AssetID: 55142223
Headline: UNCAPTIONED: Lazy Lovers! Leopard Sharks Filmed Mating For The First Time
Caption: Lazy lovers! Leopard sharks filmed mating for the first time. A marine biologist has captured on camera a leopard shark mating sequence in the wild for the first time. Like a bad ex-boyfriend, the males didn’t possess much bedroom stamina. The footage, taken off New Caledonia by Dr Hugo Lassauce of the University of the Sunshine Coast (UniSC), showed two male sharks and a female engaging in mating that lasted just under two minutes in total. The encounter, now documented in the Journal of Ethology, is thought to be the first scientifically recorded instance of two males copulating in quick succession with a female leopard shark. Dr Lassauce said the team immediately recognised the scientific significance of the video. “It’s rare to witness sharks mating in the wild, but to see it with an endangered species – and film the event – was so exciting that we just started cheering,” he said. He had been snorkelling weekly with the sharks, around 15km off the New Caledonian coast, as part of a monitoring programme. As with some human wannabe Lotharios, the males are not particularly attentive or long-lasting lovers, and appeared to fall into a kind of sleep shortly after the deed was done. “It was over quickly for both males, one after the other,” Dr Laussace said. “The first took 63 seconds, the other 47. Then the males lost all their energy and lay immobile on the bottom while the female swam away actively.”
Keywords: Natural World,leopard sharks,shark,mating,marine,biologist,captured,camera,wild,stamina,footage,New Caledonia,Dr Hugo Lassauce,University of the Sunshine Coast,UniSC,male,female,Journal of Ethology,rare,endangered species,programme
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