Australia's Sharks Are Now On Twitter, Sending Warning Tweets When Approaching Beaches

January 4, 2014

Scientists in Australia have attached small transmitters to more than 320 sharks — including the fearsome Great White — to monitor their movements along the coastline. When any one of them comes within a kilometer of a swimming beach, a computer system automatically logs the shark's movements and turns the data into a TWEET on the Surf Life Saving WA Twitter feed.

Each tweet details the breed of the shark as well as the time it triggered the alarm and the shark’s approximate location.

As well as warning nearby swimmers to avoid potentially shark-infested waters, the tags are additionally being used by researchers to learn more about the sharks’ movements and behavior.

Dr Rory McAuley, from the Department of Fisheries told Sky News: ‘The battery life of internal acoustic tags is up to 10 years so the scientific data that may be collected from this shark is unprecedented.’

Despite this rise, deaths from shark attacks are rare. According to figures from National Geographic, people have a one in 3.7 million chance of being killed by a shark.

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