The great white shark, an apex predator feared and revered in equal measure, is mysteriously turning up dead across the globe. From South Africa and Australia to the shores of Canada, the grim phenomenon has scientists scrambling for answers.
Picture: Getaway Gallery
In South Africa, a notorious pair of orcas with a taste for shark livers is believed to be responsible for the decline in great white numbers in Gansbaai, once a shark hotspot. Australia has seen similar orca predation. However, in Canada, a more perplexing cause is at play.
For three decades, the Canadian Wildlife Health Cooperator (CWHC) had never recorded a single great white carcass. That changed in August 2023, with five sharks suddenly beaching themselves. Disturbingly, necropsies revealed several had swollen brains—symptoms of meningoencephalitis, a severe inflammation of brain tissue.
‘Three of these five seem to have the same potentially infectious disease affecting their brain,’ said Megan Jones, a veterinary pathologist at CWHC. ‘We need to know more about what that is.’
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