Myrtle Beach welcomes rare baby shark — an actual one, not the song your kids keep playing
He may not get as many views as the song that turned into a viral sensation, but Rip the baby shark is already breaking records of his own.
The sand tiger shark born March 24 at Ripley’s Aquarium of Myrtle Beach is the first of his kind ever to be conceived via artificial insemination — the latest breakthrough in research and preservation globally for a species on the brink of extinction.
“Right now, he’s everyone’s favorite here,” said Stacia White, the aquarium’s director of husbandry said of the 17-pound pup. His much bigger parents, who weigh more than 250 pounds each, live at the aquarium. For now, Rip is at an off-site location as researchers chart his development and train him to co-exist around other species.
Rip’s birth comes during a renaissance of sorts for shark preservation and research globally for a species on the brink of extinction in the wild.
A 2021 study published in the research journal Nature found shark and ray populations plummeted by 70 percent between 1970 and 2018 largely because of over fishing and habitat loss.
Sharks also have long gestation periods that make it difficult for future generations to mature — sand tiger sharks alone take up to a year to give birth.
“One thing we wanted to do is work toward conservation of the species in the wild,” White said. “By us being able to get our shark to reproduce in our aquarium, we can really help the wild populations as well.”
Although Rip’s parents swim together, White said sharks can be finicky when it comes to mating.
“By being able to reproduce the sharks we have, we never have to pull another shark out of the ocean, so that lets us help the wild sharks as well and hopefully supplement their numbers in the future,” White said.
All three of Ripley’s North American aquariums — the others are in Gatlinburg, Tenn. and Toronto — are certified through the Association of Zoos and Aquariums, which has developed more than 500 species survival plans.
The Tennessee site in 2021 also took part in a project that ended with the artificial insemination of 20 female bamboo sharks, yielding 97 pups in all.
White said researchers are compiling their findings and Rip’s growth for eventual publication in peer-reviewed journals.
“Once we made the announcement (of Rip’s birth), our whole husbandry team was so excited to share it with the whole industry,” she said. “We got lots of emails and calls and texts from our colleagues in other aquariums.”
Although no timeline is known for when Rip might find his way into the general population, his continued growth marks a new frontier for his kind, another of his caretakers says.
“When research, science and care come together, the future of vulnerable species like the sand tiger shark looks brighter,” said Tim Handsley, Ripley Myrtle Beach’s vice president of husbandry. “This pup means a great deal to Ripley’s and the survival of the species around the world.”
