Surreal Footage Shows Wild Tiger Shark’s Reaction to Seeing Her Favorite Human After a Year

Jim Abernethy (@jim_abernethy) felt disappointed when he sailed in the waters of Tiger Beach, and Emma couldn’t be seen anywhere. After the pandemic had separated them for a year, he was now yearning to reunite with her. Suddenly, his destiny took a serendipitous twist, and he heard a crew member scream, “Emma is here!” Emma was looking up somewhere under his boat, waiting to meet her long-time best friend. Abernethy jumped into the waters, eager to give his friend her favorite hand rubs. Footage of their reunion, shared by The Dodo, made people worldwide rethink their beliefs about sharks as predators. 

Abernethy first came across Emma, the wild tiger shark in the Bahamas, in 2001. For the next two decades that followed, their friendship evolved into an affectionate bond where both loved to be in each other’s company. In 20 years of their friendship, Abernethy became well-versed in all the things and gestures she loved. Their regular meetings taught him that she loved physical affection, especially the head rubs. Over time, Abernethy trained Emma to decipher his hand signals. Each time he met her, he rubbed his thumb to his fingertip, a signal that meant, “Do you want your head rubbed?” At this signal, Emma diligently bobbed her head, sometimes blinking her eyes, which meant yes.

And with all these rubbings and bumping noses, their long-term relationship continued to evolve. Each time Abernethy jumped into the waters of the Tiger Beach, Emma would recognize his boat and start swimming under it, signalling him to come down. But this relationship didn’t just include lots of affection, but also challenges. Many times, while monitoring her during pregnancies, Abernethy noticed fishing hooks clung to her teeth. During these 20 years, he removed almost five hooks from her mouth. Despite the pain and bleeding she had, the shark never showed any aggression towards him.

Then came a tragic plot twist. The pandemic struck the world, and they were suddenly separated. A year passed. In September 2021, Abernethy returned to the waters, waiting with bated breath to reunite with his best mate. “The anticipation of having a reunion with a wild animal that you have had a relationship with for so many years is so heartwarming,” he said while standing on a boat in the footage. The 3-minute footage opens into the deep ocean waters of the Tiger Beach. Donning his diving suit, Abernethy appears to be spending playful moments with Emma, rubbing her head and caressing her jaw as she looks to him with love.

“She’s almost like a big Labrador retriever that wants love and affection constantly,” he says while rubbing her mouth and caressing her body with his palm. “She’s always the same exact, reliable, gentle giant,” he described. He said his relationship with Emma has “grown exponentially” every time he has removed a hook from her body, and after the distance the pandemic created between them, he was overjoyed to see her again.

Opposing the generally held assumption, Abernethy said sharks might be predators, but they are not always man-eaters. Sometimes, all they need is the affection that they never had before. Calling her a “supermodel,” he shares with The Sun, "What makes Emma so special is one, she is really big, she's huge, and she has the oh s**t factor when you look at her like it might be the last thing you do.” His encounter with her has taught him a strategy that offers a good selfie position for the two while they’re in the water. To get a really good selfie, he said, “You put the camera in your left hand and your arm straight across her mouth, that’s a lot of trust.”

You can follow Jim Abernethy (@jim_abernethy) on Instagram to catch up with his adventure episodes with Emma. 

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