R & C | ICHTHYOLOGY | SHARKS: FACT AND FANTASY

Shark Intelligence

We do not know a great deal about shark behavior, but we do know that sharks are not "mindless eating-machines". Sharks may even be considered intelligent. Two ways by which intelligence is commonly measured are brain size (relative to body weight) and learning speed. Sharks have brains comparable in size to those of some birds and mammals; lemon sharks can learn to navigate a maze as fast as rats.