Ever wondered what sharks do when no one is watching? Well, now we know.
Scientists have attached cameras to great whites, and they've been rather surprised by what they've captured.
In shark-infested South African waters, a rare glimpse of the dance between predator and prey.
A great white shark, hunting fur seals in a part of the ocean that was thought beyond reach.
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"We knew that the seals would take refuge in kelp forests when there were sharks, but we didn't know the sharks would go in after them," said Marine Biologist at Murdoch University, Oliver Jewell.
For the first time, scientists have captured the predators in dense kelp forests from a shark's eye view. The long seaweed provides little resistance for a fish that can weigh over a tonne.
The seals blow bubbles to obscure the shark's vision, but it presses on in pursuit of its prey.
"What we can see from the footage is they're actually really agile, and they're quite good at navigating through," said Jewell.
Great whites remain mysterious creatures despite being objects of fascination and fear.
Thanks to a team of international researchers, their behavior is being revealed as never before by specialist cameras and sensors carefully fitted after the sharks were lured in by fake seals and bait.
"The tags themselves are also a bit like a Fitbit, so it can record lots of information about the energetics of the animals too and we're really hoping to grow a global dataset on these animals," said Jewell.
Newshub.
