Follow Slashdot stories on Twitter

 


Forgot your password?
Close
typodupeerror
×
Image

Sharks Seen Swimming Down Australian Streets 210

Posted by samzenpus from the we're-going-to-need-a-bigger-sidewalk dept.
As if the flood waters weren't bad enough for the people of Queensland, it now appears that there are sharks swimming in the streets. Two bull sharks were spotted swimming past a McDonald’s in the city of Goodna, Butcher Steve Bateman saw another making its way past his shop on Williams street. Ipswich councillor for the Goodna region Paul Tully said: "It would have swam several kilometres in from the river, across Evan Marginson Park and the motorway. It’s definitely a first for Goodna, to have a shark in the main street."

*

This discussion has been archived. No new comments can be posted.

Sharks Seen Swimming Down Australian Streets More

Sharks Seen Swimming Down Australian Streets

Comments Filter:

  • Obligatory (Score:4, Funny)

    by toygeek ( 473120 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @03:15AM (#34924664) Journal

    RIP Steve Irwin. These are the kinds of things he *lived* for.

    That being said...

    "Land shark!"

  • Not surprising (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Cimexus ( 1355033 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @03:17AM (#34924676)

    Hardly surprising is it? Rivers breaking their banks mean things that would normally be in the river are now in places other than the river. Considering the large amount of ~actual~ news coming out of the flooding situation, not sure why this random factoid above all others has made Slashdot. (Yes I know it's Idle...but still...)

    Oh and /insert mandatory fricken laser beams joke here.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by ZZane ( 144066 )

      Wish I had mod points for this. Sharks are in river, river overflows into town, sharks are now in town. Surprised? No.

      • Re: (Score:3)

        by Buggz ( 1187173 )

        Wish I had mod points for this. Sharks are in river, river overflows into town, sharks are now in town. Surprised? No.

        I was a bit surprised at there being sharks in the river in the first place, so I did a search on freshwater sharks. Thus, I learned something today, from Idle no less..

        • Bullsharks are actually a bit of a hybrid. They are usually found on our coast lines but frequently swim up river. The picture is misleading too as is the one on wikipedia. These things are normally quite small when actually swimming around in shallow rivers. Though they are aggressive bastards. We've been snapped at before while wakeboarding in one of our rivers.

        • The bull shark is one of the few sharks which can make the fresh/salt water transition. They even have a special gland which secretes salt, allowing them to function properly. In fact, its believed that bull sharks may actually raise their young in fresh water - which provides many advantages.

          Bull sharks are actually fairly common in large rivers in the US, including and especially in the Mississippi. Over the last century, its now believed many cases of both humans and pets going missing in such rivers are

    • Actually it is. Typically the crocs eat the sharks before they can cause too much trouble.

    • It involves sharks. That makes it news for nerds. :P

      • Re: (Score:2, Informative)

        by tsa ( 15680 )

        Not if they don't have freakin' lasers attached to their heads.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Lumpy ( 12016 )

      Because sharks are Salt Water creatures and swimming in Fresh water typically burns them pretty good.

      That means the water flooding is highly salty. Very interesting.

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by h4rr4r ( 612664 )

        Read about bull sharks. Hell read about sharks in general before shooting off at the mouth.

  • Can we please skip the obligatory jokes? (Score:2, Insightful)

    by Anonymous Coward

    Come on people. That damn movie was released in 1997. You'd think that after over thirteen years, we'd be able to come up with something that's (a) original, and (b) actually funny.

  • Why? (Score:5, Informative)

    by brad-d ( 30038 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @03:22AM (#34924704)

    So one person reports (unconfirmed) two bull sharks in flood waters. Local media the next day generally has the opinion the story is a load of bollocks and now almost a week later it appears on Slashdot (a news for nerds site) as fact.... OK.

    If you want some (slightly) more nerdy stuff to report about the floods go research the Wivenhoe dam.

    I've really got to stop reading idle stories.

  • Big Mac Attack (Score:3)

    by meerling ( 1487879 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @03:23AM (#34924714)
    They were just hitting the Mickey Ds for a bite to eat. Maybe they were hoping Ronald himself would be there so they could get a happy meal. :)
    • This might get entertaining. In the Maritimes (Eastern Canada) you can buy a McLobster. [gunaxin.com] Maybe they're just getting everything ready to sell the Shark-O-Filet?

    • Shark: "Does this clown taste funny to you?"

      Other shark: "Mmm... tastes like cardboard"

  • I wonder who would win in a fight, a crocodile or a shark? Australia has the most dangerous animals, those poor aussies...

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by MrDoh! ( 71235 )

      I wonder who would win in a fight, a crocodile or a shark? Australia has the most dangerous animals, those poor aussies...

      There's no Crocs round here.
      Sharks ate 'em all.

      Hey bluey, I can see the pub from here.

    • Probably not the first time this has been tried. Crocs have been seen a long way off shore in the ocean so they must have been eating something.

    • Re: (Score:3)

      by stjobe ( 78285 )

      Close to shore, money's on the croc. A bit further out, the shark.

      The show "Animal Face-Off" on Discovery did their first episode on Great White vs Saltwater Croc, and their conclusion was that the Great White would win, mostly because it doesn't have to surface to breathe:

      The shark is looking for food. It hits the crocodile with the bump-and-bite technique. It then tries to attack. The crocodile bites the shark's tail, but can't get a good grip. The shark swims away and comes back for a full-on assault, bu

    • Re:Crocodile vs Shark! (Score:5, Funny)

      by Dunbal ( 464142 ) * on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @05:02AM (#34925156)

      The spiders would beat them both.

      • Ayers Rock (it's a big rock in outback Oz) paper scissors.

        Gecko frightens non-Aussie-native human. Human's out, hiding away from gecko-attracting lights and insects (that would be, ohhhh, somewhere in Antarctica?)

        Gecko eats spider. Spider's out, much in the sense that the innocuous paper covers rock.

        Gecko v shark. Hardly a decent entree, where's the rest of the plate?

        Shark v croc. How big a croc did you say it was? Less than 2.5m? Shark. One of those medieval guys? Croc.

  • They must be a new type of shark given that the land has been relatively dry for the last five days or so. Either that, or Slashdot is posting things days after they occur... Nah - new type of shark is bound to be the explanation!

  • PHFT! Nothing new! (Score:5, Funny)

    by definate ( 876684 ) on Wednesday January 19, 2011 @03:34AM (#34924786)

    Seriously, I've lived in Australia all my life, and I can tell ya', there's always been sharks swimming in the streets!

    Blimey, if I had a 2 dollar coin for every time I've seen a shark swimming in the streets, I'd be a billionaire! (1 billion AUD ~ 23,540 USD)

    We got it all down here, land sharks, flying snakes, drop bears, bunyips, flys that bite, the worlds most poisonous spiders. Basically, if it's an animal that can kill you, we've got it. Crikey, we even import dangerous animals from other countries [blogspot.com], just to make sure we've got 'em!

    Land sharks? Phft! Nobodies ever died from a land shark!

    Now drop bears, that's a lethal animal. I lost my father to a drop bear, came out of no where. R.I.P. Dad.

    • Cycling home from work today there were all these hoopsnakes running red lights right past me. What is this country coming to?

      • I know, right? Fuckin' hoopsnakes! So sick of them rolling about the country side, terrifying old grandmas, going above the speed limit, with absolutely no regard for polite society. I was at the pub the other day with Dazza, and we saw a hoopsnake carrying a fucking didgeridoo he'd stolen off some abo, who was limping because he was only wearing one thong!

        We thought that was a bloody sight for sore eyes, but we shut our mouths when we realized it was Sir Ernie Dingo. Luckily he was too pissed to realize wh

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by sjwt ( 161428 )

      Running behind the times, ya know the whole AU$ being either aprox = or even over the value of the US$.

      But worry not, its the NZ$ being worth more then the US$ that is a sign of the Apocalypse.

      • LOL I'm not running behind the times, just making a joke.

        When we hit parity, I went nuts buying up large! Was awesome!

        The NZD will never reach parity, unless the US/China/etc decide that they really really want a lot more wool/lord of the rings, or unless they develop a significantly sized financial market. Which is possible, but unlikely.

        • It'll never happen, we're borrowing $250 million a week from other countries. We're on the way to become the Ireland of the south pacific- we're just doing it a week at a time.

    • (1 billion AUD ~ 23,540 USD)

      Actually, at the moment its more like the other way around.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Himring ( 646324 )
      Never heard of a drop bear. Just read the wiki. I assumed initially your dad died some how from spilling his drink....

  • Did the sharks have frickin lasers on their heads?

    If not, why didn't the Australian government put lasers on their heads? Everyone deserves a warm meal!

  • motherfuckin' street.

    Okay, I probably didn't get that right verbatim, but you get the gist.

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by Kozz ( 7764 )

      motherfuckin' street.

      Okay, I probably didn't get that right verbatim, but you get the gist.

      Look, I saw the movie on television, and they didn't employ such filthy language. I'm pretty sure it's "monkey-fighting [sharks] on this Monday-to-Friday [street]".

  • If the waters are as muddy as they appear in the picture, how would sharks not get their gills clogged? And what is the salinity of the water?

    • Re: (Score:2)

      by vlm ( 69642 )

      If the waters are as muddy as they appear in the picture, how would sharks not get their gills clogged? And what is the salinity of the water?

      Don't worry about that, worry about this:

      Two bull sharks were spotted swimming past a McDonald’s

      That "food" will make anyone sick.

  • She'll be right, mate!!

    That's not a shark! This is a shark!!

    What are ya, some kind of sheila pomey bum burglar?

  • come on, get us some youtube.

    urgh, i can see the "syfy" guys planning the movie already - what is it with them and shark films?

  • Two bull sharks were spotted swimming past a McDonald’s in the city of Goodna...

    Anyone else think we'll see a McDonald's commercial with an Aussie-accented shark?

    And Steve Irwin was right: sharks WILL eat ANYTHING!

  • It would have swam several kilometres in from the river, across Evan Marginson Park and the motorway. It's definitely a first for Goodna

    Not just sharks, but GPS-equipped sharks!

  • That's nothing. We've had Bull Sharks in Minnesota! (http://www.nokomiseast.org/yard/light/creeksharks.html)

  • there's going to be a rumble

  • It would have swam several kilometers in from the river, across Evan Marginson Park and the motorway

    It's probably the perspective to reach a McDonald's that drives them.

  • "Excuse me, where can I see a shark?"

    "Just head down Queensland boulevard two blocks and take a left on Kukeberra drive."

  • Now a bald man will claim that for getting rid of those laser equiped sharks from the streets Australia will have to pay one hundred billon dollars,

  • when they hit the financial district.

  • [Scene: A New York apartment. Someone knocks on the door.]
    Woman: [not opening the door] Yes?
    Voice: (mumbling) Mrs. Arlsburgerhhh?
    Woman: What?
    Voice: (mumbling) Mrs. Johannesburrrr?
    Woman: Who is it?
    Voice: [pause] Flowers.
    Woman: Flowers for whom?
    Voice: [long pause] Plumber, ma'am.
    Woman: I don't need a plumber. You're that clever shark, aren't you?
    Voice: [pause] Candygram.
    Woman: Candygram, my foot. You get out of here before I call the police. You're the shark, and you know it.
    Voice: Wait. I-I'm on

  • Lucky Aussie bastards. Here on the Central Coast of California, during our recent flooding episodes, the best we got were ducks swimming past our front door.

  • I'm sure those sharks were looking for the laser store.

  • Two all-grey sharkies

    special sauce, lettuce, cheese

    pickles, onions on a wet motorway

Slashdot Top Deals

I tell them to turn to the study of mathematics, for it is only there that they might escape the lusts of the flesh. -- Thomas Mann, "The Magic Mountain"

Close