This week, the startling image of a 1,000 pound bull shark has been circulating the internets. But what really caught my eye was the quote from the lead researcher. He told news outlets that bull sharks "have the most testosterone of any animal on the planet, so that should tell you a little something." Tsk tsk. No matter what those websites tell you, it's simply not true.
This isn't the first time I have heard this whole bull sharks and testosterone bit. Indeed, all over the internet, you see claims that bull sharks are so aggressive because of their insane testosterone levels. But it was the character Bruce Kibbutz in Grand Theft Auto IV that really got people talking about bull shark testosterone. During the game, the roid-raging fitness freak explains how he juices on testosterone taken from Chilean bull sharks. Suddenly, extreme body builders and skeptics wanted to know if you could really bulk up on bull shark blood. The rumor, as I'd heard it in college, is that the fierce attitudes of these large and aggressive sharks is due to unfathomably high circulating levels of testosterone. Specifically, these menacing monsters supposedly have higher serum testosterone levels than any species on the planet, land or sea, and that even a female bull shark has higher levels than a testosterone-raged male elephant in musth. I know I'm as much to blame as anyone, as I've repeated that line myself. But when I was asked about it, I realized that I didn't know if it's true. How do the circulating testosterone levels compare between bull sharks and other species? Could you procure enough testosterone by catching and eating bull sharks to beef up your body? Let's start with that elephant. In the red corner, standing up to 11.5 feet tall and weighing in at up to 20,000 lbs,
