What Does the Great White Shark Eat?

Great white sharks generally eat larger prey, such as pinnipeds, which include sea lions and seals. They also eat nearly anything they can get their teeth into, such as small whales like Beluga whales, otters and even other sharks. The great white tends to hunt live prey, but it eats dead animals floating in the water as well when the opportunity presents itself. These sharks do not chew food and instead rip prey into smaller chunks, which they then swallow whole. Great whites can live off of a single meal for two months if it is large enough.

Sharks prey on animals in one of three different main attacks. They usually approach their prey underwater and then breach the surface at the last moment to grab the victim and rip it apart. Occasionally, these sharks might also charge their soon to be food while partially out of the water. On rare occasions, the shark might swim upside down with its back toward the sea floor in order to confuse its prey.

The great white shark is the largest predatory fish on Earth. It has evolved from shark ancestors that lived over 400 million years ago, before the dinosaurs. Despite their portrayal in films and literature, great white sharks rarely eat humans. A great white shark tends to bite once to sample the taste of its prey and let it go if the prey is not one of its preferred meals.