Aquatic Predators. From the pointy end to the...other end

How can you avoid crocodile attacks? Based on historical trends and collaboration with local experts in South Africa and Gujarat, India, Simon Pooley has devised guidance on avoiding riverside human-wildlife conflict. His infographics are available online and in print, and help to save human and crocodilian life.

Coral reefs are teeming with life, but the waters around these reefs are actually low in nutrients. How are these reefs able to support the marine life? Enter sharks, a top predator in our oceans. By studying the movement of grey reef sharks around Palmyra Atoll in the Pacific Ocean, we found that sharks returning from hunting in the open ocean, by coming back to the coral reef and releasing faeces (i.e. pooping), contribute substantially to the transfer of nutrients onto the coral reef, highlighting how these sharks may be helping reefs support a huge number of other marine species.