The Great White Shark
The great white shark strikes fear in most people, especially since Hollywood has made this creature of the sea famous for biting. While shark bites do occur, they are nearly as common as the movies would have you think. However, when you have teeth like this sharks and strength to match them, even one bite incident is enough to get you remembered.
The great white shark is most likely the Earth’s most efficient predator. It preys upon seals and other similar, very fatty animals. It needs the intense layers of blubber for energy and does not generally go after less fatty meals.
The reasons that sharks bite people is also misunderstood. While many think it is the eyesight of the shark, scientists now believe that the great white tastes things it is unfamiliar with as a means of finding out just what it is. Unfortunately, the great white is not well acquainted with humans and will practice a bite and spit method of tasting us out of curiosity. When this happens, we end up with serious if not fatal injuries and the shark ends up deciding we aren’t worth his time.
As we learn more about the great white shark, you will come to understand the beauty and grace that this ocean predator possesses and to appreciate the strength and efficiency of the shark.
The great white shark lives primarily in temperate oceans. Some locations that this shark calls home include the coasts of North America, Southern Africa, Australia, New Zealand, Japan, and parts of the Mediterranean.
The great white shark is also the only shark that regularly hunts warm blooded animals such as seals and dolphins.
The great white shark is also the largest predatory shark in existence, reaching lengths of more than 20 feet and weighing up to 7,000 pounds. That’s a lot of shark!
Habitat
The great white shark has a habitat, or home, that suites him best. He roams in the world’s seas and oceans, preferring warmer temperate climates to hot or cold ones. Capable of making long journeys across deep stretches of ocean, the great white shark does not often roam far. Instead, he prefers to stay near coastal areas and around reefs where the fish and sea mammals are plentiful.
The great white shark does not like tropical or polar waters. While it has been known to swim as far as the Alaskan shores, its main base of operation is along the coast of California near the seal hunting grounds.
Great whites are attracted to rocky islands and other locations during the seal’s breeding time. The same sharks return to their favorite sites every year. They feast on young and injured or ill seals until the breeding season is over. When the seals disperse and begin to leave, so do the sharks.
Food and Hunting
Sharks have a great number of prey detectors at their disposal. As the great white shark swims in the ocean, it monitors the taste of the water, changes in pressure, and even electrical activity to help it determine where its next meal may be hiding.
It is the chemical changes in the water that tips off the shark a meal is just around the next current. As the shark follows these changes, they become stronger. This is because the great white shark has a system of very sensitive sensors called a lateral line system that allows it to feel the pull of the waves caused by moving prey.
The eyesight of a shark is also very good. In fact, recent studies indicate that a shark can see better than humans.
Once it gets close to its prey, the shark can feel the electrical impulses of its prey, These impulses increase until the prey comes into visible view for the shark.
Usually, the shark decides to use a bit of the element of surprise as it will often slam into its prey from underneath, biting the prey before returning to finish the job and feeding on the prey. This method allows the shark to use very little energy as a chase is not necessary. The speed of the shark attack, though, is impressive.
Behavior
The great white shark never stops swimming. It is able to swim at low speeds all of the time without wasting energy. There are several reasons why this is important.
The shark must hunt for its food. It cannot wait for food to come to it. Sometimes, food is not waiting just in front of its face. It has to swim long distances and may go several days to a couple of months without a meal.
Thankfully, seals and dolphins do not supply all of the shark’s diet. It also eats tuna, small whales, and other sharks.
The shark also has to keep swimming in order to breath. It is the constant motion that forces oxygenated water into its gills. Standing still would result in certain death for the great white.
Great white sharks often hunt alone. However, sometimes they will hunt in the company of other sharks. There have even been observations of hunting pairs that appear to share their kills with one another. Scientists have not yet determined whether the sharks are cooperating in the hunt or simply allowing the other sharks to be near.
It is possible as scientists do know that sharks are large brained, highly intelligent creatures and not the solitary, mindless killers of Hollywood legend.
Breeding
The great white shark gives birth to a few pups. The pups grow inside the mother and are fed by her unfertilized eggs. This allows them to grow very quickly. When born, the baby sharks are completely self sufficient. The mothers give birth in very shallow waters to avoid having their babies serve as another shark’s meal.
The mothers do not stick around to defend or raise junior. Junior is on his own from his first taste of the ocean.
Conservation
The great white is rare now. The biggest reason for this is Hollywood. It is not the man eating monster that it has been portrayed to be in the movies. Most people do survive a shark bite because the shark is only attempting to investigate us and dislikes the taste of human flesh. In fact, bees kill more humans than sharks do and bees attack humans more often than sharks. Because of the rate at which the great white shark is disappearing, it is now a protected species in both California and South Africa. As attitudes change, the great white gains a slight chance of survival in a world that was once out to destroy it.
A Shark Video
