Hunting Strategy Or Hungry Great White Shark?

Sharks are known as ferocious hunters. They rarely miss their intended prey. In fact, amongst all types of sharks, a specific type of shark is known as the apex predator. Which shark specie is it? It is none others than the Great White shark.

Hollywood made the Great White shark popular for its insatiable appetite for human preys as well as a terrifying stalker. While it does not deserve the reputation of preying particularly on humans or as having an insatiable appetite, some experts studying the behavior and natural habits of the Great White shark may agree on considering it as a stalker.

Although, the Great White shark is not stalking humans as shown in movies such as “Jaws”, stalking its prey is considered to be a hunting strategy rather then associating stalking to revenge.

You see, the Great White shark, like any other shark, uses basic instincts such as hunger and survival to sneak on their prey successfully. While most people think that sharks are not smart enough to use a hunting strategy, they believe that hunger drives them to be quick and use, in some cases, their body to hide and surprise their prey as would do the Wobbegong shark and the Sixgill Sawshark.

The Great White shark does not have the advantages provided by Mother Nature to be able to hide or dissimulate itself from the watchful eyes or its prey. After all, with such impressive dimensions, corals and a sandy ocean floor cannot hide it at all. This is where strategies come into play for the Great White shark.

First of all, the Great White shark is very sneaky and fast. It starts by locating the home of his favorite preys, which are sea lions and seals, contrary to popular beliefs. You see, humans are considered to be too bony for their taste and lacking the tasty blubber being the main ingredient of their preys’ body.

Second, they wait for loners and strays to reach the “Death Zone”, which is Great White sharks’ territory. Then, the Great White shark uses the element of surprise as a hunting strategy, by sneaking up from underneath its prey, at high speed.

Such speed and brute force actually propels this giant of the sea out of the water. The term describing this behavior is called “breaching”. It is the only shark specie that is known to use breaching. Contrary to whales, which mainly display this behavior when being playful, the Great White shark uses it either as a hunting strategy to knock out its prey, either totally or enough to disorient it. It will also use breaching simply to attack or proudly show off its prey within the confinements of its deadly mouth.

As for the popular belief implying that the hungry Great White shark is insatiable, it is false. In fact, following a huge meal, a Great White shark can go week, even up to two months without having another meal. You see, Great White sharks do not really chew their food well and mostly swallow their food whole, their digestion is quite slow. Since the digestive system has a lot of work to do, it can provide enough energy and nutrition to keep a shark satisfied for a long time without hunger striking.

So, to answer the question: “Is it a hunting strategy or hungry Great White shark?” I would say that it is a mix of both. After all, because of its size, the Great White shark needs to use various hunting strategies to feed its hunger. Don’t results justify the means?

My name is Sylvie Leochko. I am fascinated by sharks, which explains my desire to share my acquired knowledge about them with others. If you wish to learn more about sharks, I encourage you to visit the following site: http://www.sharks.findoutnow.org

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