Origami white shark. How to make a simple white shark out of paper.

It goes by several common names. The most widespread is “great white shark”, but Australians call it the “white pointer” and scientists simply refer to the “white shark”.

In fact, great white sharks are not white. The epithet is thought to have come about because these sharks are predominantly white in one circumstance: when they are lying dead, belly-up on the deck of a boat.

It would arguably be more appropriate to call this species the “black shark”. They have a dark upper surface, which means their surface-dwelling prey struggle to spot them approaching from the murky depths.

Speaking of prey, they have been recorded dining out on a wide range of species, including whales, squid, turtles and occasionally penguins.