IUCN Red List of Endangered SpeciesTM
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Great White Shark

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Sharks are much older than dinosaurs. Their ancestry dates back more than 400 million years, and they are one of evolution’s greatest success stories. These animals are uniquely adapted to their ocean environment with six highly refined senses of smell, hearing, touch, taste, sight, and even electromagnetism. As the top predators in the ocean, Great White Sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) face only one real threat to their survival: us. The assaults are many. By-catch: the accidental killing of sharks by fishermen's longlines and trawlers. Illegal poaching: selling shark fins for soup. Illegal hunting: sportsfishing for shark jaws as trophies. Nets: placed along coastlines to keep sharks away from beaches. Pollution: toxins and heavy metals that build up in the shark's body. In some areas Great White Shark populations have plummeted by over 70%. If not stopped, it will lead to the extinction of this ancient species.

Read these 5 Reasons to Revere—Not Fear—the Shark.

Great White Sharks, like other sharks, don't produce any sound. They communicate using smell or body language.

– Alison Kock

Cool Stuff

Cool Stuff

Sections

Life & Natural History

A diagram of a shark's six highly refined senses: smell, hearing, touch, taste, sight, and electromagnetism

Science

Save Our Seas scientist Alison Kock tags a Great White Shark.

Human Connections

Newspapers with shark attack headlines in South Africa.

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Comments

It is slow to load- do I need the most current flash?

It's interesting and very informative! I didn't know any of those facts about sharks!

This is my favorite shark!

Bye bye my Devonian friend. I shed a tear for you. :~(

P.S. Tiger Sharks and Bull Sharks are way nastier than the Great White and the Megalodon rocks! But if we do kill all the sharks, where can the Sharkopath come from?

I totally concur with you here in Australia by far most shark attacks
are caused by Bronze Whaler ( Bull ) sharks with the White Pointer being
frequently wrongly blamed !! the bull sharks often venture into virtually fresh water rivers etc in search of prey, whereas the Whites are strictly speaking deep water animals..
loobee Lake Macquarie NSW Australia

whoa

I really love the great white shark and believe it deserves to be protected. I admire those people trying to learn more about these sharks and not letting fear get in their way.

Im with you on that

They are magnificents!

U are so right

what its size?

this is really cool! i did not know that!

it is awesome

The shark is the real hero!

what do wights eat

WoW LoOk At DaT tHiNgE DuDe:P

It's sad... We are really cruel, and these are beautiful animals. We should admire and respect them, not hunt them. And thank you for this article...it's great.

i eat sharks :)

so you eat shark? you are kidding right? if you do it will not be long before you start to get sick FROM ALL THE MERCURY IT HAS IN IT'S SYSTEM.
Instead of letting the shark swim around in your bowl or on a plate why do you not let them swim where they are helping the enviroment? And being the beautiful creature GOD put on this earth.

Pamela F

A very good sight, there should be more facts for people to look at which I don't see here

For more information and facts on the Great White Shark, visit the Encyclopedia of Life.

nice

I like sharks. (:

i love sharks i would like to see one in real life

This is a really fascinating and interesting article on sharks

i love the picture what is it eating a seal . lololololol

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