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Andre Hartman, 'Shark Whisperer,' Puts Great White Sharks In Trance With Touch Of Hand (PHOTO)

'Shark Whisperer' Puts Great Whites In Trance With Touch Of Hand
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Assistant Editor, Social News, Huffington Post

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Forget dog and ghost whisperers, Andre Hartman takes the cake with his current title: shark whisperer. Yes it is as cool as it sounds and we have the photo to prove it.

Off the coast of South Africa, near Dyer Island, Hartman greets a great white shark through the water by placing his hand on its snout to put it in a trance and make it open its mouth, the Telegraph reports in their "Pictures of the day" gallery.

Hartman, a South African diving guide, had his first encounter with a great white shark in 1977 according to an article by X-Ray Magazine.

“It tried to bite me! I was spear fishing at the time and carrying a lot of fish," he told the magazine. "It came in and tried to take me. I saw it coming, so I gave it the gun. It didn’t like it, so it swam away.”

Years later, the Discovery Channel featured him in the documentary "Great White Sharks: Uncaged" where he swam unprotected with a group of the sharks.

Doug Perrine, the American photographer who was able to capture the classic moment, explained Hartman's technique behind the hypnosis to the Daily Mail.

"This part of the shark's body is loaded with nerve endings, and the creature's sensory system became overloaded from the stimulus," Perrine told the Daily Mail. "The shark seemed to enter a pleasant, but confused state where it was dreamily seeking the source of the stimulus. So there was no trigger for the shark to attack anything."

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Before You Go

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