Hollywood films such as “Jaws” and “Sharknado” have given sharks a bad rap and unfortunately, this has contributed to a lot of misunderstanding about these magnificent creatures.

In fact, properly educating oneself about them will soon show that they are not the savage beasts that movies often portray them to be.

That is why this family of scuba divers can fearlessly and safely swim among them as seen in the video below:

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Video credit: Rumble

The video was taken near Bartolome Island in the Galapagos and features whitetip reef sharks. Even when the divers come face-to-face with the sharks, there is no aggression nor any attempt to bite the humans. What most people don’t know is that sharks are mostly scavengers and prefer to go after the weak and dying.

The divers approach respectfully and slowly and therefore do not alarm the sharks at all. Whitetip reef sharks are actually less aggressive than most sharks and are sometimes even curious about swimmers. Unlike other species of shark, whitetips can pump water over their gills so they don’t require constant movement to breathe.

The prevalence of drones has shown that even in popular beaches, sharks swim close to shore and among the swimmers without anything bad happening. In fact, most swimmers are unaware that a shark was nearby.

Whitetips are about 5 feet in length and they commonly stay on the ocean floor in groups during the day. They also often group up in underwater caves and come out at night to hunt for octopus and fish.

It’s truly unfortunate that a lot of people still hold on to misconceptions about sharks. Shouting the word “shark” at the beach is almost sure to induce a panic. But what’s even more tragic is that this misunderstanding has partly contributed to the widescale hunting and killing of sharks with little to no public outcry. This unchecked practice has led to sharks becoming an endangered species.

Make no mistake, sharks can and have been dangerous to humans but just not at the levels we’ve been led to believe. It’s really important for more people to educate themselves properly lest we lost one more species to ignorance.

 

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