The Australian Great White Shark – Probably the most feared and misunderstood animal in our great brown land down-under!
In a country seemingly full of all sorts of dangerous creatures, both on land and below the surface. The Australian Great White Shark manages to inspire an incredible amount of fear and loathing with the general public.
Referred to locally as White Pointers. That intense reaction has developed because when a Great White does attack a swimmer, surfer, spear-fisher or a diver. The result can be horrendous and result in a gruesome death for the victim.
So the fear side of the equation is very easy to understand! But the loathing part is much more nuanced. And largely results from the way the Australian tabloid media treat these attacks.
Which are almost guaranteed to make the front page and lead the nightly “news” on television. But peel the onion and a different picture starts to emerge. The pages and links below will help you to build your own picture of these truly incredible, fearsome and totally unpredictable apex predators!
Australian Great White Sharks
Great Whites inspire more fear and loathing than any other creature in Australia. But what is really the truth about them?
Are they the ruthless man-eater the tabloid media paint them out to be? Or are they completely misunderstood – Read more…
What Do They Really Eat?
An interesting and very relevant question given that hunger is probably the major behavioural driver of these incredible animals.
In the mind of the broader public great white sharks have an insatiable hunger and humans are part of their diet – Read more…
Cage Diving – How it Works
It’s probably pretty safe to say that the first time you climb in the Great White Shark cage you will be feeling just a little bit nervous!
Worried what could go wrong while trying not to make a fool of yourself, the reality is that it’s all very safe and low risk – Read more…
Cage Diving – Technique
The Great White cage diving technique used in South Australia is all about drawing the sharks in close to the cage and keeping them there.
A combination of berley and floating “teaser” baits are used – and it works most of time, but there are no guarantees – Read more…
Ocean Floor Cage Diving
The underwater environment at the Neptunes is a superb example of the temperate water biodiversity of the Great Southern Reef.
Ocean floor allows safe entry to that unique environment and see great whites in a way that is simply not possible otherwise – Read more…
Surface Cage Diving
It’s probably pretty safe to say that the first time you climb in the Great White Shark cage you will be feeling just a little bit nervous!
Worried what could go wrong while trying not to make a fool of yourself, the reality is that it’s all very safe and low risk – Read more…
Cage Diving Operators
There are two choose from and both are based from Port Lincoln – Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions and Calypso Star Charters.
Both have excellent and hard-earned overall reputations, but they are focused on quite different market segments – Read more…
Rodney Fox – An Aussie Icon
The chances are that if you have anything more than a passing interest in sharks you will have heard of Rodney.
As he is the owner of the world’s most famous shark bite injuries. After he was horrendously mauled back in 1963 – Read more…
In Deep with Andrew Fox
Imagine if you will growing up in a house where large and potentially dangerous sharks are part of the household fabric.
Or your earliest memories is peering over the side of your dad’s abalone boat to see a spy-hopping great white shark – Read more…
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