Scalloped hammerhead sharks, Sphyrna lewini, are known to form great schools. But scientists are trying to solve mysteries about them, such as where do they breed and migrate?
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New find could help save Galapagos hammerhead sharks
The sharks give birth in secluded bays that scientists worry may be exposed to fishing.
One way they're doing it is by searching for where hammerhead sharks have their babies (called pups). Past studies have documented where and why some of the region's hammerhead populations migrate, but scientists have been struggling with one mystery—where the females that live around the Galapagos's Darwin and Wolf Islands go to have their pups. Darwin and Wolf Islands have some of the world's highest concentrations of sharks, meaning the pregnant females that live there contribute to the population of the species overall.
Now, thanks to tracking data from tags attached to some of the sharks, scientists have some of the first evidence showing pregnant hammerheads from those Galapagos islands may be migrating to mainland South American countries like Ecuador
