ladbible logo

To make sure you never miss out on your favourite NEW stories, we're happy to send you some reminders

Click 'OK' then 'Allow' to enable notifications

The Amazing Moment A Diver Hypnotises A Shark And Flips It Over

The Amazing Moment A Diver Hypnotises A Shark And Flips It Over

This is either bravery or foolishness. Whatever, it looks pretty cool.

Tom Wood

Tom Wood

Amazing video footage has emerged that shows a scuba diver using only her hands to hypnotise a huge shark, before it calmly swims off into the distance.

It's either an act of extreme bravery or extreme stupidity, but the diver seems to know what she is doing. Most people would be immediately swimming at full speed in the opposite direction if a shark of the size of the one in the video started to take an interest in them.

However, when this shark starts swimming towards this diver, she just holds a hand out dangerously close to the shark's mouth before gently grabbing the gigantic animal's snout and moving it around.

Caters

Again, this is either an act of foolishness or courage - it's not exactly clear.

The shark is taken in by it though. It seems to be put in some sort of a trance and becomes transfixed on his hand. The diver eventually gets it to turn around, so that it is nearly upside down, then he gradually guides it back and it soon seems to regain sensibility before swimming off.

So, what is the story behind this?

The diver in question is called Leigh Cobb, and the shark she 'hypnotises' is called Emma. The video above was shot back in April 2018 at Tiger Beach, a resort in The Bahamas.

Of course, Leigh isn't actually hypnotising the shark, he is inducing what is known as a state of tonic immobility.

In reality, that is not a great deal different from hypnosis. It puts the shark in a temporary state of inactivity and it occurs in quite a few animals, including many types of sharks and rays.

Caters

Basically, you can either turn them over, or stimulate small sensory pores that these animals have near their snout. It is a great way for researchers and vets to stop the animals from swimming away (or biting their arm off) whilst they do whatever it is that they need to do to them.

Caters

As it happens, if you're looking to try out tonic immobility but want to work up to the huge animals with the power to rip you apart, limb from limb, you'd probably be better off starting at the bottom of the scale - with a chicken, for example.

Sure, it's not as visually impressive as the shark, but the risks are smaller - depending on the size of chicken that you've used, of course.

Featured Image Credit: Caters

Topics: Sharks, News, Interesting, Animals