Galapagos: Realm of Giant Sharks Page #5

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large predators move away.

So do the crowds of sharks.

Including the whale sharks.

Margarita, the shark with the circular

bites or propeller marks, headed north.

She wandered about for a month.

Then her signal disappeared.

She'll be easy to recognize

if they see her again

on a future trip to Darwin's Arch.

Most likely, she headed south with the

other sharks that still

had their tags on.

Including Jaws,

a shark they called "Sin Nombre",

George, the only male in the group,

and Carla.

They all went to a region off the coast

of Peru, lined with steep ridges.

As the chlorophyll data shows,

these are some of the most

fertile waters on the planet.

Deep nutrient rich currents

rise to surface, and

sea life is abundant year round.

If the female sharks are

giving birth up north,

perhaps this is where they

are finding their males,

as well as the food supply

that will sustain them on their

way back to the Galapagos and beyond.

The data include a few

notable exceptions.

Like Ranger, who was on

her way down the coast of

South America when her tag

stopped transmitting.

And Kimberly, the teenager last seen

heading south in the Mid-Pacific.

When the study began,

almost nothing was known

about the parade of whale sharks

that passes by Darwin Island.

More years of research are needed

to find out just how widely they travel,

where they go to give birth,

and what is it that draws them in such

numbers to this narrow, rocky reef.

Darwin Island was born in the

formation of the Galapagos Rift Zone

around three and a half

million years ago.

That's recent compared to

the tens of millions of years

that whale sharks have plied the oceans.

As we search for fleeting glimpses

into their lives and history,

we marvel at their return to

this Realm of Giant Sharks.

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