Monday, May 18, 2015

18/05/2015: Biting wit: great white's unofficial Twitter feed gains 44,000 followers

An organisation studying great white sharks is enjoying some welcome attention after one of the creatures it has been monitoring started gaining a loyal social media following, The Guardian reports.

@MaryLeeShark is the fake Twitter handle for a very real, nearly 3500lb great white whose movements can be tracked online and in real time.
     
http://www.theguardian.com/environment/2015/may/17/great-white-shark-twitter-mary-lee
Image: Elias Levy
The account has drawn more than 44,000 followers with her playful updates and witty replies as a real life shark cruises up and down the east coast.

“Oh heyyyyy.... you’re right by my house, come by for a nightcap?” invited one recent Twitter commenter as she popped up off the coast of Long Island, New York.

“I would settle for an ice bag to put on my aching Twitter fin. -:()“ Mary Lee replied.

“What do you do during Shark Week?” another recent commenter asked. 


“Swim. Eat. Tweet. Etc. Exhausting. -;(),” Mary Lee responded.


The shark, which was tagged off the coast of Cape Cod, is among hundreds of sharks that OCEARCH, a Utah-based organization, has tagged and tracked since 2007.

The fake Twitter handle isn’t affiliated with OCEARCH (pronounced Oh-Search). But OCEARCH expedition leader Chris Fischer, who named Mary Lee after his mother, says the organization appreciates the attention the maritime missives have generated.

“They’re really clever, they really like sharks and they’re on a mission, so we’re just kind of rolling with it,” he said from the organization’s latest expedition in Australia.

Read more HERE

Mobile shark tracking site HERE


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