IT’S not a headline you see very often: ‘Toaster spotted in kitchen!’ This is possibly because the incidence of toasters in homes is not very noteworthy, and very seldom fills people with dread.  But: ‘Great White Shark spotted off False Bay beach!’ is a newspaper heading that has everyone reaching for the marine equivalent of pepper spray.  Which is worth mentioning only because it is inherently silly – after all, every year toasters kill twice as many people as sharks. But thanks to films like Jaws and a host of popular legends reinforced by irresponsible press, sharks have become these super-intelligent, constantly ravenous killing machines, endlessly circling the seas waiting for unwary bathers to stick an unsuspecting toe into the water. The truth is that sharks are indeed super-intelligent. They make excellent parents, play like puppies, eat only when hungry, are as curious as cats (which is why they often put their head on one side and wonder why these strange two-legged things behave so strangely when all they want to do is have a sniff), and don’t really like the taste of humans. Despite the fact that more people get killed by their armchairs than by sharks, the human race has decided that the only good shark is a dead shark, and the number of sharks has declined by 90% since record-keeping began. Of the 400 species of sharks, 110 are threatened with extinction. The current score per year is humans: 100million, sharks: 4. Even the weather kills more people than sharks. The greatest threat to sharks, however, is people. This hatred of sharks is born of ignorance, and this is something that Cape town-based Leslie Rochat is trying to combat, with her newly opened Save Our Seas Shark Centre in Kalk Bay. The adventure begins at the gates of the centre, which shows a gorgeous wrought-iron artwork of circling hammerheads. These, despite their villainous appearance, are the most recently evolved and the most harmless sharks.  Inside, the entire centre is dedicated to making people take a new look at sharks, with shark-art and sculpture, shark-marking wallpaper, and a programme of education and activity to give the shark image a make-over. “We don’t realise just how bad things are in our oceans,” says founder, Rochat.  “The oceans are our life-support systems, and yet almost every part of them – the fish, the corals, the water itself – is under dire threat.  By some estimates, overfishing will cause fish populations to collapse before 2050.” The role that the shark plays in this oceanic merry-go-round is a crucial one. Sharks have not evolved much from the days of the Megalodon – the super-shark that lived 100 million years ago and snacked on whales for breakfast. Alright, so maybe they have got a little smaller. But they are the ocean’s vacuum cleaners – most of the pollution in our seas at the moment can be directly attributed to the decline of shark populations.  Sharks are actually fascinating. Until the 16th century they were known as ‘seadogs’. The word ‘shark’ was taken from the Yucatan Maya word for shark, spelled generally as ‘xook’.  Sharks can live to 100, play tag with each other (there has been a recorded sighting of a shark chasing another shark who was trailing a piece of seaweed in the same way that kittens chase a ball of wool).  They cannot stop swimming as they depend on the movement of water over their gills to breathe, but they have solved the tricky problem of sleeping: only one half of the brain drifts off while the other side stays alert. They lay eggs, but the eggs stay inside the mother until birth. Oh, and gestating ragged-tooths mums do not feed – they even grow moss on their teeth to prove it.  If you should go for a dive near Aliwal Shoal during breeding season you will see carpets of swirling sharks, discussing morning sickness and comparing their bumps. The Shark Centre on Main Road, Kalk Bay, not only provides information about sharks and an insight into their personalities, but can – by appointment – organise snorkelling forays in the rock pools outside, take the public along on their expeditions, and share their expertise. The first, um, person to greet you at the entrance to the Shark Centre is Seymour the octopus, who moonlights as receptionist when the humans are busy, humming to himself as he scuds around his aquarium at the front door. It gets better from then onwards:  this is not a dull museum, it is an educational centre that is also the base for visiting crews from the International Save Our Seas Foundation. So there is the thrilling prospect of seeing conservation in action. The most startling fact about sharks, actually, is that if they are stroked on the nose, they go into a state called ‘tonic immobility’ – much like what happens to you if someone nibbles your ear – and then they are pussycats in your hands. So – have you hugged your shark today? You can get more information about the fascinating shark centre at www.rethinktheshark.com