“I am currently conducting a behavioral study on the great white shark. The aim of the project is to understand how physiological stress and genetics affect individual variation in behavior (termed ‘personality’) in a large apex predator. My background is in evolutionary ecology, where I used social insects as a model species to answer questions about the evolution of male reproductive traits. Yet, I have been fascinated with sharks ever since I can remember, so to say I am living my dream is an understatement.

I have been diving with numerous shark species all over the world, but when I came to South Africa in 2006 and had my first great white shark encounter it surpassed all other diving experiences. The great white shark however, is not only a fascinating species it is also a uniquely good model system for a field study on animal personality. Individual variation in personality within a population can affect foraging strategies, predation and vulnerability to environmental and anthropological stresses, yet our knowledge of the proximate mechanisms that produce personalities is limited.

Apex predators typically have small population sizes with a disproportionate impact on their surrounding ecosystem, making individual variation in behavior likely to be of significant importance for ecology and conservation, hence understanding the physiological and genetic factors that affect personalities is therefore especially important in these taxa. Working with Marine Dynamics allows me to study one of the major unanswered scientific questions about animal behavior, while using a truly magnificent keystone species as my model system.

White sharks still suffer from the general public’s limited and inaccurate understanding of them, so incorporating knowledge on their individual personalities is extremely important for developing conservation strategies and managing human-animal conflict.”