Hardly on
the average tourists 'hope to see' list. The good
news is however that Great White Sharks rarely consider humans being food. The
main reasons why people sometimes get attacked is because the shark
either is curious (like a baby that puts everything in their mouth) or because
it mistakes the person for being a seal (the sharks favourite catch.)
Most people attacked by the shark do get released after the first bite
and survive.
IF you do feel worried, avoid swimming
at dusk and dawn when most of the sharks (not just the White Pointer)
are out hunting.
The
White Pointer is better known as the "Great White". There are
over 600 species of Sharks and rays with the Great White Shark belonging
to a group of fast-swimming sharks called mackerel sharks. Great Whites
are usually solitary animals but have been seen in pairs and even
occasionally in groups up to 7 or 8. Great White Sharks are fish, but
unlike most fish do not have bones but rather a "cartilaginous
skeleton" 2 other differences are their scales which are not smooth
and oily like most fish but very rough like glasspaper, and their gills
(gill slits) which are not covered like most fish but are open
LOCATION
The Great White is found in temperate (mild) waters
fairly close to the shoreline They are found in most parts of the world
including North & South America, Africa, Japan, China, Russia, New
Zealand, and of course Australia
It is little known among Europeans
that Great White Sharks inhabit the Mediterranean.
DESCRIPTION As
you can see in the picture the Great White has a "torpedo
shaped" body with a pointed snout. The belly of the shark is white
(hence its name) but the top of the shark is actually grey making it
hard to spot from above. "Average" size is around 3 1/2 to 5
meters long and weighing about 1,200kg with the females being larger
than the males.
They can have up to 3,000 teeth located in rows. Each tooth is saw
toothed and triangular shaped. As a tooth is broken or lost it is
replaced by a tooth from the next row, so the Great White always
keeps a full mouth of teeth.
FEEDING Great White Sharks are predatory. Their food
includes other sharks, fish, sea lions, seals and other marine mammals,
turtles, small whales. White pointers are also scavengers eating animals
already dead. Despite having teeth White Pointers do not chew their food
but swallow whole pieces ripped off their victim by their teeth.
HUNTING
The Great White swiftly attacks its prey from below
taking a bite and letting the victim bleed to death. To locate its prey
the White Pointer uses its very excellent sense of smell (especially of
blood) and an ability to sense "electrical charges" given off
by muscle movements.
SWIMMING
These sharks use their tails to push them through the
water and their fins to keep themselves balanced. They must constantly
swim or else they will sink.
REPRODUCTION
Great White Sharks give birth to live young which are
called pups. The pups fully develop inside their mother and once born
they are immediately independent from their mother.
The Great White Shark populations is for unknown
reasons diminishing. The shark is know considered a protected
species and is not allowed to be fished or in any other way
killed.
The
White Pointer is better known as the "Great White". There are
over 600 species of Sharks and rays with the Great White Shark belonging
to a group of fast-swimming sharks called mackerel sharks. Great Whites
are usually solitary animals but have been seen in pairs and even
occasionally in groups up to 7 or 8. Great White Sharks are fish, but
unlike most fish do not have bones but rather a "cartilaginous
skeleton" 2 other differences are their scales which are not smooth
and oily like most fish but very rough like glasspaper, and their gills
(gill slits) which are not covered like most fish but are open
As
you can see in the picture the Great White has a "torpedo
shaped" body with a pointed snout. The belly of the shark is white
(hence its name) but the top of the shark is actually grey making it
hard to spot from above. "Average" size is around 3 1/2 to 5
meters long and weighing about 1,200kg with the females being larger
than the males.