NEW YORK (August 25, 2016)—A juvenile white shark, being tracked via satellite in the New York seascape, has been named after Theodore Roosevelt, the US president who appointed the committee in 1894 asking New York State to establish a zoological society in New York City -- which through the years developed into the Wildlife Conservation Society.

Teddy, a 78-pound, five-foot male shark, has been tagged by a research team aboard an OCEARCH vessel, theMV OCEARCH, collecting data with its partners, including the Wildlife Conservation Society in the New York Bight. Since Aug. 11, the team has been conducting an expedition to research the marine life in these waters. The full research team on the MV OCEARCH includes OCEARCH, WCS,  NOAA Fisheries, South Hampton Schools, Florida Atlantic University, New Jersey Institute of Technology, and Stony Brook University.

Several sharks have been tagged and are being tracked via satellite. As the sharks break the surface of the water, the satellite tags they carry transmit their geographic location to land-based researchers; the public can follow the movements of the sharks, including Teddy, online via Global Shark Tracker or by downloading the Global Shark Tracker App available for Apple and Android platforms.

"The old lion would be delighted to know that a great white shark had been named after him. As a serious naturalist he would be even more pleased by the ongoing scientific research done by WCS," said Theodore Roosevelt IV.

"Teddy the shark was named Theodore Roosevelt in honor of WCS, one of our collaborators on this expedition,” said Chris Fischer, Founding Chairman and Expedition Leader. "I also had the great privilege of planning this New York expedition on Teddy Roosevelt's table at the Explorers Club in Manhattan.”

"This is a historic moment for science and research. We have potentially discovered a white shark nursery in the North Atlantic,” Fischer added. "I am thrilled to have WCS as one of our collaborating science partners; this is just the beginning. I look forward to continuing this research around the white shark nursery for the next few years."

OCEARCH, WCS and the team of collaborating scientists are joining forces for a wide-ranging study to gather data on the ecology, physiology, and behavior of sharks in the Atlantic Ocean, with a special focus on blue, mako, and great white sharks.

“The expedition with OCEARCH has been phenomenal and helpful to our research in the New York Seascape,” said Jon Forrest Dohlin, Director of the WCS New York Aquarium. “Each day, our team is out on the water with OCEARCH and our others partners, we are collecting important data about the marine life just off the New York and New Jersey shores. We thank OCEARCH for this collaboration and for honoring the history of WCS with the naming of one of the tagged sharks after Theodore Roosevelt who helped to spark our founding in 1895. This shark is now a part of the long history of WCS’s efforts to save wildlife and wild places around the globe.”

Theodore Roosevelt, the 26th President of the United States, is one of the country’s greatest conservationists.

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