Internet Amazed As Dog Swims With 'Harmless' Shark

The words "harmless" and "shark" are not often used in the same sentence—usually, one may associate the apex predator with words like "dangerous" and "scary."

Often they are considered to be cold-blooded killers and feared by many. But some species are only interested in fish, making it safe for canines to even swim alongside them, like Emma's dog who has gone viral online.

The clip, captioned: "When your dog has a harmless nurse shark friend and wants to play with," shows her pet doggy paddling in crystal clear water while the shark glides beneath her.

The footage filmed in Fakarava, French Polynesia, has racked up 193,000 views on Instagram (@emmanuellelarchet). It shows the curious canine paddling above the shark and standing on a rock while watching a couple of them swim.

The Florida Museum of Natural History's International Shark Attack File investigated 120 alleged shark-human interactions worldwide in 2023. Out of these, 69 were confirmed as unprovoked shark bites and 22 as provoked.

The United States recorded the most unprovoked shark bites with 36 cases, followed by Australia with 15. Unprovoked fatalities were slightly higher than average this year, with notable occurrences in Australia due to white sharks. Despite the increase in fatalities, the overall risk of shark bites remains very low.

Nurse sharks like the one in the video are considered to be a species of least concern. They are found in the warm, shallow waters of the western Atlantic and eastern Pacific oceans.

They are described as "slow-moving bottom-dwellers," by National Geographic, which points out that they will "bite defensively" if they are bothered by divers, who assume they are "docile."

But Emma and her dog do not seem to have any problems as she points out in the caption that they "live and swim with them everyday."

She reassures her 19,200 followers: "I love my dog too much to put her in danger, as we all know in Fakarava what we can do or can not do with sharks. We have thousand of them, every species has a different behavior."

So far, the video has over 3,730 likes and over 75 comments from many users who are not only amazed by the dog's location but the fact she can freely swim with the creatures.

One user said: "Wow how. Nature just gets its so right."

"This is so precious!" said another.

A third commenter praised: "Thanks for teaching us something nice."

"This is so special, such a cute friendship," wrote a fourth user.

Newsweek reached out to @emmanuellelarchet for comment via Instagram. We could not verify the details of the case.

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