One way to humanise an otherwise scary creature is to give it a decidedly human name. Another way is to set up an anonymous Twitter account for it, and then to post regular, humorous tweets from the account. That's exactly why a great white shark named Mary Lee suddenly has over 50,000 followers.
Mary Lee's tweets are penned by an anonymous journalist, but that's OK with the researchers who track her as 'They're really clever', writes The Guardian.
The Twitter account uses the real OSEARCH project's data on tagging sharks of the US coast with GPS trackers, in order to monitor their movements online and in real time, but "adds its own dollop of sass to the tweets," adds Irish Examiner.
"They're gonna need a bigger Twitter," predicts ABC News, explaining that shark fans have found "the tongue-in-cheek tweets fun and informative. Many hope the attention helps overcome fears and misconceptions about the powerful but endangered creatures."
