great white shark tagged posts

I’m a shark expert who comes face-to-face with 20-foot great whites

A marine biologist who swims with 20-foot sharks says people’s perception of them being bloodthirsty predators is nothing but a common myth. Professional shark diver Kayleigh Nicole Grant, 34, who has been based in Hawaii for the last 10 years says the magnificent animals are incredibly shy and wary of human contact.

Stunning underwater shots show a calm Kayleigh getting terrifyingly close to great whites and tiger sharks who happily dance around her. With her incredible footage, she hopes to change people’s perceptions and explains how sharks attacks are still incredibly rare.

She revealed to The Sun Online how these beasts are often harmless and that reading their body language is key to staying safe.

Kayleigh said: “There is nothing quite like sharing space and coexistin...

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Great white sharks are bottom-feeders, at least when they’re little

Great White Shark in Guadalope

Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are often imagined hunting large prey. But apparently they spend more of their time ⁠- at least as juveniles ⁠- nosing around on the seafloor for little morsels of food.

Between 2008 and 2019, researchers studied the stomach contents of 40 juvenile great white sharks captured off the coast of eastern Australia. That information, combined with data from studies elsewhere in the world, painted a surprising picture of how these young sharks feed. The sharks’ main food was a large fish: Australian salmon (Arripis trutta), representing about one-third of what they ate. But more than a fifth of their diet was made up of critters that swim just above the ocean bottom, live in reefs, or bury themselves in the sand.

Here’s a breakdown of the shark di...

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False Bay’s great white sharks have vanished, is the answer in fish and chips

Only a few years ago, scientists estimated there were between 300 and 500 great white sharks in South Africa’s False Bay. Now, they have completely disappeared. While local surfers might have relaxed, the absence of the apex predators is alarming to scientists, and the lucrative industries that rely on their presence.

“I’ve spent my entire life in the field watching these animals on a daily basis,” local cage dive operator and wildlife photographer Chris Fallows says.

“When the waters go quiet, both above and below the surface, and these predators are not there, it sounds huge alarm bells.”

It’s unclear what will happen to marine ecosystems if sharks aren’t there to keep them in check.

Tamlyn Engelbrecht, research manager at local shark safety program Shark Spotters, has been studying sha...

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First confirmed sighting of a great white shark off Majorca in 40 years

Scientists with Spanish conservation group Alnitak recorded the shark for over an hour

For the first time in more than 40 years, a great white shark has been recorded swimming off the Spanish Mediterranean island of Majorca. A wildlife conservation group captured footage of the shark wandering around the Cabrera archipelago.

The last confirmed sighting of such a fish in the Balearic Islands was by a fisherman in 1976.

Great whites can weigh up to two tonnes, grow to lengths of 20ft (6m) and reach speeds of 64km/h (40mph).

“The presence of great white sharks in Spanish waters has been a constant rumour,” biologist and documentary maker Fernando López-Mirones told Efe news agency.

“However, we’ve been unable to document their presence for many years.”

Scientists with Spanish conservation group Alnitak recorded the shark for over an hour.

“We watched the shark up close for 70...

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Nonsense begins again

Sean Pollard

Great Whites are killed after surfer loses arm and hand. The carcasses of two great white sharks caught off the coast of Esperance, in southern Western Australia, will be cut open after a surfer was attacked.

Sean Pollard, 23, lost part of an arm and his other hand in the attack at Kelpids Beach, Wylie Bay, on Thursday morning. He is in a stable condition in Royal Perth Hospital.

Two great white sharks were caught and killed after WA’s Department of Fisheries deployed drum lines off the beach following the incident.

The sharks have been taken to Perth by truck for research purposes, and Mr Pollard’s surfboard will also be forensically examined by shark experts.

However, the Department of Fisheries conceded it might not be possible to confirm whether the sharks killed were involved in the...

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