Great white sharks can behave like serial killers

Monday, June 22, 2009 - 05:49 in Biology & Nature

Researchers discover common traits including hunting strategically and learning from previous attempts Great white sharks and serial killers have common behavioural traits including stalking specific victims, a new study has found. The sharks lurk out of sight to observe their prey, hunting strategically and learning from previous attempts, the research, published in the Journal of Zoology, found. Researchers used a method of profiling serial killers to work out how the great white shark hunts. "There's some strategy going on," the study's co-author, Neil Hammerschlag, said. Hammerschlag, a shark researcher at the University of Miami, observed 340 great white shark attacks on seals off an island in South Africa. He said the sharks could have waited where the seals congregated if they were random, opportunistic killers, but instead had a distinct mode of operation. "It's more than sharks lurking at the water waiting to go after them," he added. Research found the...

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