All articles tagged with #great white sharks
A drone video from Manhattan Beach captures surfers paddling on a small wave with a great white shark lurking nearby, illustrating rising near‑shore shark sightings along Southern California as water temperatures warm and El Niño-like patterns emerge, with scientists warning of a potentially sharkier summer even though bites remain rare.
Wildlife photographer Chris Fallows, famed for dramatic great white shark breaches off False Bay and his iconic Air Jaws image, discusses his career and the sharks’ decline there on 60 Minutes Overtime. He explains how the once abundant population fell about a decade ago, catalyzing his conservation work with his wife, including habitat restoration in South Africa and Namibia, and notes signs of recovery in other marine life like humpback whales while urging personal responsibility to protect fragile ecosystems.
60 Minutes reports that great white sharks off Cape Town have vanished, sparking a scientific dispute over whether orcas are preying on them (evidenced by surgical‑style bite marks and necropsies showing liver predation) or humans—via longlining and shark nets—are depleting prey and killing sharks; the piece follows the orca pair Port and Starboard and argues for nonlethal protections and smarter, balanced ocean management, while some scientists say the population may be stable and the mystery persists.
A juvenile great white was caught off eastern Spain in 2023, triggering a study that documents sporadic sightings in the Mediterranean and suggests sharks may transit Spanish waters along with Atlantic bluefin tuna. With the Mediterranean population classified as Critically Endangered and genetics distinct from Atlantic sharks, protecting bluefin tuna and advancing regional conservation could improve the sharks’ prospects as researchers reassess potential breeding grounds and corridors in the region.
A study of nearly 100 great white sharks shows their teeth change across the jaw and as they grow: juvenile teeth are slender with cusplets for gripping small prey, but around 3 meters they shed cusplets and develop broader, serrated teeth for slicing; the front teeth are thicker ‘impact’ teeth while upper and lower teeth specialize for slicing and gripping, enabling larger sharks to target marine mammals. Continuous tooth replacement acts like a living record of lifestyle and diet changes, highlighting how the shark’s feeding toolkit adapts across life stages.
Great white sharks in the Mediterranean are critically endangered due to illegal fishing and are being sold in North African markets, with over 40 sharks killed in 2025 alone. Despite international protections, enforcement is weak, and the ecosystem is heavily degraded, raising concerns about the species' potential extinction unless urgent conservation efforts are made.
Scientists in Mexico documented orcas hunting and eating the livers of young great white sharks, a behavior previously observed in other regions but now confirmed in Mexico, indicating a possible shift in orca predation patterns that could impact shark populations.
A pod of orcas in the Gulf of California has been observed hunting and devouring the livers of young great white sharks, indicating that orca predation on these sharks may be more common than previously thought, showcasing their advanced hunting strategies and social learning.
Researchers captured footage of orcas in the Gulf of California hunting juvenile great white sharks, flipping them upside down to extract their livers, demonstrating advanced hunting strategies and social learning among orcas, and highlighting that even top predators like sharks can be prey.
Researchers observed orcas in the Gulf of California repeatedly attacking juvenile great white sharks by flipping them upside down to induce tonic immobility, then extracting their livers, revealing a new and strategic predation behavior in this region.
Videos from Mexico reveal orcas hunting and eating the livers of young great white sharks, showcasing a specialized predation behavior that has been observed in other regions like South Africa. The behavior involves flipping sharks to induce tonic immobility, allowing orcas to extract the nutritious liver, and appears to be a learned, group-specific strategy that may be influenced by changing ocean conditions.
Scientists have discovered a DNA discrepancy in great white sharks that cannot be explained by migration or known genetic factors, leaving the cause of the mitochondrial and nuclear DNA differences an open scientific mystery.
Research on great white shark DNA reveals three distinct groups with genetic differences that cannot be explained by current evolutionary theories or female philopatry, suggesting an unknown evolutionary mechanism at play, and highlighting gaps in understanding shark genetics.
Scientists studying great white sharks have uncovered a perplexing genetic anomaly: significant differences in mitochondrial DNA across populations, with no clear explanation, deepening the mystery about their evolutionary history and migration patterns.
A recent study reveals an unexplained split in the DNA of great white sharks, with mitochondrial DNA differences not accounted for by migration or known behaviors, leaving scientists puzzled about the underlying cause of this genetic divergence.