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Beware the embryo of a sand tiger shark, especially if you’re another embryo. That’s because survival of the fittest starts inside the womb, before a shark is even born. Scientists have known for years that unborn sand tiger sharks devour their womb-mates until there are just two left. Now, new research has figured out why.
The Shark embryos eat each other in the womb as a paternity strategy. DNA testing recently revealed that the mystery of baby shark cannibalism is due to embryos from different fathers competing to be born.
If there are two embryos with the same father, they will eat all the others so they both will live, which strengthens their bloodline.
