It's still not clear why some basking sharks travel such long distances. After all, it takes a lot of energy to make the trip, and there is plenty of food closer to home. Skomal suspects that tropical waters aid with reproduction, by offering a safer nursery habitat, a better food supply, or warmer conditions for pregnant sharks and their newborns. "This is hypothetical," Skomal said, "To the level where I'm just putting my neck out there." The new findings may help people better protect basking sharks, said Robert Kenney, a biological oceanographer at the University of Rhode Island in Narragansett. The species is currently listed as threatened by the International Union for Conservation of Nature. "If all of a sudden, you are finding that a population is spending part of its life somewhere that you didn't consider," Kenney said, "Then you have to expand what you think about when you are trying to manage them." The study also helps fill in what has long been a black hole in our understanding of what makes basking sharks tick. "The more we learn about big fish," Kenney said, "The more we find out they do things we didn't expect them to do." Related Links: Discovery News Blog: Born Animal TreeHugger: 10 Tips for Avoiding Shark Attack TreeHugger: Will Wave Farms Attract Sharks? |
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