Great white shark the ‘psycho killer’ of the seas
Nature’s deadliest creature — the great white shark — shares many behavioural traits with serial killers when it comes to planning its attacks, researchers have shown by borrowing methods used to hunt psychopathic murderers.
Like serial killers, sharks will stalk their intended victims while remaining out of sight and will return to the locations of successful attacks time and again, according to the study based on shark attacks on seals off the coast of South Africa, published in the Journal of Zoology.
The study, which was led by Neil Hammerschlag of the University of Miami and late Canadian shark scientist R. Aidan Martin, was based on the “geographic profiling”, a technique used in criminology to look for patterns between linked crimes to determine where serial perpetrators are likely to strike again.
Hammerschlag and his team discovered that, rather than attacking the seals randomly, the sharks would stalk their prey from a distance of around 90 metres – close enough to see them without being observed.
The sharks also showed a preference for young victims and were likeliest to attack in low light when there were no other sharks around. Older sharks also demonstrated themselves to be more effective hunters than younger fish, suggesting that learning was taking place.
“They hunt solitary juvenile Cape fur seals when light levels are low, stalking them from near the ocean floor to remain undetected, before launching a vertical attack,” Hammerschlag said.
“This strategy maximizes a shark’s chances of catching a seal unaware thus initiating a fatal first strike. Stealth and ambush are key elements in the white shark’s predatory strategy.”
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