Sharks are often portrayed in pop culture as solitary killing machines. However, recent research suggests sharks may be capable of feeling complex emotions like love. In this article, we’ll examine the evidence that sharks can feel love and attachment.
Do sharks have emotions?
For a long time, scientists believed that sharks were purely instinct-driven animals with little cognitive ability. However, we now know that sharks have complex brains and display behaviors that suggest emotion.
Sharks have a limbic system, the part of the brain that processes emotions in mammals. Studies show sharks can feel stressed, anxious, and excited. There is also evidence that sharks feel pleasure. When petted by divers, sharks enter a tonic state of lowered activity similar to sleep or rest.
Sharks also demonstrate social behaviors that require emotional processing. Some shark species prefer to hunt in groups, needing to coordinate with other members of their species. Sharks have been observed establishing social hierarchies within groups.
Overall, many shark experts now believe sharks do experience emotions, even if they process them differently from mammals.
Do sharks form bonds and attachments?
Research shows that some shark species demonstrate long-term bonds and attachment to particular individuals:
- Lemon sharks have been observed having structured social networks, with some individuals preferentially interacting with specific sharks over many years.
- Nurse sharks return to the same mating caves year after year, suggesting long-term attachment to both places and other nurse sharks.
- Whale sharks gather at seasonal feeding aggregations, recognizing and being recognized by other individuals year after year.
These behaviors demonstrate that at least some shark species are capable of identifying individuals they are attached to over long periods of time. The ability to form social bonds is considered evidence that an animal feels emotions toward those it bonds with.
Do sharks care for their young?
One of the strongest indicators that an animal feels complex emotion is how it treats its offspring. Sharks demonstrate extensive parental care, protecting and nourishing their young until they can survive independently:
- Female sharks carry eggs internally until live young can be birthed. This protects the vulnerable young from predators.
- Some shark species allow young sharks to feed on their carcasses if food is scarce.
- Nurse sharks allow young to hide inside their mouths to stay safe from predators.
- Whale sharks migrate vast distances to areas with food ideal for their developing young.
This level of care and sacrifice suggests sharks feel a bond with their offspring. In mammals, such bonds are linked to feelings of love and attachment.
Can sharks grieve?
There are anecdotal reports of sharks demonstrating signs of grief when separated from or losing a close companion:
- At an aquarium in Australia, a female shark stopped eating and became motionless after her mate died. She remained in this state until being introduced to a new potential mate.
- Divers in the Bahamas observed two sharks remaining close to the body of a dead companion for over a week.
- Researchers in Hawaii documented odd behaviors in female sharks after catching and tagging their mating partners.
While more systematic research is needed, these observations hint that sharks notice the absence of companions and may enter states analogous to grief in response.
Do sharks play?
Play behavior is considered evidence of animals experiencing joy and fun. Sharks have been documented engaging in various playful behaviors:
- Young sharks chase each other in circles or nibble harmlessly at each other in ways that appear playful.
- Whale sharks swim in synchronized circles and approach divers gently in a manner described as “playing”.
- Sharks have been observed playing with objects like floating seaweed, apparently just for enjoyment.
While play in sharks serves purposes like building social bonds, the fact that they expend energy on these frivolous activities demonstrates they likely take pleasure in play itself.
Can sharks be trained?
If sharks were purely instinct-driven killing machines, they would be unable to learn behaviors via training. However, various studies have shown sharks can be trained, including:
- Captive sharks can be trained to associate certain sounds with being fed.
- Sharks can learn to push targets or swim through hoops to receive food rewards from trainers.
- Training procedures have taught sharks to allow close interaction without aggression.
The ability to modify instinctive behaviors through training demonstrates advanced cognitive abilities and suggests sharks have some capacity for forming emotional bonds with human caretakers.
Do sharks have distinct personalities?
There is evidence that, just like many other animals, individual sharks have distinct, consistent personalities:
- Researchers in Australia placed Port Jackson sharks in mazes and found each shark had a distinct way of navigating and exploring their environment.
- Studies of lemon sharks found some individuals were consistently more aggressive, active, social, or exploratory over years of observation.
- Some aquarium sharks are known to be gregarious while others are shy, suggesting stable personality differences.
Having a distinct personality requires a level of inner mental experience and individuality unlikely in a purely robotic animal. Personality suggests sharks have inner emotional lives.
Conclusion
While more research is still needed, the evidence so far suggests that sharks do have the capacity to feel emotions like love, joy, grief and attachment. Sharks are not the mindless killing machines pop culture makes them out to be, but rather intelligent animals with intricate inner lives. The possibility that one of the ocean’s apex predators may feel emotions like love is a reminder that diverse animal species share many commonalities with humans.