White sharks annually gather in groups off the coast of Australia, but it is not clear why

We all love meeting at least once a week.friends. It seems that sharks are also not averse to forgetting about hunting and once a year to see old friends. At least, this is evidenced by the observations of Australian scientists, who for several consecutive years notice the accumulation of white sharks near the Neptune Islands. At the moment, researchers can not explain the unusual phenomenon, because predatory fish do not conduct group hunting and do not even show signs of reproduction. In the course of observations, however, very suspicious behavior of underwater killers was noticed. Does the shark seem to be up to something?

White sharks are considered one of the most dangerous predatory fish.

Neptune Islands are located in SouthAustralia and have the status of a marine reserve. Back in 2010, researchers began to notice that this place is a meeting place for the same individuals of white sharks. Over the years, scientists photographed every predator and ultimately took more than 270,000 pictures. Thanks to the collected staff, scientists were able to literally give a name to many individuals and notice that they visit the territory of Australia for several years in a row.

Why do white sharks gather in groups?

Between 2010 and 2014, to researchersmanaged to remember 282 individuals of white sharks. To their surprise, 101 individuals sailed to the gathering site more than five times. In total, sharks formed four clusters near the islands. Two groups were mainly formed in the winter and consisted of males and females. Two other clusters were collected in spring and summer, but consisted only of males. Most surprisingly, 12 sharks were found too often, so these intersections can hardly be considered random. Scientists still fail to understand why underwater predators form such groups.

More than 300 teeth grow in the mouth of a white shark

One could say that sharks gather ingroups near Australia to hunt seals. The fact is that in winter, huge colonies of fur seals breed off the coast of the Neptune Islands. Their cubs are easy and nutritious prey for sharks, therefore it is not at all surprising that in winter the number of predatory fish in these waters increases sharply. Only one thing is interesting - why do sharks gather even in the summer, when there is practically no food for them?

How smart are sharks?

This is what scientists are interested in. There is little chance that these encounters between females and males are somehow related to the mating season. However, it is difficult to verify this at the moment, because researchers have very little information about the reproduction of white sharks. So they still have a lot of work ahead, because the accumulations of predatory fish clearly appear for a reason.

Did you know that sharks can live up to 512 years?

However, it may also be that the sharks are not sosmart, as claimed in one of our materials. Indeed, it may really be that underwater predators simply can not understand exactly when they should wait for the breeding of fur seals. In this regard, they can from time to time sail to the place of the previous feeding and hope for an abundance of nutritious food.

And which version seems the most plausible to you? You can give your answer in the comments or in our Telegram chat.

Finally, I want to recommend a documentarythe film "Great White Shark" from the BBC television company. In it, the naturalist Michael Rutzen talks about the life of underwater predators and assures that they are intelligent and extremely cautious animals.