Great White Sharks’ reputation as ferocious predators is well-earned, yet they are not as was once believed, indiscriminate “eating machines”.

Around Seal Island, they typically hunt using an “ambush”technique, taking their prey by surprise from below. Rob Lawrence and Chris Fallows have observed that the shark attacks on seals returing to the island most often occur in the morning, within the first 2 hours after sunrise. The reason for this is possibly that the shark’s natural camouflage is optimized by the low light, and it is hard to see a shark close to the bottom at this time.

The success rate of attacks is about 50% in the first two hours, dropping to 40% in late morning and after which the sharks appear to stop hunting.

Article taken from: Great Whites of False Bay, South Africa by Dirk Schmidt