A nine-foot great white shark’s tracking tag washed ashore months after it vanished, revealing the predator had been eaten whole—but by what? The signal pointed to something far larger, and researchers followed the tag’s data deep into uncharted waters where the trail suddenly went cold.
In 2003, researchers studying great white sharks off the southern coast of Australia recovered a data tag that had washed ashore. The tag had been attached to a nine-foot great white several months earlier as part of a routine tracking study. When the data was analyzed, it showed that the shark had died after being consumed by a larger animal.The tag’s readings showed an abrupt dive from shallow w…
Scientists finally identified what swallowed a great white shark whole, and the discovery is disturbing. The predator vanished without a trace, its tracking tag abruptly going silent after years of consistent data.
In 2003, a research team off the southern coast of Australia attached an electronic tag to a female great white shark. The shark was an adult, roughly nine feet long, and in good health. After tagging, she was released and swam back into open water. Four months later, the tag washed ashore hundreds of kilometers away. When researchers downloaded its data, they found the tag had recorded a rapid te…