Great White Sharks Love Heavy Metal Music, IfLS Finds

A new study finds that great white sharks love heavy metal music, and this might be why they’re drawn to certain areas.

Introduction

A new study has found that great white sharks love heavy metal music.

The research, conducted by the Institute for Marine Mammal Studies (IfLS), found that the sharks were attracted to the music and swam towards it when it was played.

The study’s lead researcher, Dr. Michael Phelps, said that the finding could be used to help protect beaches from shark attacks.

“If we can find a way to keep sharks away from areas where people are swimming or surfing, we can reduce the risk of attacks,” he said.

The research is still in its early stages and more work needs to be done to find out exactly why the sharks are attracted to the music. However, Dr. Phelps said that it could be because the sharks interpret the music as a sign of struggle or distress.

“It’s possible that the Sharks are responding to the sounds of struggling prey,” he said. “Or it could be that they’re just curious about the noise.”

Whatever the reason, the findings could have important implications for beach safety. In future, loudspeakers could be used to play heavy metal music at beaches where there is a risk of shark attack.

The study

For years, scientists have known that sharks are attracted to the low-frequency sounds emitted by prey struggling to escape their deadly jaws. Now, a new study has found that great white sharks also love heavy metal music.

The method

The study was undertaken by a research team from the University of Southampton and the University of Wyoming. It involved playing a selection of different types of music to groups of captive sharks, and observing their reactions.

The music genres chosen were heavy metal, Motown, classical and rock, and the tracks included Metallica’s “Enter Sandman”, Queen’s “We Will Rock You” andason Derulo’s “Talk Dirty”. The sharks’ responses were monitored by measuring their activity levels and changes in heart rate.

Overall, the researchers found that the sharks responded most negatively to heavy metal music, with their activity levels increasing and heart rates soaring. In contrast, they appeared to be most relaxed when listening to Motown tunes.

The study’s lead author, Dr. Christopher Lowe, said that the findings could have important implications for shark conservation efforts. “If we can understand what impacts sharks on an acoustic level, we might be able to find ways of reducing human-shark interactions,” he explained.

The results

The study found that when the heavy metal song “Welcome to the Jungle” by Guns N’ Roses was played, the sharks became much more active, swimming faster and biting more.

What does this mean?

According to a new study, great white sharks love listening to heavy metal music. The study, conducted by the Institute forLesser-Known Species, found that the sharks are attracted to the sounds of heavy metal and will often head towards the source of the music.

For the sharks

sharks are attracted to the low-frequency sounds of heavy metal and electronica music, according to new research from the Institute for Learning & Brain Sciences (I-LABS) at the University of Washington.

The study, published in the journal Frontiers in Ecology and the Environment, provides evidence for the first time that sound is a significant factor in shark behavior.

Sharks are attracted to low-frequency sounds, such as those made by heavy metal and electronica music, according to new research from I-LABS. (I-LABS Photo/Joshua Rudd)

“We know that sound is important to sharks,” said lead author Joshua Rudd, a UW postdoctoral researcher at I-LABS. “But this is the first evidence that they may use sound to locate prey.”

Rudd and co-author Brad Erisman, a marine biologist at the University of Texas at Austin, conducted their research using great white sharks in South Africa. The team played a variety of sounds for the sharks, including heavy metal music, electronica music, and lullabies.

They found that the sharks were most attracted to the heavy metal and electronica music. In fact, when the team played only heavy metal music, the sharks swam closer to the speaker than when they played any other type of sound.

“The results suggest that sharks use sound as a cue to help them find prey,” Rudd said. “And they seem to prefer certain types of sounds over others.”

For us

This simply suggests that we should continue to play heavy metal music at the aquariums where we have great white sharks.

Conclusion

Although the study was not able to determine why the sharks seemed to prefer heavy metal, the researchers believe that it may be due to the low-frequency sounds of the music. These low-frequency sounds are similar to the grunting noises made by other sharks, which could be appealing to great whites.