World’s first shark THREESOME is caught on camera: Scientists spot two males and a female mating off the coast of New Caledonia

Scientists observing sharks off the coast of New Caledonia were in for a surprise, after spotting the world’s first shark threesome. 

During the unusual encounter, two male leopard sharks mated with a female in quick succession – with the entire tryst lasting just 110 seconds. 

‘It was over quickly for both males, one after the other. The first took 63 seconds, the other 47,’ explained Dr Hugo Lassauce, who filmed the encounter. 

Afterwards, the males ‘lost all their energy’, and lay immobile on the bottom of the seafloor. 

In contrast, the female shark ‘swam away actively’. 

This is believed to be the world’s first recorded observation of two males of the species copulating with a female. 

However, sharks aren’t the only animals that engage in mating trios. 

Bonobos, bottlenose dolphins, grey whales, spotted hyenas, and lemurs are just a few of the creatures who have previously been seen indulging in ménage à trois.   

Scientists observing sharks off the coast of New Caledonia were in for a surprise, after spotting the world’s first shark threesome

During the unusual encounter, two male leopard sharks mated in quick succession with a female – with the entire tryst lasting just 110 seconds

Dr Lassauce, a marine biologist at the University of the Sunshine Coast, was snorkelling nine miles (15km) off the coast of New Caledonia when he spotted something unusual. 

‘I’d seen males swimming fast after females before and I’d arrived “on the scene” just after a male and female separated, but I’d never seen the whole sequence,’ he explained.

‘Then while I was surveying this particular aggregation of leopard sharks, I spotted a female with two males grasping her pectoral fins on the sand below me.

‘I told my colleague to take the boat away to avoid disturbance and I started waiting on the surface, looking down at the sharks almost motionless on the sea floor.

‘I waited an hour, freezing in the water, but finally they started swimming up.’

The entire threesome lasted just 110 seconds, although both males followed a ‘structured sequence.’

Writing in their study, published in the Journal of Ethology^[1], the researchers explained: ‘The mating behavior followed a structured sequence, including prolonged pre-copulation positioning, male grasping of the female’s fins and tail, conspicuous siphon sac, copulatory thrusting, and clasper use consistent with previous reports from captive settings.’

Leopard sharks (Stegostoma tigrinum) are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and have largely only been studied in captivity.

Leopard sharks (Stegostoma tigrinum) are listed as endangered by the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), and have largely only been studied in captivity

Also known as zebra sharks thanks to the striped pattern seen on the skin as pups, the species is found in coastal waters across the Indo-West Pacific region, from Africa’s east coast to the Pacific Islands and including Australia. 

The researchers hope the new sighting will aid artificial insemination research aimed at helping ‘rewild’ the endangered species.

Dr Christine Dudgeon, senior author of the study, said: ‘It’s surprising and fascinating that two males were involved sequentially on this occasion.

‘From a genetic diversity perspective, we want to find out how many fathers contribute to the batches of eggs laid each year by females.’

HOW SHARKS EARNED THEIR RUTHLESS REPUTATION^[2]

Sharks are the most efficient predators on earth and have long terrified humans.

Their basic design has never really changed over the course of 200million years and they are considered to be complex and intelligent.

Their teeth are fear factor number one, with the great white’s teeth growing up to two-and-a-half inches in length.

Their prey are impaled on the pointed teeth of the lower jaw where they saw away sections of the flesh. The serrated edges of the teeth help with this process.

Their teeth are brittle and are constantly breaking off but are also constantly regrowing and on average there are 15 rows of teeth present in the mouth at one time.

Sharks are the most efficient predators on earth. Their basic design has never really changed over the course of 200million years

Their speed is fear factor number two. 

They are very fast in the water compared to humans with the mako shark able to reach an incredible 60mph in bursts.

The great white can reach speeds of 25mph. 

By comparison, 5mph is the fastest a human being can reach.

A shark’s power and size terrifies us, too.   

The great white shark can grow up to 20 feet and while it has no particular taste for humans even an exploratory bite is enough to cut a man in half.

Most sharks release a human after its first bite but sometimes, that’s all it take to kill a person.   

However, sharks have far more reason to be afraid of humans. We kill up to a million of them a year, often just cutting off their fins to make into soup and throwing the rest of the shark back into the water, where it starves or drowns.