Zebra Shark

True Wild Life | Zebra Shark | The zebra shark is a medium-sized species of shark, that is found in the warmer coastal waters and around tropical coral reefs. Zebra sharks are most commonly found in the Indian and South Pacific oceans. Zebra sharks can grow to nearly 3 meters in length and can get to be 30 years old in the wild. Zebra sharks that are kept in captivity generally do not exceed 15 years of age. Zebra sharks can be identified by the yellow spots that are present on the back of the zebra shark.

Zebra sharks have a long, flattened body which helps them to remain unnoticed on the seabed. The zebra shark also has a long tail which allows it to be more agile in the water. Zebra sharks move their tails from side to side when they swim, in an eel-like manner.

Zebra sharks are omnivorous animals but tend to have a more meat-based diet. Zebra sharks feed on small fish, crabs, shrimp, snails and other small invertebrates along with squid and sea snakes which they forage for in the coral reefs.

Due to their relatively large size, zebra sharks have few natural predators as they are fairly dominant predators in their environment. Larger species of shark such as tiger sharks and bull sharks are the main predators of the zebra shark, along with humans who hunt them for their meat and fins. The female zebra shark lays an average of ten large eggs which hatch after an incubation period of around 5 months. The baby zebra sharks are nearly half a meter long when they first hatch.

Whale Shark

True Wild Life | Whale Shark | The whale shark is the largest species of fish with some adult whale sharks growing to nearly 50ft long! The whale shark is thought to have developed around 60 million years ago making the whale shark one of the oldest species on Earth today. The whale shark spends it's life swimming through the open oceans in search of fish and squid. Unlike many other species of shark, the whale shark is known to feed on large shoals of tiny fish rather than hunting bigger fish and sea mammals. This makes the whale shark a filter feeder similar to whales and smaller sea animals.

The whale shark inhabits the warm, tropical waters around the equator and despite often being found close to coastlines, the whale shark is also known to dive to depths of up to 700 meters (that over 2,000ft deep). In this part of the ocean, food is more scarce and the whale shark will therefore only venture to such depths if hunting in the shallower waters is not possible. The whale shark is the perfect example of a so-called friendly shark and to date have posed no significant threat to humans (mainly divers). The whale shark is most commonly spotted around the Gulf of Mexico and the Indonesian Islands where the whale sharks have been known to be almost playful towards humans.

Female whale sharks incubate their eggs inside them rather than outside. This means that whale sharks effectively give birth to live young. Inside the female whale shark are hundreds of eggs but only a few actually turn into baby whale sharks. The remaining eggs are thought to be there so that when the whale shark pups hatch, they have something to eat. The female whale shark gives birth to an average litter of 12 whale shark pups that are around 60 cm long.

Whale sharks grow quickly during their first few years and soon the whale shark pups are extremely big and therefore less likely to be hunted by marine predators such as other shark species and killer whales. Whale sharks tend to live for around 60 to 80 years but have been known be more than 100 years old.

Tiger Shark

True Wild Life | Tiger Shark | The tiger shark is the fourth biggest shark in the world and is found in warmer and tropical waters in the Southern Hemisphere. The tiger shark tends to be found in more coastal waters but tigers sharks are also known to go into the deeper ocean if they need to hunt for food. The tiger shark is a fierce predator and tiger sharks hunt everything in the water including fish, seals, birds, turtles and even other sharks. The tiger shark gets it's name from the black stripes it has when it is young. Most tiger sharks lose these stripes as they get older.

Like most other species of shark, tiger sharks have sensors on the sides of their heads which enable them to detect small muscle movements from nearby creatures. The tiger shark also has a wedge-shaped head which allows the shark to turn quickly when it needs to. Tiger sharks can reach a top speed of around 20mph which is pretty fast in the water! Tiger sharks are extremely aggressive animals are thought to be one of the most dangerous sharks for humans to come into contact with. Tiger sharks are solitary hunters and usually do most of their hunting at night when the tiger shark can move through the water unseen.

Female tiger sharks mate every three years or so and the time of year when this happens depends on where the tiger shark lives. Tiger sharks in the Northern Hemisphere mate from March to May, where tiger sharks in the Southern Hemisphere mate from November to January. The eggs hatch inside the female tiger shark and can remain inside her for up to 16 months. When they are big enough, the female tiger shark gives birth to between 10 and 80 baby tiger sharks.

Tiger sharks usually range from between 3 to 5 metres in length. Although much larger specimens have been seen, the largest a tiger shark tends to get is around 5.5 metres long.

Spiny Dogfish

True Wild Life | Spiny Dogfish | The spiny dogfish is one of the most abundant species of shark in the world is also commonly known as the piked dogfish, the codshark and the thorndog. The spiny dogfish is the most well-known of the dogfish species and is also thought to be the most well-researched shark species in the world. The spiny dogfish is found worldwide across the Atlantic, Indian and Pacific Oceans. The spiny dogfish tends to be be found in the warmer coastal waters although it is not uncommon to spot spiny dogfish hunting in the freezing sub-Antarctic waters.

The spiny dogfish is a small-sized shark with a grey coloured body that has a light underside and little white spots on the back of the spiny dogfish. The spiny dogfish also has large eyes and a short snout and unlike many other species of shark, the spiny dogfish does has have an anal fin. The most distinctive feature of the spiny dogfish are the two spikes found on the back of the spiny dogfish, one spike in front of each dorsal fin. The spikes on the back of the spiny dogfish are mildly poisonous and are mainly used in defence.

The spiny dogfish is a carnivorous animal and therefore survives on a purely meat-based diet. Fish, squid and crustaceans are the most common meals for the spiny dogfish, but the spiny dogfish is also known to hunt octopus and even other sharks. Due to its relatively large size, aggressive nature and poisonous spikes, the only real predators of the spiny dogfish are larger sharks, humans and the occasional killer whale.

As with some other species of shark, the spiny dogfish does not lays its eggs in the water to hatch, but the spiny dogfish fry instead hatch inside their mother and then emerge into the open ocean. After a gestation period that can last up to 2 years (the longest of any other vertebrate), the female spiny dogfish will produce a little of between 2 and 15 spiny dogfish pups.