{"id":597293,"date":"2026-08-18T18:34:11","date_gmt":"2026-08-18T18:34:11","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/597293\/"},"modified":"2026-08-18T18:34:11","modified_gmt":"2026-08-18T18:34:11","slug":"sharks-have-developed-some-seriously-cute-friendships-reveals-study","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/597293\/","title":{"rendered":"Sharks have developed some seriously cute friendships, reveals study"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>We tend to think of <a href=\"http:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/news\/sharks-ultimate-guide\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">sharks<\/a> as solitary creatures, but some species hunt in pairs or <a href=\"https:\/\/esajournals.onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/full\/10.1002\/ecy.3117\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">packs<\/a>, or form <a href=\"https:\/\/royalsocietypublishing.org\/rspb\/article\/287\/1932\/20201063\/85773\/Multiyear-social-stability-and-social-information\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">social groups<\/a> that last for years.<\/p>\n<p>Some sharks even have \u2018friends\u2019. A recent study at the Shark Reef Marine Reserve in Fiji found that adult <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencedirect.com\/science\/article\/pii\/S0003347226000485\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">bull sharks choose their social partners<\/a>, being more likely to interact with those of a similar size.<\/p>\n<p>The males tended to have more social connections \u2013 they are smaller than the females, so social integration may help them to avoid confrontations and gain access to food.<\/p>\n<p>Other perks of shark friendship could include learning new skills and meeting potential mates.<\/p>\n<p>This article is an answer to the question (asked by Jessica Day, Bristol) &#8216;Do sharks have friends?&#8217;<\/p>\n<p>To submit your questions, email us at questions@sciencefocus.com, or message our <a href=\"https:\/\/www.facebook.com\/sciencefocus\/?locale=en_GB\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Facebook<\/a>, <a href=\"https:\/\/twitter.com\/sciencefocus?lang=en\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">X<\/a>, or <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/bbcsciencefocus\/\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noreferrer noopener nofollow\">Instagram<\/a> pages (don&#8217;t forget to include your name and location).<\/p>\n<p>Check out our ultimate <a href=\"https:\/\/www.sciencefocus.com\/science\/fun-facts\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">fun facts<\/a> page for more mind-blowing science<\/p>\n<p>Read more:<\/p>\n<p><script async src=\"https:\/\/platform.twitter.com\/widgets.js\" charset=\"utf-8\"><\/script><script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"We tend to think of sharks as solitary creatures, but some species hunt in pairs or packs, or&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":597294,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[7],"tags":[61,60,82],"class_list":["post-597293","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-science","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-science"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597293","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=597293"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/597293\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/597294"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=597293"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=597293"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=597293"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}