Title image made using a picture by weareaway from Pixabay
Humankind in general has a tendency to project our psychological demons on the animal kingdom, unfairly painting various creatures as emotionless based upon our own preconceptions. It has been my experience that most animal species I’ve interacted with have varying personalities, and emotional dispositions, from one individual to another.
I.e. one horse might be fiery and prone to kick, where as another is calm and affectionate.
It may surprise some people but sharks are exactly the same, they have different personalities, and although they can be unpredictable, the most likely behaviour you'll see from sharks is curiosity. Sharks are one of the most maligned and misunderstood animals in the ocean.
I think that the only difference between wild animals and domesticated ones like the horse is that pets tend to exhibit more mirroring behaviour, often taking on characteristics of their owners.
This video shows how much the traditional human ideas of animal intelligence and emotional reactions are skewed by our psychological projections. Although the interactions and affectionate behaviour of the shark in this video are partly due to the divers feeding the sharks, it clearly disproves the accepted zeitgeist that sharks are only capable of being cold calculated killers.
I get comments all the time when I describe my adventures scuba diving with sharks that are understandable, but completely built on misconception and ridiculous preconceptions from movies.
Jaws has a lot to answer for… and Sharknado can go fck a duck 🤣
The woman in this video says it all, "like my parents taught me, there are no monsters in the sea, only the ones we make up in our heads."
It's so true, and these types of encounters teach this intuitively.
People seem to find it unbelievable that I, and many other scuba divers, rate shark encounters as some of the best times beneath the waves. The truth is that each shark has a unique personality and as a species they have a unique intelligence.
They know when they're being helped as this woman shows. And being apex predators they also know when you're scared. There is a simple rule when you encounter shark as a diver... don't act like food. Both in action and in thought. Shark psychology is quite simple, honest and direct.
I'd rather take the calculated risk to have these types of experiences than live in fear.
Video of me snorkelling with whale shark many years ago.The most rewarding shark encounters I've had were with hammer head, whale shark and oceanic white tip (the only man eater I've dived with). In all these instances I felt a limited amount of fear. It's impossible not to feel some fear around these majestic animals - the shape of them and how they move are predatory through and through - but the main feelings I had were those of excitement, exhilaration and respect.
Divers who have an understanding of shark psychology know how to react to a sharks signals - the equivalent of their body language. Understanding shark psychology is a form of communication between man and predator. Knowing their boundaries, their moods can all be read through body language.
"These beutiful creatures want absolutely nothing to do with us as a food source."
Quote from video above.
Once you can read shark behaviour you can act in ways to send signals back to them which remove you as prey in their mind. If you respond to a shark swimming with arched back in the right way, 9 times out of 10 it will calm down and become curious rather than aggressive. A shark making swift movements, with an arched back is gearing up for attack. To counteract that behaviour takes simple posturing and body language from the divers, especially when in deep open water.
Don't fin away. Don't move erratically. Try not to feel too much fear. When they approach back arched, make sure 3-4 divers position themselves in a circular position, upright, so the shark can see that everyone has eyes upon them. Swim in an upright circulatory motions where the shark can't approach from below and that shark will see you as a group of something roughly the same size as it that aren't afraid.
This level of communication without words is something magical and needs to be experienced to be understood. Fear is your downfall... if even one person panics and breaks from the group, an attack is more likely. Similarly, if the shark is below the group, the group needs to place themselves horizontal, maintaining a circular position.
Even large sharks such as oceanic white tip will change how they view a group of divers based upon these behaviours.
Source: wikipedia CC licence.
And truthfully, if you're extremely unlucky to meet an aggressive male during mating season things might get dangerous. But it is as little as 5% or less chance.
This is how we can talk to sharks.
Most sharks see scuba divers beneath the waves as other shark.
90% of fatal shark attacks happen at the surface when snorkelers thrash around or panic. This is prey behaviour.
You are more likely to die being bitten by a sea snake while unknowingly blocking its path to the surface than you are by shark attack.
The proof is in the pudding as the vast majority of shark fatalities are from larger sharks like tiger or great white attacking surfers. Surf boards look somewhat like seals, their natural prey.
I guess what all this boils down to is that sharks seem to be the victims of a modern Hollywood myth – the idea of Jaws hunting down a particular family of people is something that would never happen in nature. It is just a horror movie, a piece of fiction that seems to have sunk into the collective unconscious painting a complex and emotionally intelligent species as mindless killers.
When you really think about it… who does more damage to the environment, humans or sharks?
Who pointlessly kills more creatures on the face of this planet without contributing to the balance of the ecosystem, humans or sharks?
Thanks for reading.
P.s. check out the video performance of a poem I wrote based on a shark encounter I had while scuba diving in Egypt, 2012.
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That pretty much sums it up about life: curl up in a corner defensively or go out and live.
Great blog!
Thanks agmoore :)
Yeah, life is too short for sure. I'm glad I had so many crazy, cool (maybe a little dangerous) and interesting experiences diving.
I'm keeping my fingers crossed for some more scuba diving shark encounters in the future 🤞
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