“Dr. Hammerhead” is coming.

Peter Klimley — shark expert and adjunct associate professor at the University of California, Davis — will be coming to SUNY-ESF on Thursday to give two lectures about the underwater animal. Klimley, who has extensive experience and research on sharks, will speak from  4 to 5 p.m. in Illick Hall, Room 5 and from 7 to 8 p.m. in the same location.

At the start of his research, Klimley said in an interview with The Daily Orange that many people viewed sharks as “human-eating menaces,” and that scientists had not gotten close to the animal, both in their research and in the natural habitat of the shark.

Most of what the general public knew about sharks at the time, Klimley said, was based on World War II Navy reports. These reports came from incidents in which pilots who had crashed over the ocean were attacked by sharks.

In turn, the Navy ended up funding a large part of research on sharks in order to better understand the mechanics behind a shark’s behavior and what steps pilots or the Navy could take for their personal safety, Klimley said.

He added that this research, however, was distant to the actual shark.

Klimley wanted to break down the barrier between human and shark after finding inspiration in National Geographic, where he read some of zoologist Dian Fossey’s work.

Fossey, who died in December 1985, studied mountain gorillas and worked to understand more about them through seeing the animal in its own habitat. Due to the relatively untouched area surrounding sharks, Klimley was similarly keen to study them specifically.

True to Fossey’s style, Klimley had the desire to actually get in the water and examine sharks closely and, most importantly, in their own environment.

Along with his colleagues, Klimley studies sharks through electronic tagging and tracking underwater movement patterns. He used this information to publish more than 90 papers about sharks. His extensive research and career has earned him his own spot in National Geographic, as well as national media attention.

The topic of sharks, Klimley said, has generally been viewed as dangerous or altogether unknown. He believes, however, that the public’s view on sharks has shifted through the course of his career. Most of what people knew in the beginning was based on fear, especially due to the movie “Jaws.” Klimley described the “horror” of showing sharks as secretive, unknown beings.

Klimley did say there is some truth to the horror in the movie, though.

“Sharks are ambushers and do eat large animals, but not typically humans because of their lack of body fat,” he said.

Though films like “Jaws” can instill fear, Klimley is confident that ignorance is the main driver of the insecurity people have surrounding sharks.

Klimley said he hopes students who attend his two lectures see sharks in a whole new light and promises the lectures will be “geared to entertain and also educate.”

Published on September 23, 2015 at 10:25 pm

Contact Sarah: skrussek@syr.edu