Tiger Shark
· Tiger Shark Habitat
· Tiger Shark Food
· Tiger Shark Behaviour
· Conservation Status
· Tiger Shark Facts

Tiger Shark Behaviour

Tiger Shark behaviour – Hunting

One thing is for sure when it comes to the tiger shark and that is that it is a natural predator. An aggressive nature, rows of sharp teeth and a powerful body which is capable of bursts of speed are some of the telltale signs. Others are the tiger sharks sensory systems including a very good eyesight, which is uncommon among fish, the ability to smell just a faint trace of blood in water and track it to its source and the ability to feel extremely small pressure differences in the water making it possible for the tiger shark to track a prey on that sense alone. The tiger shark will generally try to swallow its prey whole, it simply can not bother to chew.

Tiger Shark behaviour – Feeding frenzy

When encountering a vast amount of food such as larger groups of fish or a whale carcass the tiger shark can go into a state of feeding frenzy. While in this state of mind the tiger shark will bite at anything that moves without any concern for what it is, not even fellow tiger sharks go safe. Why this tiger shark behaviour has developed is hard to understand and today there are few theories which explain it.

Tiger Shark behaviour – Human encounters

Human encounters with the tiger shark generally end in tragedy simply because the tiger shark misinterprets the situation. In the eyes of a tiger shark the human, splashing around on the surface, is a valid prey and should be the next meal if it were not for the simple fact that humans tend to taste awful for the tiger sharks. Generally the tiger shark just takes one bite and then makes a run for it, and generally one bite is enough to kill a human. The tiger shark is known as the terror of surfers, and has reason for it.

Tiger Shark behaviour – Mating

It is believed that the female tiger shark only carry young every three years or so, and then is pregnant over about 16 months. The male tiger shark does not follow any of these periods and is believed to be able to mate any time of the year. The actual mating process is actually quite violent and the male tiger shark will most probably inflict some damage to the female as he tries to keep her in place. The tiger shark is special in that way that it is the only species of grey shark which carry their young live and not in eggs.