Why not more fear of Tiger Sharks?

[porgyhunter]

i'm going to make it standard equipment, i can use it to soak my gear at the end of the day too.

thats what i'am talkin bout!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11

 

[scubaskipper]

I was waiting to see a Tiger swim away with it's head in a trash can. We would do the feeds in the Bahamas. If a Tiger or Bull showed up, pretty much show over and back to the boat. Tiger on it's own, under natural conditions, would always tend to head to the wall and over they go. When there was food in the water they would be too unpredictable.

 

[porgyhunter]

Are Tigers and Bulls always that thick [fat] or do they just get fed a trash can of food every X amount of hours?

 

[Terryb]

Amazing Tiger footage. Where was it taken? Seemed to getting a little hairy after a while. Can't say I am a proponent of shark feeding. Relates diver to food.

Cheers,

 

[gangrel441]

I think (not positive) Tigers in one part of the world are not necessarily the same (regarding behavior) as in other parts of the world. I'm sure they are to be respected where ever they are find but they seem to be more aggressive in some areas. Perhaps it depends on how plentiful there natural food is?

I believe what you are thinking of is Sand Tiger sharks. Sand Tigers on the US east coast are known to be very docile, often encountered on shipwrecks, unconcerned about divers, and a photographer's ideal subject. However, travel to Australia (where they are known as Gray Nurse sharks) or South Africa (where they are known as Rag Tooth sharks or Raggies), they are known to be aggressive and dangerous.

It looks as though the disparity on the behavior by region may be largely due to mistaken identity. Most of the attacks blamed on Grey Nurs or Raggie sharks occurred in the 50's - 70's. In both South Africa and Australia, this species is now largely recognized as being docile and harmless.

 

[smellzlikefish]

"Originally Posted by gcbryan
I think (not positive) Tigers in one part of the world are not necessarily the same (regarding behavior) as in other parts of the world. I'm sure they are to be respected where ever they are find but they seem to be more aggressive in some areas. Perhaps it depends on how plentiful there natural food is?
I believe what you are thinking of is Sand Tiger sharks. Sand Tigers on the US east coast are known to be very docile, often encountered on shipwrecks, unconcerned about divers, and a photographer's ideal subject. However, travel to Australia (where they are known as Gray Nurse sharks) or South Africa (where they are known as Rag Tooth sharks or Raggies), they are known to be aggressive and dangerous.

It looks as though the disparity on the behavior by region may be largely due to mistaken identity. Most of the attacks blamed on Grey Nurs or Raggie sharks occurred in the 50's - 70's. In both South Africa and Australia, this species is now largely recognized as being docile and harmless."

There is some evidence for a change in behavior with geographical region for tigers as well. There are two good reasons why we don't have tiger shark dives here in Hawaii. For one, there isn't anywhere that they show up with any regularity as they do at Tiger Beach and other locations. Also, when tigers do show up here, I think they can be a little more bitey. Work done with tigers here shows that they tend to hang out in pelagic waters, coming inshore only to feed.

Hammerheads act a little different here as well. They tend to hang out around seamounts and oceanic islands in predictable locations elsewhere, but here they do a lot more traveling with a lot less predictability.

 

[Rhone Man]

I think Great Whites attracted a great cache as a result of Jaws. In actual fact, over 50% of fatal shark attacks are by the innocuous looking Oceanic Whitetips (depending upon which measure you use; source: Wikipedia).

Unrelated side note: a few years ago, a dead humpback whale was drifting through the BVIs (stank to high heaven) and there were these 9' to 11' tigers just ripping hunks off of it, and various people got into the water in snorkelling gear to photograph the feeding. Not sure how wise it was, but anyhow - I would bet they wouldn't have done it were they Great Whites.

 

[burna]

I believe what you are thinking of is Sand Tiger sharks. Sand Tigers on the US east coast are known to be very docile, often encountered on shipwrecks, unconcerned about divers, and a photographer's ideal subject. However, travel to Australia (where they are known as Gray Nurse sharks) or South Africa (where they are known as Rag Tooth sharks or Raggies), they are known to be aggressive and dangerous.

It looks as though the disparity on the behavior by region may be largely due to mistaken identity. Most of the attacks blamed on Grey Nurs or Raggie sharks occurred in the 50's - 70's. In both South Africa and Australia, this species is now largely recognized as being docile and harmless.

Grey nurse sharks in Australia are harmless.

And Tigers...why would you be frightened of those?? They look like a large puppy dog...

Spoiler

 

[SoccerJeni]

That video was AWESOME! Seriously, if that were me I would be pretty scared! Obviously they had to redirect the sharks several times (with trash cans, hilarious!). And how do they handle sharks coming up from behind? Is there a large group of divers watching in all directions?

As far as the original question, I guess for my own thoughts/fears a GW might be something I’m slightly more afraid of than a Tiger because of the images I see of them rushing and breaking the surface with their prey in mouth. However, I have to say I am still nervous about running into a Tiger or Bull Shark as well. When I dove recently in Key Largo they mentioned we may see Tiger Sharks and my eyes got kind of big at that point. I'm not saying they are man-eaters, but I have no experience with them and respect their capabilities. It certainly wasn’t going to stop me from doing the dive, and thankfully I did forget about it eventually when in the water.

I imagine the more experience I would have with sharks the more comfortable I would be with each species.

 

[Arubandi07]

To date, the most educational and impressive footage I've seen, is a 2 hr documentary, title "sharkman", by a south-african guy named Michael Rutzen, free- and scuba diving with GWs as well as Tigers. Chumming is used to draw the sharks in, but once he gets in, no feeding, the sharks interact in reaction to his presence alone, and it is fascinating to watch, how these huge animals respond to even a light touch on their body, and that the Tigers in particular actually didn't mind taking him for a ride, holding on to their dorsal fin. The GWs generally seemed a little more skiddish, often reacting with very abrupt directional changes as the result of being touched, tough never in a charging, but rather evasive manner. Experience-based screening of a potential "player" before deciding to get in, allows Rutzen to reduce the risk factor significantly(still alive...), and as a free diver, I finally got some idea of what to do in the event, a shark decides to come in for a closer look. We simply don't have the option of "staying down" or "charging the shark", as was suggested in another thread some time ago, once our air runs out. In the one encounter, I experienced, the shark was way off in the distance, me surfacing from about 40 ft down and almost out of air, decided to hang at 20 ft or so, and just watch the shark. Worked out ok on that occasion, but had the shark come in closer, I most likely would have had to make a mad dash for the surface, definitely not the right thing to do in that situation.
Anyway, if you get the chance, watch this documentary, it's worth it.