Awesome Animal Fact - Curious Sharks

Awesome Animal Fact:

Did you know great white sharks are the only sharks that regularly raise their heads out of the water to look around? This behavior is called spy-hopping, and it is common in marine mammals like whales, orcas, and dolphins, but not in sharks, other than the great white.

Spy-hopping is often done while hunting, particularly if the sharks are hunting seals, one of their favorite prey animals. Some scientists have suggested it may also help the sharks smell their prey, as scents travel through the air much faster than through the water.

But great white sharks are also considered curious animals, and they may sometime spy-hop simply to see what's going on around them.

Great white sharks are also unusual in that they display breaching behavior. This is when they attack by charging prey—particularly seals—at such a high speed that it carries the shark completely or partially out of the water. I'm pretty sure the seagull is photoshopped into this image, but it still illustrates the concept.

Photo Credits:
- Great white shark attacking seagull - DepositPhotos