A great white shark in captivity for a record six months was released into the Pacific Ocean today after it attacked and killed two smaller sharks in its tank at the Monterey Bay Aquarium.
The one-year-old female shark was starting to act like a hunter in the huge display tank where she has lived with a number of smaller sharks, tuna and other fishes and turtles for the past 198 aquarium scientists said.
She bit and killed a soupfin shark in late February and another earlier this month, but the aquarium staff did not see clear hunting behavior until Monday.
"For the first time, she was chasing other things around. She was hunting," said Randy Kochevar, a marine biologist at the aquarium.
Before the Monterey Bay Aquarium obtained this shark, the longest a great white shark had survived in captivity was 16 days.
She was caught in a fisherman's net off Southern California in August 2004.
Marine scientists said the young shark should adapt easily to life in the wild. She was equipped with a tag to track her movements for the next 30 days.
Nearly one million people have crowded around the display to watch the shark swim and hear commentators talk about survival challenges in the oceans and the need for conservation.