Tuesday, June 23, 2009

Great white sharks accused of being serial killers


New Scientist reports that great white sharks hunting startegies are similar to that of human serial killers. This is another blow to the shark community, who already struggles with a reputation for blood-frenzied violence. 

A team of scientists from the University of Miami, Florida, studied how great white sharks hunted seals off the coast of Seal Island, South Africa. Using a technique more commonly used to catch serial killers, a technique called geographical profiling, the scientists found that the sharks modus operandi were far from random. The sharks, especially the older ones, would launch their attacks from "anchor points", which had a good balance of easy prey detection, lesser competition from rivals and favourable enviromental conditions. When a shark launched it's attack it would move in a quick, vertical motion, callously killing the seal and then happily munch it down.

A spokes-shark has not been available for comment. 

Photo by Terry Goss. Image licensed under Creative Commons Attribution 2.5  


 

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