Most people flee in fear when they encounter a shark in the open sea.
But a professional diver has discovered why swimming away from these top predators is the most dangerous step.
Kayleigh Nicole Grant, founder of a marine safari company, showed that the best thing to do is to always stand firm, face the shark and – if it keeps coming at you – gently push the fearsome creature away.
She shared the advice in a video that first shows how a half-ton adult tiger shark was mesmerized by its fins as it swam away from it – and then how surprisingly easy it can be to attack a shark and kill it redirect gently.
“If you panic and swim away from sharks,” Grant said in her clip, “they will likely continue to follow you because of their prey drive.”
When it comes to your “fight or flight” instincts, a professional diver advised doing neither – and she proved it with a shocking first-person demonstration of how to properly fend off a large adult tiger shark. If you try to escape, sharks will “likely continue to follow”
“Stay firm, make eye contact, and push them away if you absolutely have to,” Grant, who goes by @mermaid.kayleigh on TikTok, advises in the clip.
As of November 18 last month, there have been 76 publicly reported and verified shark attack bites in 2023 – nearly 20 more than the total number of shark attacks in 2022, according to Trackingsharks.com.
Admittedly, only 10 of this year’s attacks were fatal, and nine of the 76 incidents were allegedly provoked, the website reported.
Sharing the video on TikTok and Instagram sparked a wave of viral attention as she skillfully managed to redirect the shark with a gentle but powerful poke to the animal’s nose.
“Today sharks are more respectful than many people,” one commenter joked after watching the deadly apex predator calmly turn and swim away.
While Grant has amassed a huge following for her captivating underwater videos—with two million followers on TikTok alone and counting—her shark advice reflects a broad consensus among scientists who study the creatures on social media.
Sharing the video on TikTok and Instagram garnered viral attention, as professional diver Kayleigh Nicole Grant skillfully managed to redirect the shark with a gentle but powerful poke of its nose. “These days, sharks are more respectful than many people,” one commenter joked
“Avoid excessive spraying, especially in a single area,” says a fact sheet from the Florida Museum of Natural History, operated in partnership with the University of Florida in Gainesville.
“Sharks can hear the low-frequency sounds of splashing,” advise the museum’s marine biology experts, “and can investigate if a fish/prey is in distress.”
According to biologist Carolin Nieder of the University of Auckland in Australia, a shark’s “inner ear,” called the acoustic-lateral system, can hear sounds between 10 Hz and 800 Hz from miles away in the water.
This ability helps a shark search a wide area of ocean for tasty aquatic prey when in distress. This means swimmers should be vigilant while splashing loudly and playfully in the sea.
Say a shark comes to plan your beach day.
In this case, researchers at the Shark Lab, run by California State University, Long Beach, have suggested further advice based on what Grant shared on TikTok.
“You want the shark to know that you see it by always looking at it,” say Shark Lab scientists.
“If you keep an eye on the shark, it will know you are watching it,” they said, “and most of them will swim away.”
Shark Lab’s main addition to Grant’s advice is to always be on guard.
A shark you’ve distracted might decide to swim behind you for another close look, “typical behavior of many predators,” according to the lab’s beach safety page.
“It doesn’t mean the shark is chasing you,” Shark Lab said.
“It’s just a way for them to get a better look at something that could potentially harm them.”
According to Dave Bader, chief operations and education officer at the Marine Mammal Care Center in San Pedro, California, most sharks are less than a meter long, and 80 percent are less than two meters long.
In other words, many of them aren’t quite the killer apex predators we see in Shark Week or the Jaws movies. Many people are just as afraid of what’s in the water as we are.
“Sharks are definitely on the menu,” Bader told last month.