The recent incident in Maine in which a shark went after a diver's camera persistently got me wondering. In the article I cited, people surmised that he might have been attracted to the shiny nature of the camera. I am wondering if it might be something else.
I have read that oceanic white tips in the Red Sea will frequently get very curious with photographers, and will in fact push into the cameras with their noses. In fact, the Maine incident, as I understand this, is pretty common with oceanic white tips in the red sea. The visibility there is great, and the sharks have plenty of time to see that they are not dealing with a common food fish, as people were guessing in the Maine story.
I am wondering if it might not be something in the electronics of the camera that is the real attraction. We know that sharks have senses related to this that we don't really understand. Could they be sensing something coming from a working camera that is stimulating these senses?
Here are some other examples of sharks and cameras.
YouTube - Tiger Shark Eats Video Camera... While it's running.
YouTube - Tiger Shark vs Camera
I am nothing remotely close to an expert on this subject, so I hope someone with some credentials can provide some thoughts.
I have read that oceanic white tips in the Red Sea will frequently get very curious with photographers, and will in fact push into the cameras with their noses. In fact, the Maine incident, as I understand this, is pretty common with oceanic white tips in the red sea. The visibility there is great, and the sharks have plenty of time to see that they are not dealing with a common food fish, as people were guessing in the Maine story.
I am wondering if it might not be something in the electronics of the camera that is the real attraction. We know that sharks have senses related to this that we don't really understand. Could they be sensing something coming from a working camera that is stimulating these senses?
Here are some other examples of sharks and cameras.
YouTube - Tiger Shark Eats Video Camera... While it's running.
YouTube - Tiger Shark vs Camera
I am nothing remotely close to an expert on this subject, so I hope someone with some credentials can provide some thoughts.