“A shark at the Birmingham National Sea Life Center is surprising her handlers – she appears to be the world’s first vegetarian shark. Florence, a six-foot nurse shark, started life as a meat-eater, but following an operation in 2009 to remove a rusty hook from her jaw, she has completely stopped eating her normal prey. In fact, her handlers need to resort to devious tactics to get protein into Florence’s diet – such as hiding pieces of fish inside her celery, and even in hollowed-out cucumbers. Curator Graham Burrows said: ‘We’re having to hide pieces of fish inside celery sticks, hollowed out cucumbers and between the leaves of lettuces to get her to eat them. ‘And it has to be well hidden, because if she realizes it’s there she’ll ignore the offering and wait for the strictly vegetarian option.” w/ photos
