Lesson Plans

Lesson One - Where?

Where Whale Sharks are found.

The whale shark has been found in all the major oceans, but appears not to enter the Mediterranean sea. It lives in the warm waters of tropical and sub-tropical seas. Its range extends further polewards on the east coast of continents where warm tropical water is carried away from the tropics by ocean currents. Thus, on the east coast of Australia the whale shark has been seen as far south as Montague Island south of the 36th parallel of latitude, and Wolfson records a sighting from Point Hicks in Victoria, 38° south . Similarly the sharks have been seen off Cape Town in South Africa. In the northern hemisphere whale sharks are carried north in the warm Kuroshio current to the islands of southern Japan, and the range is extended north by the Gulf stream on the east coast of America. In Western Australia it has been sighted as far south as the Kalbarri cliffs, latitude 28° South.

It is not known how far whale sharks migrate. At one time it was suggested that they might undertake huge migrations, breeding in the Indian Ocean, and drifting south in the Mozambique current around Cape Horn into the Atlantic, where they might be carried across the Atlantic in the Southern equatorial Current, reaching the Caribbean. (Gudger, 1931). Studies at Ningaloo would not support this concept, as they have been able to recognise sharks from one year to the next.

The whale shark is said to prefer waters of surface temperature 21-26 degrees centigrade, in areas where there are upwellings of nutrient rich colder water. These conditions favour blooms of plankton on which the sharks feed. They are often seen with schools of pelagic fish, especially trevally (Jacks).
Using a map of the World and your Atlas find and then mark these locations.

  1. Montague Island
  2. Cape Horn
  3. Exmouth ,Ningaloo
  4. Kalbarri
  5. Cape Town

Use a blank map of WA, find and mark the location of these places,print Map WA

  1. Carnarvon
  2. Shark Bay
  3. Kalbarri
  4. Exmouth
  5. Geraldton
  6. Broome
  7. Rottnest
  8. Albany
  9. Esperance
  10. Port Hedland
  11. Whydam

Now place a new slide into your Slide show - insert a map of WA and mark these locations onto your mark.Map WA