Lara vs Shark

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If you say that's unbelievable, did you ever think about counting how many seconds she's under water? I did that and i only remembered it lasted at least more than one minute! And by the way I think this story is a fiction.

Me too... I actually laughed out loud in the theatre during this scene.

To clear some things up; here are some shark facts:

-Sharks can detect blood in the water at one part per million; that is, one drop of blood per million drops of water. This can be as far as a mile away.

-Sharks have sensitive organs called ampulli of lorenzini on their snouts. These organs detect electromagnetic impulses put off by all living beings. Their purpose is thought to be to allow sharks to continue to pursue their prey in the last few inches of a strike as a shark will close its eyes to protect them when it goes in for the bite. (Ever tried to catch a fish bare-handed? They move pretty darn quick; they wouldn't be in the same place they were when you started to close your hand.) Punching a shark in its snout was an idea that came about because doing so is thought to disrupt the "signal" and confuse the shark enough to buy some time. This may or may not be enough to convince the shark that you are not its normal prey and deter it from further attack.

-The shark depicted in the movie was a tiger shark; these sharks prey mostly on sea turtles but are known to be very exploratory in their diet. They are sometimes called the "dumpsters of the sea" as just about everything from license plates to human feet has been found in their stomachs.

Logically, it is NOT likely the shark would have found Lara before she ran out of air. It is NOT likely that her punch would have had enough force to deter its bite. It is NOT likely that the shark would have turned around and run for the surface; nor is it likely that it would have not noticed the human hanging onto its dorsal fin for a lift; not considered the possibility it was being attacked, and not try to dislodge her.

But, then, logic isn't why we watch movies. It's to get away from logic for a little while. :)

Hope this clears some things up.

What if two sharks had come?

Haha, I know the feeling epitome, that's why I posted it :)

Good point on the weight and speed; although, in a fluid environment you might just end up being pushed backward with the force of your own punch meeting the force of the charge of the shark. I don't know, though, having never tried it :)

I don't get the second cut either... "movie logic" suggests that she was trying to make a larger cut with a more serious blood flow?

As to farradin; if there were two sharks, well, she probably would have been even more fictionally screwed than she was in the existing scenario. But one shark was all the writers needed so it's all she got. To answer from a biological perspective; sharks are opportunistic feeders and wouldn't let a little thing like another shark deter them from a meal; unless they were much smaller than the other shark (appetizers, anyone?) or unless that meal was a human. We don't provide them with the nutrients they need; so we don't "taste" good and they usually only take one or two bites before they figure that out. Unfortunately for whomever they're biting; when you're talking a 12-inch bite radius and 1-inch teeth, that's going to be enough to take off a limb. Hence the reason they find human feet and arms in shark's stomachs but very, very, very rarely more than that.