Great White Shark for Kids Ages 8-10

Great White Shark

I am a great white shark, an ancient and powerful swimmer with a skeleton made of cartilage. I travel thousands of miles and use a special sense called the Ampullae of Lorenzini to detect the electrical fields of my prey. For a long time, a movie from 1975 made people fear me, but attacks on humans are rare. Now, with protection laws passed in the 1990s, people are beginning to understand my important role as an apex predator who keeps the ocean ecosystem healthy and balanced.

First Formally Described 1758

Genus Established 1833

Release of 'Jaws' 1975

The Great White Guardian

Hello! My name is Carcharodon carcharias, but you can call me a great white shark. I know I don't look like a fuzzy kitten, but I am one of the most powerful and amazing swimmers in the entire sea. My ancestors have been ruling the oceans for millions of years, swimming in these waters even before the dinosaurs walked the Earth. The moment I was born, live from my mother, I was completely on my own. I was already a perfect little hunter, ready to explore the vast blue world around me. I don't have bones like you do. Instead, my whole skeleton is made of something called cartilage. It's the same bendy, strong stuff that you can feel in your own nose and ears! This makes me lighter and more flexible, which helps me glide through the water with strength and grace.

Life in the ocean is a grand adventure, and I am a true world traveler. I sometimes swim for thousands of miles across the open ocean. In the early 2000s, scientists were amazed when they began tracking some of my relatives. They watched us journey all the way from the coast of California to the warm waters of Hawaii and then back again. To find my food on these long trips, I use my incredible senses. My sense of smell is so sharp that I can detect a tiny drop of blood in the water from miles away. I also have a secret sense that you don't have. On my snout, I have special jelly-filled pores called the Ampullae of Lorenzini. These pores allow me to detect the tiny electrical fields that all living creatures make when they move. This helps me know when a tasty seal or sea lion is swimming nearby, even if I can't see it. When I hunt, I am so powerful that I can leap completely out of the water. This move is called a 'breach,' and it makes quite a splash.

For a very long time, people were extremely scared of me, and I became very misunderstood. On June 20th, 1975, a movie called 'Jaws' was released, and it made me seem like a mean monster that hunted people for fun. But that isn't the real me at all. Attacks on humans are actually very rare. When they do happen, it is usually a case of mistaken identity. From below, a person on a surfboard can look a lot like a seal, which is one of my favorite meals. The truth is, humans are a much bigger threat to my family than we are to them. Many of us get accidentally caught in giant fishing nets, and our ocean habitats are changing. Thankfully, people began to understand how important we are to the ocean. In 1991, laws were passed in places like South Africa to protect us. A few years later, in 1994, California created similar laws, which has helped my family of sharks a lot.

As an apex predator, I have a very important job. Being at the top of the food chain means I help keep the entire ocean in balance. By hunting seals and other large marine animals, I make sure their populations don't get too large. This helps keep the whole ocean ecosystem healthy and strong, from the tiniest fish to the biggest whales. We great white sharks can live for a long time, sometimes for over 70 years, spending our lives as the guardians of the sea. So, the next time you think of me, please don't picture a monster from a movie. Instead, picture a powerful, ancient, and vital swimmer who is a key part of our planet's amazing blue heart. The ocean needs me, and I'm proud to be its great white shark.