all 39 comments

sorted by: hot top controversial new old
[–] 93 points 1 year ago* (1 child)

Dusky sharks, who are apparently fed by people and tour boat operators so they stick around the boats.

Witness testimonies suggest a shark reportedly lunged at his GoPro camera.

“The situation likely occurred via a process of juxtaposition bites, with two distinct motivations: the first, a (probably single) reflex/clumsiness bite driven by food begging, and the second, several predatory bites triggered by a feeding frenzy,” researchers explain.

“The central objective is to eliminate the begging behaviour in sharks, and this can only be achieved by establishing and enforcing a complete and total ban on all artificial feeding of sharks by the public,” scientists write.

  • source
  • hideshow 1 child comment
  • [+] 37 points 1 year ago (8 children)
  • [–] 20 points 1 year ago

    I saw a crow snatch up and gulp down a newborn sparrow that fell out of its nest. It was a pretty hardcore nature moment seeing the whole flock of sparrows freak out, and the mom being frantic for an hour afterwards.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 8 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago*

    Christ.

    I describe the video briefly below, so don't read if you're straight-up avoiding this.


    For anyone curious, it's not gory or horrendous. There is a chick, which the horse just kinda... mouths up, and the hen rushes the horse who just does care. Then more chewing.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 35 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    I'm gonna go ahead and choose not to swim in a school of sharks.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 19 points 1 year ago (3 children)

    This man was last seen surrounded by cats:

    Previously thought harmless, these were really really hungry.

  • source
  • hideshow 3 child comments
  • [–] 12 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    I've never met a cat person who believed they were harmless.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 64 points 1 year ago (10 children)

    Wild animals are never “harmless.”

    Deer have killed people. Birds have killed people.

  • source
  • hideshow 10 child comments
  • [–] 36 points 1 year ago (6 children)

    Even snails have killed people. Who knows, there could be a snail coming for you right now!

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 6 child comments
  • The odds of you being killed by a snail are low... but never zero. And when it inevitably happens, there's no way to prove that it was intentional, that it was retribution for your crimes against this snail's entire bloodline... but I'll know.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 9 points 1 year ago* (2 children)

    Water had killed people.
    Gravity has killed people.

    But above all, humans have killed people.

    If I wanted to live, I'd go live with the sharks.

  • source
  • parent
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [–] 10 points 1 year ago

    The recession (climate change) is hitting us all, human and animal

  • source
  • [–] 7 points 1 year ago (2 children)

    If a tiny 2 foot long cookie cutter shark can take chunks out of people, then any shark bigger than that with sharp teeth is equally if not more dangerous.

  • source
  • hideshow 2 child comments
  • [+] 4 points 1 year ago (1 child)
  • [–] 17 points 1 year ago

    The article is saying that these sharks aren't really sharking though. The sharks behavior has been changed by environmental factors (regular human feeding and humans raising the local sea temperature by dumping warm water from the desalination plant).

    1. Sharks are attracted by usually warm water from desalination plant.
    2. Tourist guide boats start chumming the waters to keep the sharks around for tourists.
    3. The attraction of so many mostly harmless sharks changes their feeding dynamic. Ever tried eating an ice cream cone near a small child? Ever tried pushing an ice cream cart through a crowd of small kids? Way different dynamic as supply and demand changes as the crowd grows.
    4. Formerly mostly harmless and "shy around humans" sharks start directly approaching humans as a source of food.
    5. Sharks investigate human, beg for food. How do sharks investigate? By biting, nibbles really, or bumping into people swimming.
    6. The first bite generates a predictably violent reaction from the humans, which triggers a feeding frenzy response. Humans aren't equipped to defend or escape this.

    The point is that at every step of the way, these sharks are acting in a very strange way (for them) as a direct result of human action. We've seen this kind of thing before when people feed wild animals, strange and dangerous human seeking behaviors develop: alligators, bears, moose, etc. Dangerous animals? Yes, but the behaviors that result in human deaths are in no way natural.

  • source
  • parent
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Somewhere, my mother's paranoia is shouting in vindication.

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    Turns out these sharks have been following the news.

    Decent people.

  • source
  • [–] 4 points 1 year ago

    There’s something in the water there…

  • source
  • [–] 3 points 1 year ago

    The last thing that went through his head was "dusky shark do do do do do do..."

  • source
  • [–] 2 points 1 year ago

    And they are still harmless, I'm sure flies have killed people too.

  • source