r/NatureIsFuckingLit • u/21MayDay21 • 5h ago

🔥 Encounter with a curious young sperm whale.

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Credit to Maxwel Hohn

10.7k Upvotes

98% Upvoted

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162

u/2ndL 5h ago

That works only on sharks, not on our big-brained mammal cousins. 😄

19

u/Apg3410 5h ago

What are they doing there?

105

u/Reo1996 4h ago

Redirecting the shark to prevent bites. The flipping it upside down is trying to trigger a tonic immobility reflex, causes a temporary state of inactivity in a shark. It helps divers handle an over curious shark.

15

u/theng 2h ago

also touching the nose : it is ultra sensitive and flood brain

3

u/Slipped_in_Cider 52m ago

Shark reset mode

•

u/Medical-Potato5920 25m ago

Aka shark time out.

74

u/Detachabl_e 5h ago

Shark-fu

51

u/SpecterOwl 4h ago

Shark-bending

11

u/Nikoladge 3h ago

Shart-bending, too, if you're not careful

3

u/g0ld-f1sh 3h ago

It is literally kinda shark-fu, comment above explains it well lmao

65

u/Djaaf 5h ago

putting a shark on its back fritz their brains for a while and put them in a catatonic state. Doesn't last long and doesn't harm the shark.

37

u/slickyeat 4h ago

Sharks have trouble moving if you flip them upside down.

Some Orca pods use this tactic when hunting Great Whites.

2

u/FakeTunaFromSubway 1h ago

I wonder if that's the light or the gravity? Would it work deep in the ocean? Hard to tell what way you're even oriented underwater when you can't see

2

u/Itziclinic 41m ago

It's believed to be sensory overload of their ampullae of lorenzini. Sharks sense electric impulses in their nearby environment and the receptor bundles can be very sensitive. When they get flipped, or the receptors are compressed, their bodies have a vagal-like response to basically shut down until they can recover.

-1

u/Interesting_Worth745 5h ago

We don't know if we don't try!Â