Tiger Coastline Study Discloses Tiger Sharks Have Social Preferences for One Another

Researchers at the University of Miami Rosenstiel College of Marine and Atmospheric Science (UM) and the Institute of Zoology at the Zoological Society London (ZSL) discovered that tiger sharks, often regarded as lone nomadic species, are social animals, having preferences for each other.

A first of its kind, the study additionally evaluated if exposure of the tiger shark to baited dive tourism affected their social behavior. The study was carried out at Tiger Beach’s site, situated off the northwest side of Little Bahama Bank in the Bahamas. The location is known for holding shark diving encounters, where the sharks are attracted to chum and often fed before dive vacationers.

The study team marked and tracked the movements of tiger sharks over three years. They afterward applied a Social Network Analysis tool to the tracking data to examine if tiger sharks displayed social grouping habits and if these social habits differed at locations where sharks were exposed to baited shark dive tourism. The study not just discovered that tiger sharks developed social groups but likewise found that at sites where dive tourist drivers were feeding tiger sharks, tiger sharks ended up being a lot more aggregated. However, the interaction between sharks ended up being more random, alluding to a breakdown in a social organization.

“Considering that tiger sharks spend months at a time out in the open sea as solitary predators, it is incredible to me that they display social preferences for one another when they are at the Tiger Beach zone,” claimed Neil Hammerschlag, elderly author of the study and study associate professor at the UM Rosenstiel School. “For nearly twenty years, I have invested numerous hours diving at Tiger Coastline, constantly wondering if these pinnacle predators interacted socially. Now, we know.”

Dive tourism companies usually conduct baited shark dives to draw in the animals to ensure that travelers might observe them. This technique has been recognized to trigger mixed reactions amongst preservationists and shark experts due to the possible long-lasting effect on the predators, such as alterations to their natural foraging habits. This research found that tiger sharks gathered at the dive sites; however, social preferences between sharks were much less prevalent compared to locations outside of these dive sites. These outcomes imply that feeding sharks may interrupt their social organization, but only temporarily, as the research located that tiger sharks resumed their social groups outside of the dive sites.

“The limit between wildlife and people is turning significantly slim, so along with observing new social behavior for the very first time in what was soon regarded as a solitary shark, and we likewise gauged the impacts of human activity on these killers’ interactions. They seem to reveal some strength to the bait feeding,” claimed David Jacoby, ZSL Honorary Research study Affiliate and lead writer of the study.

The social behavior of predators is a crucial field of research as it gives one more tool to help researchers and wildlife managers construct a picture of just how they live, what drives them to develop social teams, and the duties they play within the larger ecosystem.

Originally published on Scitechdaily.com. Read the original article.

Reference: “Social Network Analysis Reveals the Subtle Impacts of Tourist Provisioning on the Social Behavior of a Generalist Marine Apex Predator” by David M. P. Jacoby, Bethany S. Fairbairn, Bryan S. Frazier, Austin J. Gallagher, Michael R. Heithaus, Steven J. Cooke and Neil Hammerschlag, 3 September 2021, Journal Frontiers in Marine Science.
DOI: 10.3389/fmars.2021.665726