Shark gets 'impromptu c-section'

A female shark in New Zealand had an "impromptu" caesarean-section birth after it was attacked.

The creature was attacked by another shark at Kelly Tarlton's Underwater World in Auckland, with visitors being stunned when four live pups swam from the wound, the New Zealand Herald reports.

Aquarist Fiona Davies said: "It had to bite a certain part to let them out and do it without killing them or her."

She added that staff were unaware that the shark was pregnant and that had the pups been born at night, they would have likely been eaten by stingrays and adult sharks.

An eyewitness told the Daily Mail of the bite: "It was on the side and very deep. It was like an impromptu c-section and the sharks actually got born out of the side."

All four baby sharks were rescued by employees at the centre, as were another four found in the mother when she was moved.

Last month, a great white shark in the wild was almost bisected when bitten twice by another white pointer.