Curious Great White Shark Mingles with Surfer (Watch)

The clip comes from Carlos Gauna (aka The Malibu Artist), a dedicated documenter of sharks, and particularly how they cohabitate with humans in California. It shows a surfer quite near to a juvenile great white. And the two appear equally curious of one another. No real tension; just genuine intrigue.

Gauna proposed: “This juvenile great white shark was hanging by this curious surfer for a while. I don't know who was more curious here. The shark, or the human.”

And these types of interspecies encounters are more common than one would imagine. According to a study from last year from Cal State Long Beach’s Shark Lab, they found that great white sharks were near surfers 97% of the time in California waters. While those findings might seem alarming, it’s actually quite the opposite, if you think about it. If sharks are around so often, and yet there are so few attacks, then perhaps the perceived dangers are far lower than imagined.

“I think people will be shocked by these findings — we never expected to see so many encounters every day with no incidents,” said Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab, via the study. “It’s not just about sharks, it’s about people. This study may change people’s perception of the risk sharks pose to people that share the ocean with them.”

So, if you’re surfing in SoCal anytime soon, maybe you’ll get lucky.