Ever since Jaws, great whites have had a reputation as killing machines that has never seemed much point questioning.

However, that could all be about to change – after a study into the fearsome predators’ dining habits.

Scientists towed a 36ft Brydes whale carcass into a well-known hunting ground for the animals in an exercise aimed at documenting how they tackled the huge free lunch.

And these amazing pictures show how up to 30 of them stripped a single whale carcass – and gave an ‘extraordinary’ insight into how the much-feared predators behave.

But while many would have expected a feeding frenzy and potentially lethal fights between the razor-teethed gians, the behaviour observed was quite different.

The sharks appeared to select choice cuts of the dead whale and did not appear to be aggressive towards each other.

Free lunch: The 30 great white sharks were provided with a whale carcass so scientists could study their eating habits

Tasty findings: Alison Kock was the principal scientist at Save Our Seas Shark Centre and Shark Spotting Programme, at Cape Town in South Africa and was surprised by the sharks

Alison Kock, 33, the principal scientist at Save Our Seas Shark Centre and Shark Spotting Programme, at Cape Town South Africa, said: ‘Contrary to their reputation as mindless killers, the level of selectivity for which parts of the dead whale they ate was extraordinary.

‘They targeted the energy-rich blubber, often making repeated “test bites” where no flesh was removed, and removing flesh only once they had determined it was what they wanted. If they got a mouthful of muscle, they often spat it out.

‘They were very picky.’

It’s thought the huge whale was killed after being struck by a boat and was found floating towards Miller’s Point near Cape Town, South Africa, where the clean up operation for the local authorities would have been difficult as their huge bodies are harder to remove on land.

It was also feared the body – giving off oils that attract predators like sharks – may have drawn in great whites to an area frequented by swimmers.

Kock added: ‘Permission was granted by the authorities to have the dead whale towed to nearby Seal Island where the carcass was less of an issue and the sharks could help solve the clean-up problem.

‘In addition it provided an unparalleled opportunity to document white shark behaviour and record the number of sharks in the area.

‘Whale carcasses are believed to be a very important source of food for white sharks with some scientific evidence suggesting they follow whale migrations possibly to, opportunistically feed on dead or sick whales.’

Jaws: Alison Koch said: ‘Contrary to their reputation as mindless killers, the level of selectivity for which parts of the dead whale they ate was extraordinary’

Blubber: During the nine-day experiment Kock and her team made some shocking discoveries, including the fact that the sharks seemed to have a huge preference for soft blubber over tough muscle

During the nine-day experiment, which ended on Saturday, Kock and her team made some shocking discoveries, including the fact that the sharks seemed to have a huge preference for soft blubber over tough muscle.

‘In the case of the whale carcass the sharks knew exactly what they wanted,’ said Kock.

‘It provides evidence that when they bite into a surfboard, or kayak or person wearing a wetsuit they can immediately determine it’s not something they want to eat.

‘It’s very common in attacks on humans for white sharks to take a single bite and leave it at that. Our study provides more evidence that they are simply tasting and looking for meat that is nutritious. It shows that they are not just swimming around mindlessly eating everything they come across, as they are sometimes portrayed.’

She added: ‘I was surprised at the total number of white sharks that fed on the dead whale over the nine days we documented the event. We recorded over 30 different sharks in total. At one stage we had up to four white sharks feeding simultaneously on the carcass.

‘The first two days were the busiest with the most sharks, and the activity slowly decreased as the sharks had their fill. The last two days we recorded no sharks feeding on the carcass.

‘Many of the sharks I recognised as individuals hunting seals around the island from this shark season, as well as previous years. We used their unique dorsal fins to identify them, but there were also new sharks that I had never seen before.

‘The sharks showed very little aggression towards one another in the presence of such a large food source, often feeding side by side.

‘Some of the sharks we observed were gorging on the blubber and you could actually see their bellies getting fuller.

“Some would arrive quite skinny and by the end of their session they looked pregnant with their bellies bulging.’

During the study, the sharks reduced the carcass down to less than seven feet (two metres) of bone and muscle, having removed all the blubber.

Shark enthusiast Kock, added: ‘This is the ultimate example of the very important role sharks play in the ecosystem. That of recycling life, and of keeping our oceans healthy by removing dead and decaying animals like dead whales.’

via Shark attack: Incredible pictures of 30 great whites stripping a whale carcass provide ‘extraordinary’ insight into eating habits | Mail Online.

(FLORIDA) — Want to know how to survive a shark attack? Just punch that bad boy in the face when he charges you.

That’s what a Florida man, Kris Kerr, did to survive a recent shark attack.

But get this: as the shark was on the attack and headed right for him, Kerr had the cool, steely nerves of a pro shooter and actually got off a photo of the shark attacking moments before it made contact with him.

Kris Kerr and a friend Ethan Wilson were out over the weekend near Florida’s Smyrna Beach, sort of the “shark bite capital of the world” as it were.

Kerr was in the water taking photos of Wilson surfing when he found himself facing a shark that was coming right at him.

So what did he do? He managed to punch the shark AND snap a photo of the encounter AND live through it.

And Kerr got out of the confrontation without so much as a scratch.

Kerr talked about the experience with CBS News.

You can see a photo of the shark charge and see Kerr talk about the encounter HERE

Fair disclosure: you’ll need to sit through a 30-second TV spot before the story comes up.

via SHARK CHARGES FLORIDA SURFERHe snaps photo, then punches shark in the face | BREAKING NEWS | Sky Valley Chronicle Washington State News.

SHOCKED fishermen who snared a man-eating shark — found the gory remains of a headless body inside it.

When the sailors reeled in the huge 12ft beast off the coast of the Bahamas Islands, they saw a severed human leg between its razor-sharp jaws.

They took the shark back to shore where the country’s navy opened up the monster and found the decomposed remains of a severed right leg, two severed arms and a torso in two sections.

Local cops are now trying to discover who the body belongs to — and have narrowed the search down to three missing men.

Snared … a leg was found in the beast’s mouth

Last night fisherman Humphrey Simmons, a Bahamian investment banker, described the moment he saw the severed left leg in the Tiger shark’s mouth.

He said: “We tied the rope around his tail fin, and pulled him towards the boat.

“We were going to cut the hook out of his mouth and let him go when he regurgitated a human foot – intact from the knee down.”

After seeing the leg, Mr Simmons and his friends said they feared the shark may contain more body parts because it was “unusually heavy”.

He said: “While pulling up my line. I noticed that it was extra heavy.

“There was so much stink coming from the shark’s belly and the belly was so huge that we thought that there might be more bodies inside.”

Mr Simmons said the body was that of a “black man, of heavy build and heavy structure. He had neither clothes nor any identifying marks”.

Police are awaiting DNA results to tell them if the remains belong to one of three men, one aged 62, another aged 47, reported missing at sea.

Mr Simmons and his two pals Keith Ferguson and Stanley Bernard spotted the shark after going fishing in their 30ft boat on Sunday morning.

They were trying to reel in a grouper fish when the greedy beast became hooked too as it tried to steal the prey.

When they hauled it aboard they made the grim discovery.

After finding the shark 35 miles west of the New Providence island, they headed in shore with an escort from The Royal Bahamas Defence Force.

Bahamian investigators are still unsure how the man died and have not ruled out the possibility that he could have drowned first and then been gobbled up by the beast.

British shark experts said it would be unusual for a Tiger shark to attack a human.

Richard Pierce, chairman of the Shark Trust, in Plymouth, said: “Tiger sharks are well known as scavengers. Analysis of their stomachs have unearthed car number plates, furniture and scavenged remains of mammals.

“Tiger sharks have been implicated in attacks but are among the most docile of the larger sharks and are unlikely to attack a swimming human.”

Since 1580, there have only been 158 fatal attacks by Tiger sharks on humans, according to the Florida Museum of Natural History’s International Shark Attack File.

via Body found in snared shark | The Sun |News.

As a surfer I’m asked many different questions. I’m often asked if I have a long board or short board. (For the record, I have an 8-0 long board, which means my board is 8 feet and 0 inches long.)

I am also asked about my favorite location and how many different places I have surfed. But by far, my favorite question is about sharks.

People love a good shark story.

As many times as I have been in the water and as many places I have been, you would think that by now I would have seen one while surfing. But the only sharks I have seen in the wild were reef sharks while I was snorkeling in Hawaii. They didn’t show any curiosity and they weren’t very big.

Lately, there have been a lot of reports of great white sharks in Southern California. A group called Shark Research Committee reported numerous recent sightings on the California coast, mostly at San Onofre State Beach in San Clemente, approximately 65 miles south of Redondo Beach and Sunset Beach near Malibu, approximately 40 miles north of Redondo Beach.

Chuck Patterson, a professional surfer and stand-up paddleboarder, recently filmed two great white sharks at San Onofre created a video called “Me, My Shark and I” that went viral online within 24 hours. Last week, a local news reporter and cameraman filmed a short video of a great white shark feeding on something in the water off Sunset Beach.

The last two reported shark sightings in the South Bay, by the way, were on April 16, 2010 and April 17, 2010. Both sightings were near Flat Rock in Palos Verdes. Both witnesses were spear fishing at the time they saw a shark.

Will all this local shark activity keep me out of the water? No.

When I am out in the ocean sitting on my board watching for waves, I really don’t think about sharks. That isn’t to say I wouldn’t be scared if I encountered one, I just don’t think about them when I’m in the water.

Sharks are always out there even if you don’t see or hear about them. Adolescent great white sharks are known to feed on fish in this area every summer. As winter approaches and the waters become colder, the sharks head for Mexico where the waters are warmer.

There hasn’t been a fatal shark attack in California since April 25, 2008. A great white fatally attacked a swimmer at Fletcher Cove in Solana Beach, located approximately 99 miles south of Redondo Beach.

If I do become a little nervous the next time I go surfing, I will keep in mind that shark-related fatalities are rare in California and an attack is usually a case of mistaken identity.

But, I will keep my eye out for a triangular dorsal fin, just in case.

via Sharks Are Swimming Nearby. Should She Still Surf? – Redondo Beach, CA Patch.

A shark attack in a remote area of the Solomon Islands has left an Australian man with severe cuts to his face and neck.

The 34-year-old, unofficially named by media as Sydneysider Benjamin D’Emden, was attacked on Thursday while swimming at a remote island resort.

A spokesman from the Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said the man suffered lacerations to his face and neck.

He was medically evacuated to the National Referral Hospital in the nation’s capital of Honiara and remains in a stable condition.

The Australian High Commission in Honiara is providing the man with consular assistance and he is in contact with his family in Australia.

via Australian attacked by shark in Solomons.

A school surfing competition has been postponed following a fatal shark attack in Western Australia’s southwest but the beach has been reopened to the public.

The South West Regional School surf title was to be held on Thursday and Friday at Huzza’s Break, adjacent to South Point near Gracetown where Nicholas Edwards, 31, was fatally injured by a shark on Tuesday.

The organisers decided to postpone the event until next week.

Shire of Augusta-Margaret River president Ray Colyer said the beach was reopened at 12pm (WST) on Thursday.

Mr Colyer said the beach was “as safe as the beach can be” for swimmers, snorkellers and surfers.

At this time of the year, people need to be vigilant, particularly in the deeper reefs where sharks are looking for food like seals,” he said.

Seals were in the area when Mr Edwards, a father of two, was attacked.

Despite desperate efforts by fellow surfers and ambulance officers to keep him alive, Mr Edwards died after suffering a severe bite to his right leg.

Police said Mr Edwards, from Busselton about 50 kilometres from Gracetown, was trying to get in one last surf before returning to his job as a miner in the WA goldfields.

Mr Colyer said police and the Department of Fisheries had not reported any shark sightings since the fatal attack.

Helicopters had flown over the water on Wednesday at 10am (WST) and no sharks were seen, he said.

via Beach where shark attacked reopens.

A school surfing competition has been postponed following a fatal shark attack in Western Australia’s southwest but the beach has been reopened to the public.

The South West Regional School surf title was to be held on Thursday and Friday at Huzza’s Break, adjacent to South Point near Gracetown where Nicholas Edwards, 31, was fatally injured by a shark on Tuesday.

The organisers decided to postpone the event until next week.

Shire of Augusta-Margaret River president Ray Colyer said the beach was reopened at 12pm (WST) on Thursday.

Mr Colyer said the beach was “as safe as the beach can be” for swimmers, snorkellers and surfers.

At this time of the year, people need to be vigilant, particularly in the deeper reefs where sharks are looking for food like seals,” he said.

Seals were in the area when Mr Edwards, a father of two, was attacked.

Despite desperate efforts by fellow surfers and ambulance officers to keep him alive, Mr Edwards died after suffering a severe bite to his right leg.

Police said Mr Edwards, from Busselton about 50 kilometres from Gracetown, was trying to get in one last surf before returning to his job as a miner in the WA goldfields.

Mr Colyer said police and the Department of Fisheries had not reported any shark sightings since the fatal attack.

Helicopters had flown over the water on Wednesday at 10am (WST) and no sharks were seen, he said.

via Beach where shark attacked reopens.

Busselton surfer Nicholas Edwards, who died yesterday after being mauled by a shark near Margaret River, had previously had a near miss with a shark while surfing on the Gold Coast, his mother said.

The father-of-two was on his last day off from BHP’s Leinster nickel operation when he was attacked while surfing about 300 metres from the South Point surf break at Cowaramup Bay.

Two local surfers tried to resuscitate him and stop the bleeding from his shredded right leg after pulling him unconscious from the water, but Mr Edwards died on the way to Margaret River hospital.

via Fatal shark attack in Australia – OC Beach Blog : Things to do in OC – Orange County Events.

Witness Rob Alder: “I would imagine that it was a shark that mistook him for a seal”

A man has died from his injuries after he was attacked by a shark in waters off West Australia.

The 31-year-old man was surfing alone early on Tuesday morning when he was attacked near Gracetown, about 270km (167 miles) south of Perth.

The Fisheries Department said it has no information about the type of shark.

Officials said sightings of sharks are frequent in the waters but fatal shark attacks are rare although a surfer was killed in the area in 2004.

Local media reported that the surfer had been seen by a resident watching from his house.

Rob Alder told ABC he had rushed down to the beach and alerted a rescue crew, while he tried to resuscitate the man.

Mr Alder said there were reports of a large number of seals in the area at the time of the attack.

“It’s my thought, as often happens, the shark had probably mistaken the surfer for a seal,” Mr Alder was quoted as saying.

“He hadn’t bitten away anything, it was just like a nip, there was no sign that the shark had viewed the surfer as a meal.”

via BBC News – Australian surfer dies after shark attack.

Surfer Nicholas Edwards, 31, a mine worker and father of two children from Busselton died after being attacked by a shark at 8:15 AM on August 17, 2010 near Gracetown in the Margaret River area of Western Australia, according to a story in Western Australia Today.

Police and the RAC rescue helicopter were dispatched to a beach south of Cowaramup Bay near Gracetown this morning. . . The man was retrieved from the water and rushed to hospital, but police have confirmed he has died from his injuries. They could not say how old he was or confirm his identity. . . The man is believed to have been attacked while surfing on his own, at a beach only accessible by four-wheel-drive vehicles.

According to a story on ABC.net.au a man watching the surf saw Edwards go down.

Rob Alder says he saw Mr Edwards lose his board and not come back up again. . . He rushed down to the beach with his friends and alerted a rescue crew. . . He says they found Mr Edwards washed up on rocks near South Point, lying unconscious with a huge gash to his leg. . . Mr Alder and his friends created a tourniquet using a surfboard leg rope and tried to resuscitate Mr Edwards for 20 minutes until the ambulance arrived. . . Eddie Kilgallon was one of the rescuers who tried, unsuccessfully, to resuscitate the man. . . Mr Kilgallon says Mr Edwards’s injuries were horrific. . . “[The] back half of his leg was totally chomped. It looked like one bite. It looked like a big shark bite,” he said.

The beach reportedly remains closed. Our thoughts are with Edwards family and friends.

via Surfer Dies After Western Oz Shark Attack at Boardistan.