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People tend to think of sharks as fearsome, powerful, untouchable predators.
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They're definitely scary and powerful, but… untouchable?
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Maybe not as much as you might imagine.
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Even the white shark, often considered the largest predatory fish on the planet, is not immune to the unforgiving nature of, well, nature.
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These iconic predators of the sea face all kinds of threats.
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And in two different places, for two apparently different reasons, great whites are dying in large numbers.
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And scientists aren't totally sure why.
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First, let's introduce the Great White Shark, also known as the White Pointer, or just simply the White Shark.
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They were named for their white undersides, despite the fact that most of the shark is actually gray.
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White sharks are common in popular media.
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And why wouldn't they be?
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They grow to around 4 .5 meters long and roughly 1 ,800 kilograms.
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And who doesn't love a massive predator?
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They also make pretty compelling subjects for lots of scientific research, and they can be easier to study than other sharks.
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See, studying migratory species is extremely hard.
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They spend time far offshore and in deep waters that are really hard to reach.
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But even though white sharks are also migratory, their patterns can be pretty predictable,
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and they tend to spend a lot of their time close to beaches and in shallower waters when they're not crossing oceans.
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Bad news if you're a seal.
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But if you're a researcher, this makes your job way easier.
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And the truth is, sharks, including the white shark, are critical to the health of our ocean ecosystems.
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They help regulate the population sizes and behaviors of animals at lower trophic levels, such as sea lions and otters.
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So if we want a healthy ocean, and therefore a healthy planet, we want healthy sharks.
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Which is where our problem lies.
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Let's start with South Africa.
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White sharks are ubiquitous in South African waters, aggregating in several regions around the coast.
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Or, at least, they used to be.
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Over the past decade, people have seen fewer white sharks swimming in those waters, and more of them washing up on beaches.
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Beached shark carcasses were often found with missing livers and perfect slashes on them, so precise and clean they almost seemed surgical.
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Which probably raised more questions than it answered.
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And some people were worried that swordfish had evolved into scalpel fish.
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But the discovery of tooth marks on the bodies led scientists to a more feasible hypothesis — orcas.
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Although we often describe white sharks as if they're the top of the food chain, that's not always the case.
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Orcas are known to hunt white sharks, and they're not interested in a filet -o -shark.
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They really just want the shark's liver.
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Shark livers are massive, making up approximately a third of their body weight.
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They're filled with lipids, and since sharks don't have gas -filled swim bladders like their bony fish cousins,
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this fatty liver is what they rely on for buoyancy regulation.
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Because of how fatty and nutrient -dense shark livers are, it's the perfect meal for a fast -paced, warm -blooded predator like the killer whale.
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Orcas have been known to hunt white sharks in other regions, like California.
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And when an orca pod rolls through, the sharks start to roll out, avoiding their predators like any sensible prey would.
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However, while the new snacking habits of South African orcas sounds like a tidy answer,
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it may not be the only reason the number of white sharks has dipped in the last few years.
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In addition to orca gains, South African white sharks are also dealing with fishing pressure and shark deterrent efforts on local beaches.
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While experts really aren't sure which factor tipped the shark scales, it all adds up to a pretty hostile environment.
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Experts hope that addressing as many of these concerns as possible may bring back the iconic
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South African sharks.
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Not sure how they'll convince the orcas to lay off the liver, but we'll see what happens.
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Our next group of endangered white sharks is found off the coast of North America.
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And what's disrupting the sharks in Canada and the US is even more confusing
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and less visible than it is in South Africa.
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Allow me to explain.
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In 2023, a dead white shark washed ashore on Prince Edward Island in Canada.
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It didn't look injured and seemed otherwise pretty healthy.
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But when researchers did a necropsy, which is just an animal autopsy, they found that the shark had inflammation of the brain and surrounding tissues,
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otherwise known as meningoencephalitis.
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Meanwhile, more seemingly healthy sharks were washing up dead, blood, many with brain swelling.
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One shark was seen displaying some odd behavior, like swimming erratically and bumping into things before dying and washing onto a beach.
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Surely this was another case of brain inflammation, right?
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Shockingly, no. Just when we think we've figured out a pattern, good ol' Mother Nature throws a curveball.
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And it's not just the Great Whites.
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Dead sharks with swollen brains seemed to be on the rise in several species, like sandbar sharks and thresher sharks.
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Even stranger, this is happening in the Atlantic and the Pacific, meaning whatever the problem is, it's really widespread.
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So, some mysterious thing is causing sharks' brains to swell up and die, and we still don't know exactly what.
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But, as it turns out, the answer may be hidden in a bunch of decades -old frozen salmon sharks.
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In the early 2000s, 18 beached salmon sharks were found to have died of meningoencephalitis.
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And in 2012, researchers analyzed some of them and found that a type of bacterium called
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Carnobacterium malta rheumaticum was the likeliest culprit.
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Which was weird, because this bacterium has been found in other fish species and in the water they swim in.
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And those guys all have perfectly unswollen brains.
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But for some unknown reason, this bacterium may be becoming pathogenic in some fish, including sharks.
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And we have an idea of how it could be reaching their brains.
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Through the endolymphatic system, which aids in hearing, balance, and orientation.
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Sharks have small pores on their heads that lead to their endolymphatic ducts, which provide access to the cranium.
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And we know that when these structures get invaded by pathogens in the water,
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it can cause disease and even death in several shark and ray species.
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So what do we know?
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We know that, for a decade, sharks have been washing up on beaches.
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We know that their deaths are often caused or accompanied by meningoencephalitis.
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And we know that this disease is sometimes attributed to a particular bacterium.
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What we don't know is probably the biggest piece of this medically mysterious marine puzzle,
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which is why this is happening and how concerned we all should be about it.
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Scientists are worried for some reasons and not so worried for others.
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Seeing sharks wash up on shore doesn't seem like it could be positive in any way,
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but it could be a sign that shark populations are recovering.
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A bigger population of sharks that are living also means there's a bigger population of sharks that are dying, hence an increase in washed up carcasses.
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And if this thing is contagious, more sharks also means more of a chance for diseases to be passed around,
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simply because the population is bigger and might be more densely packed into an area.
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So while we don't love a disease, if it means that shark populations are rebounding, it's not all bad.
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The concern comes in though
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when we start to think about a bacteria that's been living on other fish species without a problem, suddenly becoming a deadly pathogen in sharks.
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If this truly is what is happening, we need to understand why.
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Is it climate change?
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Pollution?
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Or a secret third option?
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Knowing what causes the bacterium to go rogue can help us figure out how to stop it from spreading
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and prevent it from happening with other bacteria in the future.
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These two shark -killing mysteries have two different causes, and therefore two different solutions, at least.
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But that also means they're teaching us two different lessons about our planet, our oceans, and all the big and not so big creatures in them,
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from the sharks and the orcas down to tiny bacteria.
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And maybe the biggest one is that the driving force behind ecosystem shifts is never really black and white.
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Vocabolario e note di pronuncia per questa lezione
Questa lezione di conversazione si basa sul video “Two Different Things Are Killing Sharks”. Le parole che ritornano più spesso: shark, orca, brain, liver, fish. Questo video contiene 101 frasi e 1404 parole da ripetere con lo shadowing. Il parlato dura 7:32. Chi parla va veloce, circa 186 parole al minuto: aspettati suoni legati e ridotti. Solo il 77% delle parole rientra nelle 3.000 più comuni dell’inglese, quindi il lessico è impegnativo.
Vocaboli chiave di questo video
15 parole del video che vale la pena imparare, con pronuncia e significato:
| Parola | Pronuncia | Significato |
|---|---|---|
| wash verbo | /wɑʃ/ | lavare |
| predator sostantivo | /ˈpɹɛd.ə.tɚ/ | predatore |
| swim verbo | /swɪm/ | nuotare, natare |
| scientist sostantivo | /ˈsaɪəntəst/ | scienziato, scienziata |
| liver sostantivo | /ˈlɪvɚ/ | fegato |
| researcher sostantivo | /ˈɹiˌsɝ.t͡ʃɚ/ | ricercatore, ricercatrice |
| swell verbo | /swɛl/ | gonfiarsi, ingrossarsi |
| mysterious aggettivo | /mɪˈstɪɹi.əs/ | misterioso, ignoto |
| iconic aggettivo | /aɪˈkɑnɪk/ | iconico |
| salmon sostantivo | /ˈsæmən/ | salmone |
| ecosystem sostantivo | /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/ | ecosistema |
| inflammation sostantivo | /ɪnfləˈmeɪ̯ʃən/ | infiammazione |
| meal sostantivo | /ˈmiːl/ | pasto |
| meanwhile avverbio | /ˈmiːnwaɪl/ | intanto, nel frattempo |
| killer sostantivo | /ˈkɪlɚ/ | assassino, assassina |
I phrasal verb che sentirai
| Parola | Pronuncia | Significato |
|---|---|---|
| figure out verbo | scoprire, rendersi conto | |
| lay off verbo | licenziare | |
| make up verbo | /ˌmeɪk ˈʌp/ | comporsi |
| turn out verbo | risultare |
La grammatica di questo video
Le strutture che chi parla usa di più, con le parole esatte del video:
| Struttura | Nel video |
|---|---|
| Present perfect continuous have/has been + -ing — un’azione iniziata prima e ancora in corso | have been washing · that's been living |
| Forma passiva be + participio passato — conta ciò che accade, non chi lo fa | were named · were often found · are known |
| Present perfect have/has + participio passato — un’azione passata che conta ancora adesso | have seen · have been known · has dipped |
Pronuncia a cui fare attenzione
Chi parla usa 21 contrazioni e forme ridotte, come they're, don't, aren't. Pronunciale nella forma breve, così come le senti.
- I suoni “th”: tooth /tuθ/, hypothesis /haɪˈpɒθɪsɪs/, pathogen /ˈpæθəd͡ʒn̩/, pathogenic /pæθəˈd͡ʒɛnɪk/, thresher /ˈθɹɛʃə(ɹ)/
- I suoni “sh” e “zh”: wash /wɑʃ/, inflammation /ɪnfləˈmeɪ̯ʃən/, regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/, shore /ʃɔɹ/, tissue /ˈtɪʃ.(j)u/
- Parole lunghe — attenzione all’accento: mysterious /mɪˈstɪɹi.əs/, ecosystem /ˈikoʊˌsɪstəm/, inflammation /ɪnfləˈmeɪ̯ʃən/, regulation /ˌɹɛɡjʊˈleɪʃən/, orientation /ˌɔː.ɹi.ənˈteɪ.ʃən/
I suoni difficili per chi parla italiano:
- /h/ — va soffiata, non è muta: hence /ˈhɛns/, habit /ˈhæb.ɪt/, hostile /ˈhɑstəl/, hypothesis /haɪˈpɒθɪsɪs/
- Consonante finale — senza aggiungere una vocale dopo: wash /wɑʃ/, scientist /ˈsaɪəntəst/, mysterious /mɪˈstɪɹi.əs/, iconic /aɪˈkɑnɪk/, hence /ˈhɛns/
- /æ/ — più aperta della “e”: salmon /ˈsæmən/, habit /ˈhæb.ɪt/, shallow /ˈʃæloʊ/, aggregate /ˈæɡ.ɹɪ.ɡət/, snack /snæk/
Come esercitarsi con questo video
- Ascolta tutto il video una volta senza parlare e annota le parole che non conosci.
- Inizia a velocità 0,75×, fai shadowing frase per frase e torna alla velocità normale quando diventa facile.
- Registrati e confronta con l’originale, facendo attenzione a parole come wash, predator, swim.
Cos'è la tecnica dello Shadowing?
Shadowing è una tecnica di apprendimento delle lingue supportata da studi scientifici, originariamente sviluppata per la formazione dei traduttori professionisti e resa popolare dal poliglotta Dr. Alexander Arguelles. Il metodo è semplice ma potente: ascolti un audio in inglese di madrelingua e lo ripeti immediatamente ad alta voce — come un'ombra che segue il parlante con un ritardo di solo 1–2 secondi. A differenza dell'ascolto passivo o degli esercizi di grammatica, lo shadowing costringe il tuo cervello e i muscoli della bocca a elaborare e riprodurre simultaneamente i modelli di discorso reale. La ricerca dimostra che migliora significativamente la precisione della pronuncia, l'intonazione, il ritmo, il discorso connesso, la comprensione dell'ascolto e la fluidità del parlato — rendendolo uno dei metodi più efficaci per la preparazione alla prova di speaking dell'IELTS e per la comunicazione reale in inglese.