United States - April 29, 2025 Hawaii’s Big Island –A rare and dramatic scene unfolded in the deep waters off Hawaii when tiger sharks and oceanic whitetip sharks fed side by side on a decaying carcass. This peaceful gathering of two powerful shark species was spotted in April 2024, about 10 kilometers from the island’s west coast. Tour operators witnessed the event for 8.5 hours, observing nine oceanic whitetip sharks and five tiger sharks feeding without conflict. According to Dr. Molly Scott from the University of Hawaiʻi at Mānoa, this is the first known case of these two species scavenging together. “These species are rarely seen together in the wild because of the vastly different habitats they occupy,” she said. Oceanic whitetips are solitary and migratory, spending most of their time in open ocean. Tiger sharks are larger, more coastal, and present year-round. Despite the small size of the carcass and the number of sharks, no aggression was seen between or within species. “Even with that many sharks feeding on such a small carcass, they all seemed to know their place,” Scott explained. Tiger sharks dominated the feast, likely due to their larger size. Smaller sharks fed on scraps drifting away. One smaller female tiger shark was observed hanging back, possibly too shy or cautious to enter the already-established feeding hierarchy. The unusual event could help scientists understand social behavior and relationships between sharks from different habitats. Photographers captured the entire scene up close, swimming near over a dozen feeding sharks without a single aggressive moment. Scott hopes the event reshapes how humans view sharks. “They are not the human-eating predators they are made out to be,” she said.