KWSN Orbiting Fortress

[rotciv KOTHRT]

MONTEREY, California (Reuters) -- A great white shark in captivity for a record six months was released into the Pacific Ocean Thursday after it attacked and killed two smaller sharks in its tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
The female shark -- not quite a year old now -- was starting to act like a hunter in the huge display tank where she has lived 198 days with a number of smaller sharks, tuna and other fishes and turtles, aquarium scientists said.

She bit and killed a soupfin shark in late February and another earlier in March, but the aquarium staff did not see clear hunting behavior until Monday, said Randy Kochevar, a marine biologist at the aquarium.

"For the first time, she was chasing other things around. She was hunting," he said.

Before the Monterey Bay Aquarium obtained this shark, the longest a great white shark had survived in captivity was 16 days.

The young shark was also growing too large for the exhibit, growing to 6 feet 4 inches and 162 pounds since she was caught in a fisherman's net off Southern California in August 2004, the scientists said.

"We were concerned with her size and when we saw this change in her behavior, we decided the time was right to release her," Kochevar said.

The shark was about 5-foot-long and weighed 62 pounds when it was first brought to the aquarium. It has been hand-fed two to four pounds of salmon, tuna and mackerel almost every day since.

The great white shark was released into the waters of Monterey Bay, about 100 miles south of San Francisco, shortly before sunrise Thursday.

Marine scientists said the young shark should adapt easily to life in the wild. She was equipped with a tag to track her movements for the next 30 days.


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Sir Rotvic Knight of the Halfround Table
MAD, MAD I tell you.They're all MAD.
I am the only sane one here, my Doctor told me I was cured after the shock treatments. Big Brother Is Aways Watching.

[JerWA]

Swimming? Suuuuuure!


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[Michelle]

Good grief! I love animals but I reckon that snakes, crocs and sharks do NOT need to be protected species. They're nasty enough to look after themselves.

(I don't know if they're protected in the U.S. but they are here.)
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[JerWA]

Actually, they do need to be protected. Crocodiles and Alligators have, essentially, almost stopped evolving. They got to the point they were so good that they didn't need to get better... and then humans came along. We've done a fair job of wiping them out, and they need to be protected from us, not anything else in their environment. Once you take us out of the equation, you're right, they're nasty enough to look after themselves.
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[Naughty Zoot]

Did they say "HAND FED"?!?!?!?! Er....and they think it won't see a swimmer and think "FOOD, YUM, FOOD"?
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[JerWA]

One can only hope. I have no sympathy for those that put themselves on something elses menu.
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[Michelle]

[A Shrubbery]

As I Monty Python fan I should hope you are familiar with the world competition for being eaten by a crocodile. And marinating is strictly forbidden, unless of course they adopt the standard mayonaise or bernaisse sauce.
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