HABITAT
The great white shark is found chiefly in coastal waters of western and southern
Australia, North America, and southern Africa, although it lives in all of the world's
oceans. In the central Pacific, great whites have been found in Hawaii, where they are
very rare. One was found in the Bikini, Marshall Islands. Very large numbers of great
whites have been found in the area from India to Indoesia and Australia. Pups and smaller
great whites are not found in the tropical waters of the eastern Pacific and Atlantic, but
larger individuals are occasionally reported. At one time it was thought that they also
lived in the Red Sea, but it was later proven that the great white is unknown there. A
great white was once spotted in the Seychelles, in the Indian Ocean, so it is estimated
that they live in all parts of the ocean. The great white is also found in the
Mediterranean and Adriatre seas.PREY AND PREDATOR
Great whites eat seals, people, fish, octopus, sea lions, rubbish, sea turtles, sea birds,
whales, and other sharks. They can eat people and seals whole. People kill them for food
or sport. Killer whales bite them on the neck. Dolphins ram into them and make a hole in
their stomachs. Then the great white dies.
ANIMAL FACTS
Great whites are 12-30 feet long. Females are larger than the males. They weight
5,940-7,040 pounds. The great white has two rows of razor sharp teeth. New teeth replace
the old teeth. They can lose a tooth three times and it will grow back. The new teeth lie
out of sight inside the jaws. Great whites have 3,000 teeth. Their teeth can get up to 3
inches long for slicing chunks out of prey. Great whites often poke their heads above the
water to sniff for prey. Great whites are the only sharks that regularly attack warm
-blooded animals such as seals and dolphins. The great white has sensory devices. The
sensory devices are small portholes in the snout that lead to the receptors that pick up
electrical nerve signals in the prey. Other sensors can detect blood in the water. As the
great white attacks, it's snout lifts out of the way and the upper and lower jaws protrude
to align the teeth and increase biting capacity. Unlike most sharks, the great white holds
its body quite stiffly as it swims and dives itself with it's highly efficient tail. Broad
in the middle and pointed at each end, the body slips easily through the water. Thick oil
in the sharks' large liver improves its buoyancy. Wing like pectoral fins provide lift,
holding up the sharks' body in the water as it moves forward. If it stops swimming it
sinks.
WHAT CAN WE DO
The first thing we can do is to stop polluting the oceans. We could also stop killing them
for food and sport. We could try and pass laws that protect them from hunters. We could
try to keep them in aquariums. We could stop putting nets in the world's oceans. We could
also do more research about them. That way we would know more about them. |
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