Curiosity
Anti-shark suit protects against sharks launched in Australia (VIDEO)
The Elude wetsuit (pictured) with its unusual design of jagged blue shapes, conceals divers from sharks by exploiting the predator’s colour blindness. Scientists and shark experts took two years to develop the wetsuit which acts like an invisibility cloak underwater in a bid to keep swimmers safe
Scientists in Australia are claiming to have developed a new wet suit that is invisible to sharks. They claim that these suits are able to camouflage the human body, thereby tricking sharks into believing that humans are poisonous.
Researchers from Australia collaborated with designers from Shark Attack Mitigation Systems (SAMS) to create these “invisibility” suits. The idea behind the suits is that the blue pattern of the suit renders the suits “invisible” to sharks, due to their color blindness. The stripes on the new Diverter suit are engineered to imitate the colors of venomous fish.
Sharks are known as top predators in the ocean. They have a highly developed sense of smell, but are known to have fairly poor vision. This is the weakness which the new Diverter suits are specially engineered to take advantage of. Sharks tend to rely on their vision only during the final phase of an attack.
The new suit is already being hailed as a life saving development. It has been several years in the research and developmental stage, and is only now being unveiled to the public. It is already being hailed as a major scientific breakthrough, and is expected to save many lives.
The suits’ designs were tested with tiger sharks off the coast of Western Australia, but not with humans inside them. More testing is scheduled for this summer, but the especially brave (or shark-prone) can order a suit now. When you’re talking life or limb, $495 isn’t that pricey.
The combination of contrasting colours and differing sizes of the shapes on the Elude wetsuits (pictured) ensures optimal effect at various depths and distances,’ according to SAMS. The company believes that while a shark might smell or sense a person in the water, it is much less likely to attack if it cannot see the target
The new wetsuit designs, aimed at making a surfer look less like a seal – a favorite food for sharks – have been launched and tested in Perth
Check out a video of the Invisibility wetsuit below.
On The Web:
‘Invisibility wetsuit’ to protect against sharks launched in Western Australia
http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2013/jul/18/invisibility-suit-protect-shark-australia