A recently published scientific study confirms assumptions that the sharks mistakenly mistake swimmers or surfers for their usual food, such as seals, because of their movements.
The study, published by the British journal of the Royal Society Interface, focused on the great white shark. This type of shark, which is particularly feared by humans, can perceive olfactory and sound waves over great distances, but its eyesight is poor.
Surfers move much like seals
According to the study, the great white shark can only faintly distinguish between colors and shapes. His eyesight is therefore six times worse than that of humans. This means that the great white shark can hardly distinguish between humans and pinnipeds.
According to the study, the paddling and rowing movements of surfers and swimmers lead him to conclude that they are seals that make similar movements with their fins. According to the researchers’ findings, the risk of surfers being mistaken for animal prey by the great white shark is particularly high.
60 shark attacks per year
For the study, video recordings of marine mammals were compared with swimming and surfing humans from the shark’s perspective – namely from below. From his point of view, the great white shark cannot make a “clear visual distinction between humans and pinnipeds”, the authors write.
It is the first study that looks at the cases of confused identity “from the perspective of the great white shark,” said lead author Laura Ryan, a biologist at Macquarie University in Sydney, Australia, the AFP news agency.
Last year, however, fewer than 60 shark attacks on humans were counted worldwide. According to the study, however, these attacks stir up a “disproportionate” level of fear, as too little is known about the behavior of sharks.