You’ve no doubt heard the sounds of dolphins and the song of whales. However, in a world first, scientists now say they have captured the first ever shark sounds.
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00:00You've no doubt heard the sounds of dolphins and the songs of whales, but now scientists
00:07say they have captured the first ever shark sounds.
00:10This is a rig shark, and this is the sound they were recently recorded making in the
00:19estuaries of New Zealand.
00:21Since the dawn of marine biology, it was believed sharks were silent predators, as they don't
00:25have any vocal mechanisms.
00:27However, after discovering that rays and skates, which are also part of the batoid
00:31family like sharks, make their own sounds, experts wanted to investigate sharks further.
00:36They found that small juvenile rigs never made sounds when free-swimming in the ocean.
00:39Rather, they only emitted this sound when being handled.
00:47Experts believe this could be a stress response to being touched, or it could be a hunting
00:50strategy, as the shark clicking resembles the sounds of shrimp.
00:54One of their food sources, they add that the creatures are likely making the sounds
00:57by snapping their jaws and clicking their teeth.