Shark Week 2014 will be here in just THREE days!!  Although there are obviously no sharks in Montana, a lot of Montanans look forward to Shark Week every year.  If you are one of the sharkaholics counting down the seconds, in honor of the beginning of Shark Week this Sunday, August 10th, here are some pretty unusual facts about sharks you may not have known:

• The skin of a female shark is much thicker than that of a male because males bite females during mating, said David Shiffman, a shark researcher and doctoral student at the University of Miami. Pregnant females appear to avoid males on migration routes in the eastern Pacific Ocean, perhaps to avoid being bitten, studies have shown. (via livescience.com)
• Shark teeth are covered in fluoride, making them cavity-resistant. (via livescience.com)
• The average shark has 40-45 teeth and can have up to seven rows of replacement teeth. Because sharks lose a lot of teeth and grow them back quickly, they often go through more than 30,000 teeth in a lifetime. (via list25.com)
• Sharks do not have a single bone in their bodies. Their skeletons are made of cartilage. (via list25.com)
• The first tiger shark pup to hatch inside its mother’s womb devours its unborn siblings until only two pups remain, one on each side of the womb. (via list25.com)
• Despite the fact that an almost equal amount of men and women swim in the ocean, men account for nearly 90 percent of shark attack victims. (via list25.com)
• About two-thirds of shark attacks on humans have occurred in less than six feet of water. (via list25.com)
• Scientists study shark cartilage to research possible cures for cancer because sharks rarely ever develop cancer. (via list25.com)
• A Great White shark weighing 2,664 pounds and measuring almost 17 feet in length was the largest fish ever caught with a rod and reel. (via list25.com)
• Bull sharks can live in both salt and fresh water by regulating the substances in their blood. (via list25.com)
• A little known fact about sharks is that they have an acute sense of hearing. Some sharks can hear prey from up to 3,000 feet away–and sharks ears are located inside their head. (via list25.com)
• Shoes made from shark leather last four times longer than regular leather shoes. (via list25.com)

And there you go…you can continue your countdown with possibly even more knowledge of sharks than you had before reading this!

(photo via thetimes.co.uk)