GREAT white sharks and serial killers share the same hunting instincts, scientists have found.
Researchers used methods copied from criminology to show great whites pick their targets in a highly focused fashion.
Prolific killers such as Peter Sutcliffe, the "Yorkshire Ripper", behave in much the same way.
The scientists adapted geograp
hic profiling, a mathematical technique used to track down serial criminals, to investigate the sharks' hunting habits.
They observed the location of 340 shark attacks and used the data to locate the sharks' "anchor points".
In criminal investigations, a series of linked crimes – usually murder, rape or arson – is used to determine the rough location of the perpetrator's "anchor point". Most often this is a home or place of work.
Serial killers tend to operate within a confined area around the anchor point, so knowing its location allows police to avoid being swamped with suspects and prioritise those who live or work in certain areas.
The shark scientists linked the "crimes" of great whites off the South African coast – attacks on seals – and found the sharks had a well defined search base.
Their "anchor point" tended to be 100 metres seaward of where the seals accessed and left the island where they lived.
Smaller, younger, sharks exhibited more dispersed search patterns and were less successful hunters.
The research, led by Dr Neil Hammerschlag, from the University of Miami, is reported in the Journal of Zoology, published by the Zoological Society.
Geographic profiling was developed by a former Canadian "beat" policeman, Kim Rossmo, now Professor of Criminal Justice at Texas State University. It is used all over the world for whittling down lists of suspects.
