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GREAT WHITE SHARK
The great white shark is the world's largest predatory fish and is also the only surviving member of its genus, Carcharodon. It is known to be up to 21 feet long and weigh about 5,000 pounds (2,250 kg). It is also known as the white shark, white pointer, or white death. The great white lives in nearly all coastal areas, including the coasts of California, off South Africa, and Australia. Its living temperatures range form 54 to 75 degrees F.
The Steven Spielberg movie called Jaws, made peoplethink of sharks as man-eating creatures, however sharks do not prey on humans. Many times, great white sharks have just been biting out of curiosity. Sharks also bite other objects just to see what they taste like, not because they want to attack it and eat it as prey.
Great whites are carnivores, and eat many ocean animals such as rays, smaller sharks, seals, sea lions, tuna, whale carcasses, porpoises, and dolphns. They also rarely prey on sea otter and penguins. Great whites also prey things that aren't really food, like bottles and such. These sharks usually attack from the bottom, and strike at critical areas of the prey while going at speeds high enough to make them breach out of the water.
Great whites are more social than though before, and they also sometimes raise their heads out of the water to gaze at some objects outside. Not many sharks do this, however it has been noticed in one group of blacktip reef sharks.
Great white sharks have barely done boat attacks, however they have knocked some over and killed people inside. Today, baely any of these attacks are seen if any at all.
HAMMERHEAD SHARK
Hammerhead sharks are members of the Sphynidae family. The only other member of this family is the winghead shark, which looks much like a hammerhead. Hammerhead sharks are 3 to 20 feet long, depending on the species. All of these species have a head which looks like a flat hammer, with an eye and a nostril on each side.
Hammerheads live in warm waters and continental shelves. You can also see them in the Gulf of Mexico or along the western coast pf Florida. They are often caught by fishermen but they must be thrown back because they are a protected species.
Hammerhead sharks are aggressive carnivores. They mainly feed on fish, cephalopods, crustaceans, and rays. They also do not feed on other sharks or large animals such as whales, however they might eat a carcass which they had found. They may also cause feeding frenzies, which is when many sharks eat food rapidly at the same time, also biting each other in the excitement. These do not last very long.
Nine species of hammerhead sharks are known, however only three are dangerous to humans. These hammerheads are the scallopped, smooth, and great hammerheads.
Hammerheads are one of the few creatures in the entire animal kingdom, that can tan if it is exposed to sunlight. This usually happens when they are in shallow waters or near or above the surface for a long period of time. This tanning is also shared by humans and pigs.
Hammerheads are on the World Conservation Unions 2008 Red List as a globally endangered species. This is caused by overfishing for the request of their valuable fins . Great hammerheads are currently on the endangered list, which means they are past threatened and have a large risk of becoming extinct.