Did The Malibu Artist REALLY Find A Newborn White SHARK...?

Join shark scientist Kristian Parton as he takes a look at the recent footage of an alleged newborn great white shark. Kristian looks into the footage, and the research paper written about the sighting from The Malibu Artist, and asks whether this really is a newborn white shark.

Check out the Malibu Artist video here:

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Shark Bytes is a youtube channel dedicated to bringing you all the latest news, research and information about sharks around the world! Kristian Parton is a current marine biologist and shark researcher who has spent many years working with sharks in the field and laboratory. Having a passion for sharks and rays from a young age, Kristian now wants to bring the weird and wonderful world of sharks to your screens at home!

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[SHARKBYTES]

UPDATE: I’ve managed to get access to the supplementary material for the research paper, which mentions uncertainty over the size estimations for the shark. It states there are several simplifying assumptions, so there is likely quite a range in those size estimates. This boils down to the ambiguity stuff I was talking about in the video. It’s a very cool thing to see, but lots of speculation throughout. Thought I’d let you all know. 🦈

[soulfoodsmama]

I think it’s quite impressive that great white mothers have still managed to give birth so privately that science can’t prove where their nurseries are.

[nickmitsialis]

I recall that Malibu also filmed a large, heavyset female white shark in the surf zone--it suddenly bolted off leaving behind some sort of 'debris', and suddenly there was a tiny white shark left in it's wake; Could Malibu possibly have filmed a white shark giving birth?

[Chiller]

I published numerous research articles and book chapters and I served on the editorial boards of a number of scientific journals over my medical career. There is a concept called evidence based medicine that relies on what we term a hierarchy of evidence. The best evidence requires multiple datapoints that are obtained without the biases of the researchers influencing the experiment. These datapoints are almost always subject to statistical analyses resulting in a confidence level of the hypothesis being true. This great white shark paper is an observational study with but a single observation. This type of information is low on the hierarchy of evidence. It is valuable in the same way perhaps that the first reported case of a new disease is valuable. Its value is in the questions it raises not in the conclusions that can be drawn. In fact no scientific conclusions can be drawn from this type of study. The question is obviously, “Is this an observation of a newborn white shark?” An important question but in the end just a question. It may lead to more investigation or it may provide evidence if more similar observations ensue.

[incineroar]

No matter how old it is that baby is hella cute look at them go!

[Loralie]

It is adorable - almost has the face of a seal, rather than the open mouth that we more traditionally see of White sharks. One thing I noticed in the video of the shark from the Aegaean is it had the more traditional colour pattern of a White shark; whereas the California video colour was extremely muted.

[Liahs]

I was waiting for your thoughts on this little guy. I think Carlos has done great work observing Great Whites and showing the world they aren’t the mindless killers we all thought. It’s a great video regardless!

[jacobguillette]

Having read the paper, there is actually a part where they outline how they did the calculations. Its in a hyperlink that opens to a separate page where they lay it all out, there were 2 excel sheets if I remember. They use the drones height, along with the camera zoom and pixel measurements to get measurements and then averaged those together.

[joannereynolds]

It’s always good to hear another shark scientist critically analyse a research paper - it definitely makes food for thought!! Great footage too 😊

[e_pistolito]

I'm a huge fan of Malibu Artist, and have been for years!
(it was actually his channel that got me so into sharks in the first place)
I got super excited about this specific footage, as everyone else ig, and I appreciate the amazing chance you gave me with this video to look at it more critically. And also learn more about newborn sharks and how hard it is to find shark nurseries, it is really fascinating! All that made me even more curious about Carlos' footage and that shark's skin condition or whatever it might be... Can't wait to see more development on that!

Thank you so much for commenting about this topic in such ethical, respectful and yet challenging way, remembering all of us how science works and how fun the process can be!
I can say I'm proud to be a huge fan of Sharks Bites as well! Keep it up!
<3 Lots of love from Brazil <3

[drk]

This is a great video. Maybe my favorite from Shark Bytes. I am also an AVID follower to The Malibu Artist site. Both top of my list. This video shows the unvarnished method of collecting and interpreting scientific data. The Malibu Artist video shows amazing cinematography of a unique individual great white shark juvenile. It is important to state that The Malibu Artist made comments about not being positive of their findings and speculations which is the responsibility of the layman. Kudos. Shark Bytes dude (forget his name) was actually brave to step up and publicly remind the internet how science discovery works. The strict checks and balances required to come to a possible or likely answer. Two winners here: Malibu artist for getting great and unique footage that has become a part of the scientific archive of GWS data and Shark Bytes for reminding us that seeking truth is a fundamental part of science.

[trevor]

at first I thought the Malibu Artist video was really compelling, however it is very strange that the other video with the much smaller white shark pup had no odd coloration or sloughing to it. Assuming that the much smaller size of the white shark pup would correlate to a relatively younger age when compared to the Malibu Artist shark, it's just weird. There seems to be such a paucity of knowledge on white shark pups in general that it seems difficult to make heads or tails of with video without much stronger evidence.

[ShepherdsCreek]

I think it's possible it is a newborn white shark but there isn't enough evidence to know for certain. If nothing else, it's still a super cool find and awesome to be caught on film!

[ashb]

As a photographer who has observed and photographed marine animals a lot, the lighting, water, and coloration of the animal can GREATLY alter the look of a creature, whether in size, general perspective, or what seems to be in and around the water. And when it comes to video, the movement and style of videography adds another element to the overall perspective.

Not to discredit Malibu Artist, since he does this on a regular basis he’s probably also aware of this and would do his best to weigh that into the findings, but sometimes excitement can cause biases and blinders that ignore something small which can make a big difference later on when factored in, no matter how much you think you’ve made all the necessary considerations.

[ShootAlarmFire]

I am so happy to see you touching on this! I read one article on this, just one, and I was lucky to have clicked on one that talked about it in a very measured way, admitted the shortcomings in the whole thing, and just didn't sensationalize it. That is how I want my media, especially on a subject I am so passionate about. Super cool footage either way, and fun to think that maybe it was a baby. I am eagerly awaiting the day we can label any spot a pupping ground.

[pepstriebeck]

Child like characteristics kicking in at 7:12!!!
Heart beats pitched voice activates...!
Man, that´s a cute Shark.
Never seen such a young one before.
Fantastic animals.

[NocturnalCachalot]

Whether it is really a newborn white shark or not is definitely something that needs more evidence from a scientific perspective (I absolutely agree on that, as statistically seen the evidence is still weak in calling that a birthing area for white sharks or that specific white shark a newborn without any further details or more frequent findings) and I hope Carlos will have some more findings in that area that will help explaining that cute little guy's appearance there and maybe his age and condition etc. 😊

[mondotv]

You're wrong about estimating the size. It's easy. They know how high the drone is and they know the angular size of the lens on the drone and the sensor size, therefore size estimation is relatively simple.

[philbradshaw]

I'm not qualified to give an opinion but I do love the channel. A full channel dedicated to sharks is just amazing as I've been truly fascinated by them since I was very young (I'm 54 now)! Great work 👍

[Nick-imsm]

I do think it should be noted, Malibu Artist guy here and several others that do these drone vids have a LOT of footage of juvenile to sub adult White Sharks, and it's pretty common even as far down here in San Diego to see these small sharks. It's been speculated pretty heavily that they may be born here or close by for some time now, but nothing definitive has been proven. What I saw/heard about this particular video though that isn't mentioned, is that they followed a large (assumedly again..) female shark and she dropped out of sight into deeper depth, and then suddenly this shark here appeared moments later. I look forward to all of us learning more about these sharks though. I love that they're here and doing well!