Bull sharks form friendships, new study finds

A new study has found that Bulldog Sharks can form “friendships” with each other, The Guardian reported. A group of scientists have studied bulldog sharks in Fiji and found that they create social groups.
The study collected data on 3,000 shark dives and examined the behavior of 91 sharks. Research has revealed that sharks show preferences for certain individuals and avoid interacting with other sharks.
Shark expert Juerg Bunnschweiler told NPR Shark Social Interaction: âIf we see certain pairs or groups of individuals, they show up with the same specimen, then you can tell something is going on. They may be moving together, or it’s not random.
Using statistical data, the researchers looked for data that was not explained by chance or eating habits.
âBulldog sharks cannot be considered a social species like marine mammals or other land species like elephants or chimpanzees. However, it seems that some individuals are able to develop preferred co-occurrences or affinities (and avoidances) with certain individuals â, Dr Thibaut Bouveroux, post-doctoral researcher of the Dauphin Island Sea Lab in the United States and principal author of the study, said.
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