Museum expert reveals Jaws secret from @naturalhistorymuseum

Name: Museum expert reveals Jaws secret from @naturalhistorymuseum
Uploaded: 2025-07-11T16:11:23.000Z
Duration: 64 s
Channel: naturalhistorymuseum
Description: The creator, a museum curatorial associate, reveals that the shark on the Jaws poster was inspired by a short-fin mako shark specimen, not a great white. He tells the story of the artist's visit to the museum, showcases the actual preserved shark head from the collection, and explains the scientific attributes of mako sharks that make them the fastest in the sea.

The creator, a museum curatorial associate, reveals that the shark on the Jaws poster was inspired by a short-fin mako shark specimen, not a great white. He tells the story of the artist's visit to the museum, showcases the actual preserved shark head from the collection, and explains the scientific attributes of mako sharks that make them the fastest in the sea.

Creator: @naturalhistorymuseum on TikTok

Transcript

You know that the shark in the Jaws poster is not actually based on a great white shark? The toothy fish in question is actually based on a specimen housed here in the ichthyology collection of the American Museum of Natural History. And that specimen, not a great white. It's actually a short finned mako shark and it's still housed in our collection today. While all of our specimens here in the collection carry with them a certain scientific value, there's also a degree of artistic value and in

Topics: Pets & Animals, Entertainment, History, Education

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