'Surfer's beware': Theory behind grim photo of mutilated dolphin
WARNING - GRAPHIC IMAGES: A picture of a mauled dolphin found washed up on a beach on the NSW north coast has served as a grim warning to surfers.
The photo was shared by a man on Facebook on April 28 and he described the photo as a “bit grisly and very sad”.
“This poor dolphin the victim of a shark attack at New Brighton,” he wrote on Facebook.
“Big teeth marks. Surfers beware.”
Professor Culum Brown from Macquarie University’s Department of Biological Sciences also believes this to be the work of a shark.
“It certainly looks like the dolphin has been eaten by a shark,” he told Yahoo News Australia.
“They often go for the high quality bits (liver, heart).”
Prof Brown questioned whether the dolphin was alive at the time of the attack, and suggested maybe the dolphin was sick or injured at the time.
“Dolphins are incredibly agile but white, bull and tiger sharks will all have a go at them,” he said.
“Large sharks will often target mammals such as seals and dolphins.
“There are tales of dolphins protecting people from sharks, but this is almost certainly not true. Big sharks have very little to fear from a dolphin!”
While animals have been observed reclaiming streets due to the coronavirus lockdown, Prof Brown says it’s hard to tell what is happening in the oceans, when asked if the shutdown of beaches across Australia, meaning a lack of people could mean more fish coming to shore and subsequently more sharks.
“There are lots of examples of wild-life coming out into the open during the shutdown simply because there are few people around,” he said.
“Who knows if this is happening in the sea, but it seems like a reasonably theory.
“One would imagine that fish and other aquatic animals in the near shore zone may be coming closer when few people are on the shore.”
However he did say it’s a “long bow” to suggest sharks may be coming closer to shore right now, but said “you never know”.
While sharks are genuinely terrifying to some, sharks attacking humans aren’t very common.
So far this year, there have been a total of eight shark attacks in Australia - seven were ‘unprovoked’ while one was, according to Taronga’s Australian Shark Attack File.
In 2019, there were just 13 shark attacks in Australia, which is down from 27 attacks in 2018.
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