If it′s summer it must be Discovery Channel′s Shark Week - returns tonight (July 30) with host Mike Rowe and seven all-new specials at 9:00 pm EST
Tagging great whites with satellite devices to track their migration patterns ... testing the strength of chain mail in the middle of a reef shark feeding frenzy ... preparing chum, a mixture of chopped fish parts and blood used to attract sharks - SHARK WEEK host Mike Rowe (Dirty Jobs) finds out that working with sharks can be extremely dirty work.
Cable television′s longest-running programming event, SHARK WEEK first premiered in 1988 and remains a viewer favorite. Last year, SHARK WEEK was watched by 20.6 million people with eight million people tuning in to the premiere special, MythBusters: Jaws Special.
SHARK WEEK kicks off on Discovery Channel Sunday, July 30 with Mike Rowe′s two-hour special Dirty Jobs: Jobs That Bite, and ends Friday, August 4 with the one-hour special Dirty Jobs: Jobs That Bite Harder. Mike shows viewers how these jobs help further our knowledge about sharks and shark behavior by, among other things, making and testing shark repellants and chain mail protective suits - and then diving amid a hungry group of sharks to test them.
SHARK WEEK is produced in conjunction with leading shark researchers around the world, and provides viewers with valuable knowledge about the behavior and characteristics of this diverse and majestic species.
The complete schedule of SHARK WEEK 2006 premieres includes:
Dirty Jobs: Jobs That Bite
Sunday, July 30, 9-11 PM (ET/PT)
To kick off SHARK WEEK, fearless host Mike Rowe climbs into a shark cage in South Africa and comes face-to-face with great whites, performs a shark necropsy, tags great whites for migratory observation, and creates and tests a shark repellant (on himself!) in the Bahamas.
Shark Attack Survivors
Monday, July 31, 9-10 PM (ET/PT)
This special exposes the truth about the world′s most efficient marine predator through an examination of shark attack case studies and first-hand accounts, delivers important information on how to avoid or survive a shark encounter, and joins forces with shark experts to reveal the science and psychology behind shark behavior patterns, explaining how sharks select their prey and why attacks occur.
Perfect Shark
Tuesday, August 1, 9-10 PM (ET/PT)
Is there such a thing as a perfect shark? Host Mike deGruy, who has filmed sharks for over 30 years, heads out into the world′s oceans, examining the most streamlined and extreme designs of sharks today. He also looks at sharks of the prehistoric past, via a CGI-enhanced "virtuarium" that allows him to conjure up and interact with images of any shark that ever lived.
Sharks: Are They Hunting Us?
Wednesday, August 2, 9-10 PM (ET/PT)
Animal behaviorist Dave Salmoni, a relative novice around sharks, meets with shark experts around the world to ask the questions that "everyman" might have about sharks, including: Are sharks really out to get humans? Are attacks really on the rise?
Shark Rebellion
Thursday, August 3, 9-10 PM (ET/PT)
The Brazilian port city of Recife recorded only one shark attack in 75 years. In the past decade, there have been an astonishing 45 attacks with 16 fatalities. An international team of scientists (including the University of South Florida′s Dan Huber) investigates what may have changed to cause this dramatic increase - is it the sharks or could it be human encroachment?
Dirty Jobs: Jobs That Bite Harder
Friday, August 4, 9-10 PM (ET/PT)
Mike Rowe is back to sink his teeth into another hour of dirty jobs with sharks. He helps make a fiberglass replica of sharks for fisherman who release their catch and, in his dirtiest job of SHARK WEEK, Mike heads to the Bahamas to test a chain mail shark suit - in the middle of a feeding frenzy of Caribbean reef sharks.
Science of Shark Sex
Friday, August 4, 10-11 PM (ET/PT)
In his special, viewers travel to the famed Tiputa pass in French Polynesia, to study one of the world′s greatest concentrations of grey reef sharks. Since understanding the reproduction of sharks is key to their preservation, a group of three international scientists set out to study the grey reef′s mating habits, which have never before been captured on film.
Viewers can learn more exciting facts about sharks online at discovery.com/sharkweek.
