Many countries have animals that are unique and native to their land. Apart from being cherished by the citizens, countries would build research and breeding centers or even adopt them as the national animal.

The Australians have their koalas, kangaroos and wombats; the Chinese have their giant pandas; the Indians have their Indian elephant and Canadians have their beavers. I did a quick search on Wikipedia. Lo and behold, listed under Singapore’s national animal is the Merlion- which doesn’t even qualify as an animal.

Where and who do the sharks belong to? Nowhere, because marine animals are not confined to an area and also, no country is likely to adopt them as their national animal (probably because they look the way they look).

Goblin sharks, for example, are best known from the waters around Japan. Do you reckon the Japanese would want this:

as their national icon?

Every country is occupied with saving indigenous species or national icons and none bothers about the sharks because sharks don’t belong to anyone or anywhere. Ironically, everyone seem to play a part in exploiting them. Such is the tragedy of the commons.