Shark Week 2017: #TeamPhelps vs #TeamShark to kick off Shark Week

Humans have been fascinated with sharks for the longest time, most of which was sparked by the hit movie Jaws (1975). This year, Discovery Channel is giving shark fans something to cheer about once more as Shark Week kicks off with the unlikeliest of pairings: a great white shark going up against none other than former Olympian Michael Phelps.

PHELPS VS SHARK. This is just a sign of things to come for Shark Week./VIDEO Discovery Channel

Shark Week is the longest-running summer TV event. For 29 years, it has delivered groundbreaking shark stories that incorporate innovative research technology to reveal compelling insights on some of the world’s most unique species of sharks.

Discovery Channel has played host to Shark Week and is now embarking on a first in its 29-year history: a synced-up broadcast of Shark Week in more than 220 countries and territories beginning Monday, July 24 at 8:10 p.m.!

Here’s what to expect if you’re planning to catch Shark Week in the Philippines:

Monday, July 24

LEARN ALL ABOUT SHARKS. These are just a few of the things you should know about the Great White Shark./VIDEO Sharkopedia

SHARK SCHOOL WITH MICHAEL PHELPS

Michael Phelps joins Doc Gruber and Tristan Guttridge of the Bimini Shark Lab to get a crash course on everything ‘shark.’ They’ll dispel the myths and common misconceptions, teach him how to safely dive with sharks – including how to stay calm when a hammerhead swims two feet above his face – and will get Michael Phelps up close and personal with the incredible power of a Great White.

GREAT WHITE SHARK SERIAL KILLER LIVES

Every two years in October – in 2008, 2010, 2012 and 2014 – a secluded beach on the central California coast has been the scene of great white shark attacks. Is it the same shark returning again and again? And will the attacks continue in October 2016? Dr. Michael Domeier believes the Surf Beach attacks may be more than a tragic coincidence. With the help of shark experts Ralph Collier and Cal Lutheran, and using satellite tags and DNA technology, he wants to out the killer once and for all.

Tuesday, July 25

SHARK-CROC SHOWDOWN

Dr. Mark Meekan and conservationist Paul de Gelder go on an expedition to one the sharkiest places in the world – a remote wilderness called the Cobourg Peninsula in the Northern Territory of Australia. Meekan is there to count sharks and species as part of Vulcan’s Global FinPrint project – Paul de Gelder’s going because he heard that sharks and crocs fight over sea turtles out there. What happens when 14-foot crocodiles move into shark infested waters? That’s what they’re going to find out! 

SHARK VORTEX

Each summer the Gulf Stream pushes north into the waters of southern New England, bringing with it 30 species of shark. Greg Skomal and Joe Romeiro study the annual spectacle, focusing on three sharks – makos, great whites, and porbeagles – that can out-swim, out-think, and out-compete all the others.

Wednesday, July 26

SHARKS AND THE CITY: LA

Along the coastline of LA, great white sharks are increasing and they seem to be hunting out of season. Dr. Chris Lowe, Director of the CSULB Shark Lab, wants to know why. His investigation takes him to Guadalupe Island, off Mexico, where he finds the answer.

SHARKS AND THE CITY: NEW YORK

For decades, great white shark numbers were in decline in the waters around New York. But now, seals are back in New York Harbor – can the great whites be far behind? Marine biologist Craig O’Connell tries to find out how close they really are and shows what a future with great whites in New York will look like.

Thursday, July 27

THE LOST CAGE

A team of explorers floats in a one-of-a-kind shark cage, 500 miles into the Gulf of Mexico. Acting as human lures in the open ocean will they encounter its deadliest shark?

GREAT HAMMERHEAD INVASION

Early November, giant hammerheads arrive off Bimini, in the Bahamas. But why? Leading shark scientist Tristan Guttridge tags and follows these normally solitary sharks to find out. Many appear to be pregnant females, as an ultrasound of a female hammerhead shows. Guttridge believes they spend winter in Bimini to feed the growing young in their bellies – and then move on to the Florida coast to prey on migrating blacktips – and the evidence is unmistakable.

Friday, July 28

PHELPS VS. SHARK: GREAT GOLD VS. GREAT WHITE

They are one of the fastest and most efficient predators on the planet: Sharks. He is our greatest champion to ever get in the water: Michael Phelps. 39 world records. 23 Olympic golds. But he has one competition left to win. An event so monumental no one has ever attempted it before. The world’s most decorated athlete takes on the ocean’s most efficient predator: Phelps V Shark – the race is on!

SHARK SWARM

At various times of the year and in different locations around the world, sharks of many kinds gather, swarm, and spiral. Dr. Tristan Guttridge conducts a study of just what brings them together, and what’s going on in these shark ‘societies’.

Shark Week starts airing on Monday, July 24 at 8:10 p.m. on the Discovery Channel. Discovery Channel is available on SkyCable Channel 39 and Cignal Channel 140.

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This is a press release from Discovery Channel.
Image and video source: Shark Week on Facebook