Sharks

Great white sharks started disappearing from a former hotspot years ago, but scientists can’t agree why

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The coastal waters around Cape Town, South Africa, have long teemed with great white sharks. But about 10 years ago carcasses of these feared predators began washing up on beaches with their livers missing. Now it’s hard to find any great whites. Tonight, a story that has all the hallmarks of a whodunnit: one that’s … Read more

South Africa’s great white sharks mysteriously vanished. Scientists can’t agree who, or what, is the culprit.

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When great white sharks started vanishing from the coastal waters around Cape Town, South Africa, some scientists and conservationists were mystified. Those waters teemed with great white sharks when 60 Minutes correspondent Anderson Cooper went diving with the predators in 2010. The area was home to smaller sharks and seals that the great whites hunted, … Read more

Cocaine, caffeine and painkillers consumed by sharks in Bahamas, study finds

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Sharks in the Bahamas are consuming substances including caffeine, painkillers and even cocaine, according to a new study by marine scientists who say it could potentially impact the animals’ health and behavior. The research team, made up of marine biologists and scientists from a variety of international programs, analyzed blood samples from 85 sharks of … Read more

There are sharks in Las Vegas feasting on hundreds of pounds of fish every week

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LAS VEGAS — When Becky O’Brien dangles herring over a tank of over a dozen swimming sharks, it only takes seconds for a zebra shark to snatch the fish from her tongs. The lead aquarist said she always knew she wanted to work with marine life; she just didn’t think she’d be a shark dietitian … Read more

Sharks are taking a bigger bite of fishermen’s catch in Hawaii: “Paying the tax man”

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In recent years, local small-boat fishers who pursue prized bottomfish such as ehu, onaga and the red opakapaka that’s popular on table spreads across Hawaii each New Year’s have seen a troubling spike in sharks that swoop in and tear their catch off the hook. “They’re basically losing money because they can’t bring in the … Read more