Bull sharks form friendships and have preferences for other sharks (study)

July 5, 2021

The apex predators show preferences for certain individuals and avoid others, according to new research on sharks in Fiji

Researchers studied data collected over 3,000 shark dives in Fiji’s Shark Reef Marine Reserve (SRMR), one of the world’s most sought-after diving destinations. The dives spanned 13 years and noted the behaviour of 91 individual bull sharks, clearly distinguishable by external features, such as scars and deformed or missing fins.

“Some bull shark individuals seem to prefer long-term companions and avoid others,” said Dr Juerg Brunnschweiler, an independent shark researcher from Switzerland who designed the study.

“Working on the large Fiji dataset was really exciting and scientifically important since there is a big research gap regarding the social behaviour of bull sharks,” said Dr Thibaut Bouveroux, a post-doctoral researcher from the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in the United States and lead author of the study.

Bouveroux usually investigates how and why marine mammals create social bonds. For this study, he used his social structure analysis skills and applied them to Fiji’s bull sharks.