If you thought interspecies boot-knocking was the sole purview of a handful of Bronies, check out what Australia's sharks are up to. Climate change and shifting water temperatures are causing different shark species to mingle their habitats, and apparently the mingling doesn’t stop there. The continent is now seeing an unprecedented number of hybrid sharks.
The hybridization may be adaptive, allowing the sharks to better handle their changing environment.
“Hybridization could enable the sharks to adapt to environmental change as the smaller Australian black tip currently favors tropical waters in the north while the larger common black tip is more abundant in sub-tropical and temperate waters along the south-eastern Australian coastline,” said researcher Jennifer Ovenden of the University of Queensland in a press release.
