In the near future, we may all get a chance to thank the sharks for their contribution to our good health. Perhaps it's not surprising that sharks may have the answer to many of our most perplexing health questions. This unchanged existence over such a long period is extremely unusual in the animal kingdom.
Most animals mutate in order to adapt to environmental changes.
But sharks are and have been quite content within their surroundings for untold eons. Their apparent lack of interest in changing may have to do with their amazing ability to resist disease. For example, the Smithsonian Institution in Washington, D.C. maintains an enormous database called the Registry of Tumors in Lower Animals. The registry serves as a catalog of cancerous tissues collected from animals worldwide. Prompted by this low incidence of tumors in sharks, biochemists and immunologists decided to explore possible explanations of sharks' unusual resistance to disease.