When a dead whale turns up in False Bay, on the South African coast, guess who’s coming to dinner? The answer surprised even the researchers studying the feeding event. In a study
published in the open-access journal PLOS One, researchers observing False Bay’s famous great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) observed that scavenging events changed the sharks’ behavior markedly---and attracted much larger sharks than typically seen in the area. The findings are important because little is known about how or how often sharks scavenge, though scientists hypothesize that scavenging is a crucial activity for the apex predator. False Bay has become internationally known for its sharks thanks to the population's density and high-profile media coverage of some of them leaping out of the water to catch seals. The famous airborne sharks of the area, according to the study, are typically 9-12 feet in length. On four separate scavenging occasions, however, researchers ...
