Sharks avoid clashes with fellow species by adhering to 'hunting time-table': Study

New research from Murdoch University’s Harry Butler Institute has revealed that sharks never involve themselves in clashes with other shark species until and unless there is a coincidence of targeting the same prey. However, it also noted that they have a separate timetable which helps them share the available resources while avoiding unnecessary clashes. Earlier, the scientists' revealed that the giant mammal hunts either at dusk or dawn. The new study revealed that they don't have any specific time rather partitioned the time slot to make the fellow species comfortable. 

Sharks hunt in shifts: Study

The Sharks research, led by Dr Karissa Lear and Dr Adrian Gleiss at the Centre for Sustainable Aquatic Ecosystem said, "This is a relatively rare way of sharing resources in nature, but it could be more common than we think in understudied marine ecosystems. Indeed, the timing is likely to be at least partially driven by hierarchy - forcing less dominant predators to forage in less optimal periods to avoid those larger sharks." The study revealed that the schedules are mostly hierarchy driven, i.e most dominant sharks get the best time slots for their hunting. 

"We found bull sharks were most active in early morning hours, tiger sharks during midday, sandbar sharks during the afternoon, blacktip sharks during evening hours and both scalloped and great hammerhead sharks during nighttime hours, the only two species with substantial overlap in timing of peak activity," read the sharks research of Dr Lear.

Conflict between man-shark increases: Study

Apart from this research, a study also revealed that the incidence of shark bites increased in the countries like Australia. There were 985 incidents reported in the Australian Shark Attack File from 1900 to 2020 from 20 different species.
With shark bites increasing in countries like Australia - scientists say the use of personal electronic deterrents is an effective way to prevent future deaths and injuries which could save the lives of up to 1063 Australians along the coastline over the next 50 years.