Whale shark is about 2.0× longer by these reference values.
Whale shark uses a 12.2 m upper reference, compared with 6 m for Great white shark. Whale shark's weight reference is about 9.3× heavier.
ON THE SAME SCALE
Human. Bus. Whale.
Pick your reference.
Length bars use upper comparison values and do not show body depth, tail proportion or typical adult size. A long thresher tail, for example, does not equal whale-shark body mass.
THE NUMBERS
Side by side.
WHAT SETS THEM APART
More than a size contest.
Length and weight
Whale shark is represented by well documented near 12.2 m / 40 ft; Great white shark by about 6 m / 20 ft. Exceptional historical lengths exist, but 12.2 m is a conservative comparison value. Maximum length and mass are exceptional upper-end figures.
Habitat and diet
Whale shark: Warm tropical and subtropical seas; plankton and small schooling animals. Great white shark: Temperate seas worldwide; fish, rays and marine mammals.
Bite evidence
Whale shark: Whale sharks filter feed; a comparable maximum bite-force study is not available. Great white shark: A 3-D finite-element model predicted the bite of a very large individual; it was not measured on a living shark.
Records are not averages
Both species are living, but record-sized individuals are rare. These upper references should not be read as normal adult size.
TRACE THE CLAIMS