The Great White has an incredible sense of smell that it uses to sniff out prey. Another interesting sense of the Great White is the ampulla of Lorenzini, tiny pores in the skin that are highly sensitive to electrical discharges. These pores can sense charges as little as 0.005 microvolts. This "sixth sense" is useful in tracking prey's movement from long distances. In fact, they can feel disturbances in the water from up to a mile away.
When great white sharks are young, they feed on smaller prey, like fish and rays. As they grow larger, they feed more exclusively on marine mammals, such as sea lions, seals, and small whales. The great white is at the top of the food chain and has few threats in the ocean. Only orcas and larger sharks can …show more content…
When great whites gather, they seem to show different behaviors, from open-mouthed gaping at one another to assertive body-slams. These sharks are top predators throughout the world’s ocean, predominantly in temperate and subtropical waters. Great whites migrate long distances. Some make journeys from the Hawaiian Islands to California, and one shark that swam from South Africa to Australia made the longest recorded migration of any fish.
The torpedo shape of the great white is built for speed: up to 35 miles per hour (50 kilometers per hour). And then there are the teeth — 300 total in up to seven rows. But more than brawn, the great white shark has a tremendous brain that coordinates all the highly developed senses of this efficient hunter. Its prey, including seals and dolphins, are very clever animals, and the shark has to have enough brains to outsmart them.
Despite their reputation as lone hunters, great whites will cooperate with one another, hunting in groups and sharing the spoils. Ironically, the shark’s only real enemy is mankind…One of the most comprehensive studies ever compiled on illegal shark killing brings new startling statistics. “An estimated 100 million sharks are killed every year around the world, a number that far exceeds what many populations need to
When great white sharks are young, they feed on smaller prey, like fish and rays. As they grow larger, they feed more exclusively on marine mammals, such as sea lions, seals, and small whales. The great white is at the top of the food chain and has few threats in the ocean. Only orcas and larger sharks can …show more content…
When great whites gather, they seem to show different behaviors, from open-mouthed gaping at one another to assertive body-slams. These sharks are top predators throughout the world’s ocean, predominantly in temperate and subtropical waters. Great whites migrate long distances. Some make journeys from the Hawaiian Islands to California, and one shark that swam from South Africa to Australia made the longest recorded migration of any fish.
The torpedo shape of the great white is built for speed: up to 35 miles per hour (50 kilometers per hour). And then there are the teeth — 300 total in up to seven rows. But more than brawn, the great white shark has a tremendous brain that coordinates all the highly developed senses of this efficient hunter. Its prey, including seals and dolphins, are very clever animals, and the shark has to have enough brains to outsmart them.
Despite their reputation as lone hunters, great whites will cooperate with one another, hunting in groups and sharing the spoils. Ironically, the shark’s only real enemy is mankind…One of the most comprehensive studies ever compiled on illegal shark killing brings new startling statistics. “An estimated 100 million sharks are killed every year around the world, a number that far exceeds what many populations need to