Shark Attack, almost caught on video Dolphin

[Zenshift]

I agree with Mr. Aleman. Pretty cool though. How could the snorkler been that cool ... or was it clueless?

Keep in mind the dolphin may have simply been fending off the shark from its family group (there was more than one dolphin) before attributing the action to 'saving' the clueless snorkler. :hai:

 

[dlent]

I suspect that this shark was probably just examining the woman. I've had reef sharks play chicken with me and they got within about 6" of me before turning away. The shark in the video does not have his fins pinned back so he/she was probably not in "attack" mode. Sharks are very curious and just like humans they like to get close to other animals to see what they are. Sharks are not monsters and they only attack things they want to eat or things that are threatening them. This woman was much too big for this small reef shark to consume and she was not threatening the shark. Hence, she probably was not in any danger.

 

[dlent]

How many attacks did you see?

Looked enough like an attack to me. I Divemastered in The Bahamas for many years and I have seen my share of attacks. The swooping motion from under and upwards looks exactly like the way a shark attacks. And the dolphin's sharp downward movement did seem to directly affect the shark enough to make it veer off.

 

[daniel f aleman]

Six. Four, all Bull sharks, against my person. I've had hundreds of dives amongst sharks of many species - they all attack at sometime. I can't tell what species of Reef (if so) that shark in the film is - but, Whitetip Reef, Gray Reef, Black Tip Reef, Lemon, Silky and Blue sharks are all found in shallow Bahamian waters, many do attack. Now, it could have been a "bump and run", but that swooping from down to upward IS the way lone sharks attack.

 

[JustinW]

And the dolphin's sharp downward movement did seem to directly affect the shark enough to make it veer off.

That dolphin was moving pretty slowly for it to be an aggressive move. Did you notice that you could hear clicks from their sonar, and that there weren't any major changes in their clicks. Here at least, if a shark is near a dolphin the dolphin reacts a whole heck of a lot more than the casual dive it made. Some species of dolphins have been known to kill sharks by ramming them in the belly with their snouts. Killer whales like to tear the fins off great whites. Cetaceans and sharks will react a whole lot more if there was any threat.

 

[RikRaeder]

It didn't seem to me like a full-on attack from the shark. My take was that it was just popping up for a quick bite to check things out. That, of course, would have ruined the swimmer's whole vacation.

I have to assume that what the dolphin did does constitute some kind of defensive behavior. While the swimmer was clueless, the dolphin certainly wasn't. Once the shark turned away, there was really no reason for the dolphin to pursue, so it's logical that it would veer off. I'm sure it didn't want to tangle with the shark, mission accomplished, so why bother?

As to warning the swimmer, what could they possibly do: reach down and thump it on the nose? (see other thread) Of course I would have grabbed it by the face, swung it around over my head, and tossed it back out to sea. But that's just me, Mr. Seahunt.

Seriously, had the swimmer started thrashing around, flailing and crying and screaming and kicking &c. I'm sure someone probably would have been bitten. In that case, I wouldn't be suprised to see the dolphin take a chomp. As stated, tough moral decision, but <Italian accent> whatcha gonna do?

A few years back there was footage of a killer whale and her pup taken off of the Fairillon (sp?) Islands, west of San Francisco. A nice sized great white rolled in to attack the pup, and momma whale showed it what for. Lovely footage. If anyone knows where to find that online, please post a link (maybe I'll look now).

 

[moneysavr]

If we could read the French I am sure the guy doing the video was shooting video on the Dolphin pod and then at some time someone did a look at the video and seen the shark on the run up,Dolphin on the run down.
I think the video person was clueless, like some shark feed's they did in the good old days in the Bahamas. some folks just did not get the fact that when the swich goes off in the shark the water is not a safe place! But most times your not on the menu.

 

[jepuskar]

There was no attack...period. Are we going to debate the sharks motives for days? Bottomline is the shark never even touched the woman and therefore no attack occurred. And we also dont know the reasoning for dolphin to do what it did...but if you want we can open another thread and debate those actions.....I'll get a dolphin expert from the Shedd Aquarium to have a live webcast on the subject and we'll sell tickets and promote it...it will be great.

 

[JTemple]

The text in the video does say that the other snorklers were screaming that there was a shark, but that the woman did not hear them. (I speak French) The point of the video is that the dolphins prevented an attack by setting up a line of defense (5 dolphins deep) and one dove to discourage the shark from continuing on its course.

 

[Zenshift]

For the killer whale video, just google "killer whale great white video" .... but you will be disappointed. It doesn't show anything worth your time.