Great White Shark Sniffs Young Surfer’s Toes in SoCal (Video)

Originally posted on SURFER | By Dashel Pierson | Last updated Aug 13, 2025 5:02 PM ET

The frequency of shark sightings, particularly great whites, amidst the shallows of Southern California is so pedestrian, so common, to the point of desensitization. Well, almost. Still, these are apex predators, mingling with surfers and swimmers on the daily.

And in this clip below, one great white gets so incredibly close to a young boy on a bodyboard, that he’s practically licking the little fella’s toes. It’s a little more intense than your average drone footage juvenile great white sighting; a little more brazen.

https://www.youtube.com/shorts/MUxIPRvUhCI

The clip comes from GreatWhiteDrone, which, according to his YouTube description page, clearly written by a parent, is somewhat of a shark drone sighting prodigy. The description reads: “These are my 13-year-old son's videos (which he began making 3 years ago at 10 years of age). He loves filming Great White Sharks off the coast of Southern California, and enjoys making these videos with his footage to share with you! He hopes to help protect sharks all around the world with his work!”

As for the video, it shows the young kid kicking along on his boogie. Unknowingly, there’s a great white – maybe an eight-footer – stalking behind him. The beast gets close, real close. Perhaps curiosity? Then, plot twist: the shark turns quickly, and goes in the other direction. If anything, it serves as further proof that sharks aren’t as bloodthirsty as they’re made out to be.

For the full video, and more close calls with sharks and humans, see below.

It brings to mind an interview we did with Dr. Chris Lowe, Director of CSULB’s Shark Lab, from last year. Lowe spoke to this high volume of shark activity, with relation to the low number of bites. Here’s what he had to say:

“When you think about how many people are in the water in Southern California on a daily basis – many of them at these aggregation sites, like Del Mar and Torrey Pines – and there are dozens of cases every day, when a white shark is swimming underneath the surfer, yet still, bites are really rare. So, if you look at the numbers, your probability is really low. We are literally talking about millions of people.

“Sharks are around these people all the time, but they treat them like flotsam. They don’t see humans as food, they don’t pose a threat, and they typically just ignore them. Then we’re wondering: Maybe it’s a good thing that people are around sharks all the time, because it’s helping sharks to identify those objects as people. Not food, not a threat. There should be, like, a bite a month. But there isn’t. Why? We’re studying that.”

This article first appeared on SURFER and was syndicated with permission.

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