Head to head
Great White Shark vs Tiger Shark
After the bull shark, the great white and the tiger shark are the species most often involved in serious attacks on humans. They hunt differently: the great white is a warm-blooded ambush specialist of cooler seas, the tiger shark a slow, indiscriminate scavenger-predator of the tropics.
| Great White Shark | Tiger Shark | |
|---|---|---|
| Length | Up to ~6 m | Up to ~5 m, occasionally more |
| Weight | Up to ~2 tonnes | Up to ~900 kg |
| Body temperature | Partly warm-blooded (regional endothermy) | Cold-blooded |
| Water | Temperate and cool coastal seas | Warm tropical and subtropical waters |
| Teeth | Large, triangular, serrated — for shearing flesh | Curved, deeply notched — for sawing through shell and bone |
| Diet | Seals, sea lions, fish, dolphins, whale carrion | Almost anything: turtles, rays, birds, fish, sharks, litter |
| Hunting style | Ambush from below, one hard strike | Slow patrol, investigates and bites a wide range of objects |
| Conservation status | Vulnerable | Near Threatened |
Great White Shark vs Tiger Shark: common questions
Which is more dangerous, a great white or a tiger shark?
Both are among the top three species for attacks on humans, along with the bull shark. The great white accounts for the most fatal unprovoked attacks overall, largely because it can mistake a surfer for a seal and its exploratory bite is huge. The tiger shark is close behind and is considered more indiscriminate — it will bite and often consume a wider range of things, so its bites more often lead to serious injury rather than a single test bite.
Which shark is bigger?
The great white, on average and at the top end — up to about 6 metres and 2 tonnes, versus roughly 5 metres and 900 kg for a large tiger shark. Both are dwarfed by the (harmless) whale shark and basking shark.
Do great whites and tiger sharks live in the same places?
They overlap in subtropical zones such as parts of Australia, South Africa, and Hawaii, but their cores are different: great whites favour cooler temperate water, tiger sharks favour warm tropical seas. A tiger shark will also come much closer inshore and into murky harbours and river mouths.