Sharks like to eat things, this is something that we’ve known since early childhood when the cartilage-bearing predators were the most feared thing in the ocean. But we’ve all grown up since then but sharks are still to be feared – only now it’s because they may interrupt our daily stream of Twitter posts.
Several reports have cited sharks as being a motivator for Google rolling out either Kevlar-protected or steel wire reinforced undersea fibre optics cabling, though some reports state that Kevlar matting is being used which neatly merges the two conflicting tales. The end result of such a cable that is less likely to take damage from rocks slashing through the padding and insulation and yes, shark teeth could also do some damage to the cabling in the same way.
Or it could just be an excuse for us to post this old-ish video of sharks munching on an undersea cable. We’re actually going with this explanation as being more likely.
Source: Engadget, Salon Image: By Fallows C, Gallagher AJ, Hammerschlag N (2013) [CC-BY-2.5], via Wikimedia Commons