Strange behavior of sharks noticed in the US: they may be addicted to cocaine

Scientists are investigating the possibility that sharks off the coast of Florida may be addicted to cocaine thrown into the water by smugglers.

Huge loads of smuggled cocaine wash up on the Florida coast every year, and fishermen in the Florida Keys often tell stories of crazed drug sharks living in these waters.

Marine biologist Tom Heard and ecologist Tracy Fanara decided to check whether the tales of cocaine-addicted sharks could be true. The results of their research became a part of the Discovery series of documentaries "Cocaine Sharks", the New York Post (NYP) reports .

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First, Hird and Fanara made several deep-sea dives and noticed several sharks behaving strangely. A hammerhead shark, which usually avoids humans, was heading straight for the scientists and swimming obliquely rather than straight. At a depth of about 18 meters, they encountered a sand shark swimming in circles around an invisible object.

During the first experiment, the scientists threw several packages resembling cocaine briquettes into the water next to the artificial swans. To their surprise, the sharks ignored the swans and began to hunt for the briquettes and tear them up, with one individual even swimming away with the fake cocaine.

Hird and Fanara then tried to recreate the possible effect of cocaine by offering the sharks a ball of concentrated fish powder. This treat was supposed to work as a trigger for the production of large amounts of dopamine, which is similar to the effect of cocaine on the human body. Predators began to literally go crazy for the bait.

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"I think we've figured out how sharks can behave if you give them cocaine. We gave them something that can be considered close in effect. It literally fried their brains. It's crazy," Heard said.

In the latest experiment, scientists dropped fake cocaine briquettes from an airplane to more accurately recreate the real-life scenario in which drug traffickers operate. Different species of sharks almost instantly rushed to the fallen packages.

However, the results do not allow us to say with certainty that the sharks off the coast of Florida are really hooked on cocaine. There can be many natural reasons for this behavior. Much more research and experimentation is needed to find out for sure whether drug addicted sharks have appeared in nature.

"We can't say for sure that sharks are really addicted to cocaine, but we can see that they are showing interest in the drug... We need to do more research to understand what's going on," Fanara said.

In early June 2023, in Hurghada, Egypt, a shark attacked two tourists, a man and a woman, 30 meters from the shore. The woman managed to escape, but the man did not survive.

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