Watch Surfers Paddle for a Wave as Great White Shark Swims Towards Them
While the abundance of drone footage showing great white sharks swimming around surfers may feel disconcerting, it's actually comforting. That's because we get to see that despite how often sharks hang around surfers, attack numbers are extremely low. It's all relative.
Studies have shown that great white sharks are swimming near people in San Diego waters 97% of the time. Most likely, tiger sharks in Hawaii probably like human company just as much.
And it gets even better. Researchers found that those great whites are often within around 10 feet of people and particularly like to hangout in the lineup. Specifically, they found that sharks spend "the majority of their time within 100 yards of where the waves are breaking.”
So it's not surprising that there's a lot of drone footage showings sharks and surfers sharing the lineup.
Like the clip above, captured by wildlife photographer and ocean advocate, Scott Fairchild.
He captioned the post:
"Great White shark in the waves amongst surfers.
The clip shows two surfers paddling for a wave on a glassy day, as a great white shark swims towards them. At first the shark's on the inside, then the wave goes over it.
One surfer catches the wave, the other doesn't.
Fairchild likes to include shark facts in his posts.
Below is the latest:
"Did you know: Carcharodon Carcharias, the scientific name for a Great White Shark, actually refers to their teeth.
"‘Carcharodon’ is Greek for “sharpen teeth”, while ‘Carcharias’ is Greek for point of type of shark, which is how the great white got its name “white pointer“ in Australia.
"Despite their large teeth, they don’t chew their food; rather, they use those teeth to capture and kill their prey, then rip the food into pieces that can be more easily swallowed whole."
Well, there's some food for thought.
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