The great white shark is still a very mysterious creature. Scientists have not yet discovered many basic facts about these massive creatures that can grow to over 21 feet in length. The world is intrigued and yet also horrified too by the great white shark.
Great White Shark: The Beauty of Nature
The great white shark is a thing of beauty when it is spotted alone, jumping out of the depths of the ocean. It is one of the more spectacular animals in nature. It is just when the great white comes in close to land that it becomes a bit more alarming to humans.
Michael Scholl: Great White Shark Tracking Program
Scientist Michael Scholl is working with the University of Bristol to develop an online program that identifies each individual great white shark by a picture of its unique dorsal fin. He is creating a database that anyone will be able to view to identify and track great white sharks.
This system will also allow information gathered from people around the world to be added to the database. This will enlarge the overall documentation of the life of the great white shark.
Even tourists will be able to take pictures of any sharks they see while out on the ocean and contribute the photos to the identification program, reports the Daily Mail. Software is being developed so that the computer itself will be able to match new photos to that of any already identified sharks to help show their movements and activities.
Great white sharks have been spotted in the oceans of the East and West Coast of America. This creature is living in our seas and is sometimes, but rarely, a deadly predator to humans. The summer of 2010 has had extremely high temperatures in many coastal areas. This brings sharks in closer to the beach areas to feed off the fish there.
Travel Patterns
This program could help identify the travel patterns of great white sharks by tracking the movements of individual sharks. It will be fascinating to see where each shark goes to. Will they stay in one area or will they travel during different stages of life?
Mating and Giving Birth
There is little information available about the mating patterns of great white sharks. It is unknown where the sharks go to give birth. Finding out the patterns of birth and mating could help scientists learn how to further protect the environments needed to keep the great white shark safe.
Photos and Video of Great White Sharks
To see photos of scientists working to document the habits and locales of great white sharks go HERE.
To see a video of great white sharks go HERE.
Plan a Vacation to See a Shark
If you are fascinated by sharks you may want to plan a vacation to California around the times when the Monterey Bay Aquarium has great white sharks in captivity at the aquarium. Thus far five white sharks have been on display there. To learn more about the Monterey Bay Aquarium white shark program go HERE.
Stay Abreast of the Program to Identify Great White Sharks
To learn more about the program to identify great white sharks go HERE.
This fascinating program will bring a wealth of information to the world about sharks. It will be very interesting to see what new facts about the daily life of a great white shark are discovered.
Sources:
http://www.whitesharktrust.org/pages/index.html
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1302181/Scientists-develop-identify-track-individual-Great-White-sharks-fins.html
http://www.ucmp.berkeley.edu/vertebrates/Doug/shark.html
http://www.montereybayaquarium.org/cr/cr_whiteshark/whiteshark_ours.aspx
