{"id":546867,"date":"2026-03-17T20:19:08","date_gmt":"2026-03-17T20:19:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/546867\/"},"modified":"2026-03-17T20:19:08","modified_gmt":"2026-03-17T20:19:08","slug":"new-study-finds-that-bull-sharks-probably-have-friends","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/546867\/","title":{"rendered":"New Study Finds That Bull Sharks Probably Have ‘Friends’"},"content":{"rendered":"

\"Bull<\/p>\n

Bull sharks appear to have \u201cfriends.\u201d Cute, right? Photo: Wikimedia Commons<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

It\u2019s easy to attach human traits to animals. That\u2019s because human traits are the only frame of reference we have. But it\u2019s tough to know for certain if animals actually have the same emotions we do. Emotions like, say, loneliness, which can generally be solved by hanging out with friends. And while bull sharks are thought of as solitary creatures, a new study published in the journal Animal Behaviour<\/a> found that they actually have friends \u2014 or what looks like friends to our human eyes.<\/p>\n

\u201cUnderstanding the mechanisms and functions underpinning social behaviour in marine species is a fundamental aim in ecology and conservation,\u201d the authors of the study wrote. \u201cMany shark species have relatively complex social bonds, and anthropogenic effects may affect these bonds. However, studying these effects remains a challenge because of the difficulty observing social interactions in many shark species.\u201d<\/p>\n

In order to look deeper into the social networks of bull sharks, researchers looked to the Shark Reef Marine Reserve (SRMR) in Fiji. It\u2019s a place designated to the conservation of several different kinds of sharks, but it also provides scientists with a pretty great microscope. Large groups of bull sharks can often be found there, swimming around with each other on the hunt. In order to properly figure out just how much socializing they were doing and why, researchers spent six years identifying different sharks through markings or, if there weren\u2019t any distinguishing characteristics, with ID tags.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe identified individuals using two complementary methods,\u201d Natasha Marosi, the study\u2019s lead author, told IFLScience<\/a>. \u201cFirst many sharks can be recognized by distinguishing features such as scars, deformities, missing or damaged fins and distinctive coloration patterns. These features allow us to recognize the same individuals repeatedly. For sharks lacking these distinguishing features, we used small numbered aluminum identification tags. These tags were attached to a short leader wire and placed just below the first dorsal fin. This allowed us to reliably identify those individuals on subsequent dives and ensure we were tracking the same sharks over time. \u201d<\/p>\n

They collected a lot\u00a0of data over those six years. The teams logged 1,438 associations for 152 sharks, and 1,719 social interactions for 136 sharks. What they wanted to know for certain, however, was if those were just flukes that occurred because there were a lot of bull sharks swimming around near each other or whether they were swimming around with chosen partners. To do so, they created a system that allotted points for certain behaviors, like \u201cparallel swimming,\u201d \u201clead\/follow,\u201d and \u201cjoin and turn back.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cTo test whether sharks were actually choosing specific partners, we compared the real social network with randomly generated networks where sharks would mix purely by chance,\u201d Marosi explained. \u201cThe real network showed clear patterns of preferred partners and avoided partners, which tells us the sharks are actively choosing who they associate with.\u201d<\/p>\n

As it turns out, female bull sharks<\/a> are far more likely to hang around with other females. Male sharks also preferred the company of females, but since the females would rather be with other females, the number of male-female \u201cfriends\u201d were significantly lower.<\/p>\n

\u201cMales are also physically smaller than females which may encourage them to integrate socially,\u201d said Marosi. \u201cHaving social connections to the bigger more dominant females in the aggregation can ensure their place within the group and give them access to food resources at the site.\u201d<\/p>\n

The scientists also found that as bull sharks age, they become less social. That could be because the social connections formed in younger sharks are a necessity of life as a shark. As they get older and learn more, they don\u2019t need as much help from their peers.<\/p>\n

\u201cOur results suggest that older bull sharks become less socially connected as they age,\u201d explained Marosi. \u201cThese individuals have many years of experience hunting, navigating their environment, locating resources and choosing mates, so they may rely less on social relationships in favor of self-reliance.\u201d<\/p>\n

While it might not seem like something we need to know, the findings offer insights on shark behavior that could help inform scientists regarding conservation strategies.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Bull sharks appear to have \u201cfriends.\u201d Cute, right? Photo: Wikimedia Commons It\u2019s easy to attach human traits to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":546868,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[64,63,8520,128,270782,270783],"class_list":["post-546867","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-bull-sharks","tag-science","tag-shark-conservation","tag-shark-reef-marine-reserve"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546867","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=546867"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/546867\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/546868"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=546867"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=546867"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=546867"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}