

I know most of you probably appreciate the Ray Charles version better... but I figured if there's a #SillyHuman who is almost as much of a diva as I am, why not show her some love. :)



Happy Birthday America!

Time to reveal part of my dark past

Everyone... this is Larry.



This video was sent to me on Twitter by @NYCRobin - asking if this was a friend of mine. As soon as his nose broke the surface, I knew.

Shortly after I was tagged by Ocearch.org back in August, Larry and I met off New Jersey.

 Now if you've been following my story for a while, you'll know that I'm not a fan of the Garden State. As I've said before, I kid New Jersey because... well... it's New Jersey. The water off the Jersey Shore is always really greasy and there's an unusual amount of pee. I realize Superstorm Sandy was tragic for many humans, but for the #sharkworld, it actually helped wash away a lot of the issues that were in the water there. But the water isn't why I hold a grudge against the big N.J. - it's Larry.

See (I can't believe I'm admitting this) Larry and I dated briefly. At first things were great, but then I started noticing my stuff missing. After about a week or so, I realized Larry was a thief. He would take e'ry thing. Coral, pearls, ... shoot... he'd steal the teeth out yo mouth.

I woke up one night and he was trying to take the tracker off my fin. That's when I knew I had to go. So I started swimming south and well, you can follow my path from there.

But as I watched the video, I was really surprised by the #SillyHumans in the boat. Here they are with a bag of yummy food hanging over the side of their boat and their actually surprised that Larry came up and took it. For realz?

Look we aren't all like Larry, but if you dangle food out over the water, of course we're going to take it. But we aren't the only ones that will still your stuff. See below - and these aren't even food...

Exhibit A: Octopus will steal your stuff.


Exhibit B: Lions will steal your stuff.


Exhibit C: And Crabs. Crabs will steal your stuff.


And birds? Birds will steal your baby...


Just sayin'. If you leave you're stuff out... we're likely to take it.

So … Starting with an apology

So this week, I got a notice from Alina Machado (@AlinaCNN) and Javier de Deigo (@JaviCNN)  from CNN that they were about to go live with a piece on me for CNN's "@NewDay."

This was huge news since I've gotten smatterings of coverage across the U.S. (A LOT IN FLORIDA) about my journey since the Ocearch tagging.

So I make sure I get on CNN as soon as possible to see the piece. AND it was #Jawsome... Click here to see for yourself...

But then the segment ended and was tossed back to New Day cohosts Kate Bolduan (@KateBolduan) and Chris Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo). Kate turns to Chris and says "You know I'm really interested in how they give them their names. What would you nickname a shark?" and Chris responds with "I don't know, dangerous? toothy? landshark?"

I stopped watching at that point. And the twitter feud began....

Yeah... That was me on @CNN @NewDay this morning. #sharkworld #sillyhumans Really? #toothy?
— Katharine The Shark (@Shark_Katharine) June 19, 2014

And I may have gone over the top when I posted...

Ok, last time I'll mention it @ChrisCuomo ... #sharkworld #sharkgirl #nicesmile do you eat seals too? pic.twitter.com/M0clcmdDUD
— Katharine The Shark (@Shark_Katharine) June 19, 2014

There was a lot of back and forth and the conversation ended with Cuomo thinking I was out to eat him or something. Not the case at all.

See, Chris unknowingly struck a nerve.

Since Jaws came out 39 years ago, you human folks have feared us, hunted us, thought of us only as mindless killing machines. But we're not mindless. And statistically, when it comes to humans, we aren't killing machines either. And when the adjectives dangerous and toothy rolled off Cuomo's lips, it was like watching the fictional Bruce tear into the kid on the raft. Brutally painful.

My primary mission is scientific, but long term, my role is educating people. And in my first moment in the spotlight, my first moment of national media coverage I thought "yes, here's my chance to say I'm not evil. I'm not going to eat your babies as soon as they stick a toe in the water." Humans and GWS can finally live in harmony... but I may have been a little too hopeful, too soon.

I mean Cuomo could have chosen 1,000 other words  - majestic, sleek, awesome, powerful, beautiful, lovely, hot, sexy beast - all very true and accurate descriptions of me.  #wink

But truth be told... we have A LOT to learn about each other and dangerous is a really good adjective to describe both of our species.

See, my vision isn't always that great. And you lot don't always swim in the clearest water. So if I'm chasing a fish or a turtle or a seal and it swims into murky water, you can guarantee I'm going to follow it. If you're leg is hanging off a surfboard or in my path, it's likely that I could ...er... bump into you.

But those times are the exception.

Since I started my twitter feed, I've maintained, humans are #NotMyFlavor. I did say in my dispute with Cuomo that I would make an exception for him. That was wrong. I wouldn't, and no self-respecting great white shark for that matter, wants to eat people.

I do like to play a good game of "Let's Freak Out the Humans" which usually just means me popping my dorsal fin out of the water for a minute or two and then sit back and watch everyone run out of the surf.

Anyway, the dispute ended:

.@Shark_Katharine @OCEARCH @NewDay we are happy to promote responsible conservation. We need to learn, esp abt ur fangy self.
— Chris Cuomo (@ChrisCuomo) June 19, 2014

But as I was explaining to my buddy, Chris Fischer, I may have gone a bit over the top.

So Cuomo, if you read this, I apologize for my over reaction. Maybe one day we can sit down, slice up some seal and have a good laugh.

What does a shark with too much time on her fins do? Starts a blog

Hey, so maybe its the warm water messing with my head or the snapper, mutated by lingering BP oil, I munched on last night, but I got this crazy idea to start posting things here.

For starters, and for all you #sillyhumans that haven't found me on Twitter yet, my name is Katharine. They call me Kat for short. I'm a great white shark who was tagged by the research organization Ocearch in August of 2013.

Since then I've traveled nearly 4,000 miles - from Cape Cod down the Eastern seaboard, around Florida and into the Gulf of Mexico. I've popped my dorsal fin out of the water hundreds of times, sending a signal to GPS satellites and creating a ping that Ocearch tracks in real time. 

At first, I thought it was kind of like an ex-boyfriend that wouldn't stop following me (#stalker), but then I found Twitter and discovered more of Ocearch's mission and found my voice. I've talked to all kind of humans - some tiny, some full grown, some really funny, some really scared of me. I'm learning a lot about you. 

But I'll share more about all that history stuff later. 

What you need to know now is that 144 characters aren't enough to answer all your questions. I'll still be on Twitter, but sometimes I just need to explain myself and my thoughts in greater detail - and you know "Ima keep it real."

Thanks for reading, thanks for tracking, thanks for tweeting, but most of all, thanks for keeping an open mind. #ReplaceFearWithFacts.