Sharks Trigger Tweets That Warn Australian Beachgoers of Attacks

In the Jaws movies, an ominous theme song tells viewers when they should expect to see a shark attack. In real life, several hundred sharks in Western Australia have been issuing their own warnings to beachgoers — via Twitter.

Scientists have tagged more than 300 sharks in the area with transmitters, according to Sky News. Each time one of the tagged sharks swims around 1 kilometer (0.6 miles) from the beach, signals trigger a tweet to automatically publish on Surf Life Saving Western Australia's Twitter account (@SLSWA).

The project has flagged hundreds of instances of mostly tiger and bronze whaler sharks — but also a few white sharks — approaching Western Australian beaches since June. Tweets describe the time, type of shark and its approximate location. Read more...