The shark that attacked the Russian in Egyptian Hurghada had several motives for such behavior. One of them is the search for food near the coast.
Another is the similarity of human movements in the water with the behavior of a fur seal or seal, which the shark perceives as food. Diving instructor Vladimir Tochilov shared his take on the situation in an exclusive commentary with Zvezda.
“Only the one who was inside knows the situation. Therefore, all of our comments are based only on some general scenarios of how this might evolve. Therefore, of course, with a certain degree of probability, we can say: the shark approached the shore. Why do sharks approach the shore? Well, of course, in search of food. The shark was quite large, i.e. it was either a longimanus (oceanic shark. – ed. approx.), so it was clear from the movements,” explained the diver.
Vladimir Tochilov wondered: why did such a large predator approach the shore? One answer is foraging.
“Well, of course, looking for food, which is to say, it wasn’t just that she ended up there. What drew her to shore is the second question. Because sometimes they really start feeding her. <…> but the human factor: people always drag some kind of food in the water with them, wanting to create some kind of attraction with fish that end badly. It’s the first. The second option is that it’s summer now, the water is warmer. With warming, predators also start to behave differently, they can also move closer to the coast,” he added.
A large crowd of people, corresponding “jerk” movements, thanks to which the shark sees people like seals, like seals, attract a predator. There is ample evidence that sharks do not attack divers. They attack people floating on the surface.
“Why? Well, because a person looks like food. Especially surfers are prone to these attacks, <…>. There are many different hypotheses: the scattered food, the ecological situation, there is less food far from the coast, because the fish are caught and the shark starts to look for food closer to the reef, closer to the coast, where it collides with a person,” said the dive instructor.
He added that the longimanus first examines its prey, will not attack immediately. She will swim, look, touch – at first there will necessarily be contact. The instructor added that the presence of a suit is already a kind of way to disguise living flesh as non-living, which already interests the shark less. And he noted that when a person without a protective suit behaves quite nervously in the water, all this can lead to such precedents.
Recall that a young Russian born in 1999, permanently residing in Egypt, died after a predator attacked him.
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