First fossil nursery of the great white shark discovered

Set of teeth of today's white shark and a reconstructed set of teeth of a fossil great white shark. (©Jaime Villafaña/Jürgen Kriwet) - Paleo-kindergarten ensured evolutionary success millions of years ago An international research team led by Jaime A. Villafaña from the Institute of Palaeontology at the University of Vienna discovered the first fossil nursery area of the great white shark, Carcharodon carcharias in Chile. This discovery provides a better understanding of the evolutionary success of the largest top predator in today's oceans in the past and could contribute to the protection of these endangered animals. The study is published in the journal Scientific Reports. The great white shark is one of the most charismatic, but also one of the most infamous sharks. Despite its importance as top predator in marine ecosystems, it is considered threatened with extinction; its very slow growth and late reproduction with only few offspring are - in addition to anthropogenic reasons - responsible for this. Young white sharks are born in designated breeding areas, where they are protected from other predators until they are large enough not to fear competitors any more.