Is Swimming with Sharks Dangerous?
Sharks are apex predators. By design, they are killing machines, in much the same way as a lion or a tiger. You would never go into the wild with a tiger, so why on Earth would you consider swimming with a shark?
Because sharks are not as dangerous as they should be.
You’ve doubtlessly seen, or at least heard of, the movie Jaws. You’ve probably also heard about how this movie is a fantasy, and that sharks are not dangerous to humans. Instead, they are misunderstood animals.
Then you hear of attacks, deaths, and swimmers being eaten alive, and you start to wonder: is Jaws closer to the truth than people want us to believe?
Are sharks mindless killers or are they docile creatures?
Why Don’t Sharks Eat People?
5 people are killed by sharks every year. 250 by lions. 500 by elephants.
A lion doesn’t necessarily kill a person for food; often it kills because the person is in its territory or to protect its own security; or that of its pride. Though, they will also kill when they need food if they are desperate enough, which is actually more and more common as habitats are destroyed.
Likewise, people aren’t part of a shark’s normal diet. Humans do not possess the high densities of fat required to sustain such a powerful predator. Sharks are millions of years old and over that time they’ve learned what food will keep the alive, which means they’ll target that specific prey. Humans are a young species in comparison to their age old dinner, thus we don’t fall within their food chain. Even if a shark were to be desperate, a human would unlikely be considered a worthwhile use of energy. It would likely take the shark more energy than necessary to hunt and kill a human when it could just seek out other prey.
Cold blooded animals, sharks are excellent at preserving energy.
Sharks are also rarely desperate to eat. The ocean is full of life, and death, which these beasts capitalise on with astounding skill. Unlike the fortunes of land predators, we haven’t stolen away so much of the shark’s natural habitat and feeding grounds, which means prey is plentiful.
Simply put, sharks don’t see us as food, or need us as food.
They are also not (often) territorial animals, nor are they pack animals. This means they won’t lash out at you to defend their lands or family members. Sharks have no reason to attack people, so they don’t.
Often.
Why Do Sharks Attack Humans?
There are two kinds of common shark attacks:
Mistaken Identity -- A shark will attack a person thinking it's prey. This can happen in shallow and murky waters with low vision, or in situations where a human behaves like typical prey, such as a person splashing about like a seal pup.
Being Provoked -- People have a habit of getting in the way of animals. They’ll force themselves to upon the shark, getting too close. Sharks are not out for the kill, but they’ll certainly put up a fight if they feel threatened, and attacks regularly occur when swimmers do something that warrants aggressive action.
But this isn’t the only kind of attack you’ll see. As recently as 2020, a diving instructor was attacked and killed by a great white off the coast of Australia without provoking the animal. It is also unlikely he was mistaken for prey in the situation they were placed in.
So why did the shark attack?
The Risk Factors to Be Aware of When Swimming with Sharks
Most shark attacks are committed by three types of shark:
Great white
Bull shark
Tiger shark
There are few other types known to be man-eaters, including mako and oceanic white-tip, but these are rarely encountered by humans as they are predominantly open ocean hunters, which means kill numbers are exceptionally low.
So why do these three cause the ‘carnage’ which gets people so worried about swimming with sharks? The answer is quite simple. They are big and powerful, and they are aggressive by nature. They need a lot of food.
This is especially true of a great white, which is not only enormous but partially warm-blooded. That means great whites cannot preserve energy for as long as other sharks, particularly while hunting, and must eat vast amounts of food at more regular intervals, leading them to seek out a wider variety of prey.
Like lions and tigers, they’ll kill for food out of desperation. It’s not ideal, but it’s a living…
These large three predators are also confident, with no natural predators, which makes them curious and more likely to check out new things and interact with humans; while most smaller sharks shy away for fear of their own safety. A shark doesn’t have much in the way of physical sensory ability, so might bite something to inspect it.
When that’s a soft and squishy person, it can prove a fatal curiosity.
And then you have another factor. Most sharks are not generally territorial creatures, but larger sharks are, which includes great white sharks, bull sharks, and tiger sharks. These animals need more food, which means they protect their hunting grounds and ward off potential rivals. This means they may attack not for the hunt, but to secure their territory.
Due to their size, power, killer instinct, and high demand for food, the great white, bull shark, and tiger shark are definitely more dangerous to humans than other species. While this partly because it is just much easier for them to do damage, it is more to do with the fact that they have a higher propensity for aggression than other species; aggression they need to drive their desire to hunt and survive.
Can You Safely Swim with Sharks?
Yes, you can safely swim with sharks, and quite easily, too.
There are more than 450 species of shark in the waters around the world, and only five are known to have killed humans in any sort of numbers worth reporting (and most of the time by accident). To safely swim with sharks, without a cage, all you have to do is avoid the most lethal predators and find populations, like reef tips and hammerheads, which are known to take very little interest in humans.
Some will argue it’s also safe to swim with known man-eaters if you behave in the right manner, and for the most part, they are right. More freedivers that encounter great whites survive than are killed, by quite a considerable margin. Remember that fives deaths occur each year, out around 60 attacks or acts of aggression. Even if you are attacked by one of these animals, the chances are that you will come out alive.
But the thing is, five people is five people. Some individuals are killed. It’s simply a fact.
These are powerful wild animals and there is a risk factor that you cannot control. It’s certainly safer to swim with a great white than come face-to-face with a wild bull elephant, but that doesn’t mean it’s risk-free.
For the most part, you should not have any fear swimming with sharks. However, there are man-eaters out there, and to believe this to be untrue is as ridiculous as believing that all sharks are the same as Jaws. Sharks are not out to kill you, but they are killers.
The video below shows just how gentle sharks can be. However, this is not their state of mind all the time, and does not mean that it is always safe to encounter sharks:
The reality is that sharks pose very little danger to humans, but as with all things in life, safety is all about understanding the risks and working to avoid the biggest factors. It only takes a very few steps in the right direction to keep yourself entirely out of the way of danger. Likewise, it only takes one wrong move to put yourself in harms way.
If you’d like to know more about how to safely swim with sharks, and the right ways to behave to lower the risk factors to as minimal as possible, check out our guide on how to safely swim with sharks.
