White Shark Spy Hopping

This young shark pops her head up demonstrating spy hopping behaviour 

Great White Sharks are extremely curious animals, they often display a behaviour called Spy Hopping. This is when the shark raises its head above the surface of the water to get a better look. If something is foreign or interesting to the shark they often show a range of investigative behaviours to try and learn more about it. 

This video was taken at Seal Island in Mossel Bay a harbour town on the Garden Route in South Africa’s Western Cape Province. You can see other similar behaviour in some of the other clips on the channel.

On the cage diving boat there are lots of interesting things going on for a shark. People screaming in the cage, GoPro cameras sending out electrical signals, The sound from people on the boat vibrating through the hull and the scent of fish from the chum and bait. As an Apex Predator, understanding new situations is critical to its survival so Spy Hopping is an extremely useful skill to have when trying to understand activities above the surface whether that is to be able to capitalise on or to avoid.