NARRATOR: Sharks, dolphins,
Downloaded from YTS.MX
an epic war waged beneath the waves.
MAN: He's got a dolphin in his mouth!
Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX
NARRATOR: Brain against brawn.
MAN: Oi, they're fighting, they're fighting. Oh, (bleep)!
WOMAN: Dolphins are very capable predators
in their own right.
MAN: People forget that killer whales
are actually dolphins.
MAN: I've never ever seen anything like this before.
NARRATOR: Now for the first time,
a chance to see how these gangs of the deep go to war.
Can there be a truce?
Or are these top predators locked in a blood battle?
Off Australia, predators stalk their prey.
These are called false killer whales,
but they're actually dolphins,
just super-sized.
They grow up to 20 feet long
and travel in pods of 10 or more.
Today they're on the hunt for shark.
The pod gives chase.
The shark can't outswim them.
The dolphins work as a team,
box in the shark,
and move in for the kill.
FRANCES FARABAUGH: Dolphins are very capable predators
in their own right.
NARRATOR: Frances Farabaugh is a shark biologist
at Florida International University.
FRANCES: I feel like there's this conception
in the general public that dolphins are the heroes
and sharks are the antagonists or the villains.
NARRATOR: When it comes to the fierce relationship
between dolphins and sharks, there's a lot we get wrong
and a lot more that we don't even know.
FRANCES: Both of these organisms are predators
that are making smart, intelligent decisions
about how to survive and how to feed.
NARRATOR: Primal decisions that often bring
these two top predators into conflict.
In some areas, 30% of the dolphin population
bear the marks of shark encounters.
And that's on the dolphins that survived.
But even smaller dolphins aren't defenseless.
They wield a powerful arsenal of weapons to combat sharks.
FRANCES: It's a mistake to think of dolphins versus sharks
as some kind of mismatched pairing.
There are advantages and disadvantages,
but they're quite evenly matched.
NARRATOR: Frances is on an expedition to gain insight
into the battle between sharks and dolphins.
She teams up with research specialist Kirk Gastrich
on the far side of the world
in what might be the bloodiest front
in the shark-dolphin war:
a place called Shark Bay.
KIRK GASTRICH: In Shark Bay, we know that
there are these interactions between sharks and dolphins.
The amount of dolphins with shark-inflicted wounds
on them is really, really high here.
FRANCES: We know that around 75% of dolphins here
show scars from interactions with sharks.
NARRATOR: On the western tip of Australia,
Shark Bay is a sprawling natural preserve.
3.2 million acres of pristine marine habitat,
overflowing with fish and squid.
A dolphin paradise.
Only one problem.
KIRK: They call it Shark Bay
because this place is just loaded with sharks.
NARRATOR: Frances and Kirk have a lot of ground to cover.
Their floating laboratory for the next week
is the 120-foot ship Infamis.
ASH: Straight in here, guys. Welcome aboard.
FRANCES: Thank you.
NARRATOR: Rounding out the expedition team
are Ash Sutton, the ship's captain...
ASH SUTTON: If you've come looking for sharks,
this is the hot spot around here.
NARRATOR: ...and Duncan Brake, an underwater cinematographer
who's been filming both sharks and dolphins for 20 years.
DUNCAN BRAKE: Dolphins seem to have
a bit of this love/hate relationship with sharks.
I don't know, but there definitely seems to be
this dichotomous relationship between the two species.
NARRATOR: The mission on the expedition:
capture video evidence of shark/dolphin combat.
They hope to detail how sharks outsmart
one of the most intelligent animals on Earth,
and find out how dolphins evade
one of nature's most efficient killers.
To get the footage, the team has custom-built cameras
to attach to shark fins.
KIRK: We know that there are interactions,
but we haven't really seen them with our own eyes.
NARRATOR: Do the sharks hunt during the day or night?
Do they target the sick or injured?
All questions the fin cam can help answer.
About 5,000 dolphins call these waters home despite the sharks.
They've figured out not just how to survive
but how to thrive.
FRANCES: There are lots of strategies and advantages
that dolphins have when they're trying to defend themselves.
One of them is that they're very social animals.
We know that, through research, they tend to hang out
in larger groups when they feel they're more vulnerable,
like at night and when they're resting.
NARRATOR: They also live and work together in pods,
a cooperative that not only provides protection
but is an effective means to hunt prey.
FRANCES: They're very fast, they're very strong,
and they easily outmaneuver a shark.
So, it's important not to think of them
as some kind of David versus Goliath.
Dolphins are powerful, incredible predators.
NARRATOR: Sharks don't play well with others.
There are no shark pods.
They're solitary hunters.
And in this part of the world,
the number one threat to dolphins is the tiger shark.
FRANCES: From a dolphin's perspective,
a tiger shark is always a danger,
because it only takes one slip-up
for you to be consumed by a shark.
NARRATOR: Tiger sharks have earned themselves
a nasty reputation.
DUNCAN: As an underwater cameraman,
you can be literally be covered in other shark species,
but then that big, old tiger shark will roll into town,
and you are looking at that one big tiger.
NARRATOR: Named for their distinctive stripes,
these apex predators can top 14 feet.
And they have an outsized appetite to match.
Unlike white sharks, which use their immense power and speed
to take down seals and dolphins,
tigers are all about a casual kill.
DUNCAN: I think tiger sharks
are gonna sneak up on something and grab it
instead of actually having to chase it around
all over the ocean.
NARRATOR: Video footage of tiger sharks fighting dolphins
is extremely rare and extremely hard to capture.
But if the team can get it,
the footage could unlock the secrets of this unseen war.
The first step is to find the sharks.
The team uses a baited remote underwater video, or BRUV.
FRANCES: With BRUVs, I drop a frame with a camera
and some bait down to the bottom of the ocean.
I pull that back up, and then I watch the video through
to see what showed up.
♪ ♪
Make sure that that bait arm is pointing down current,
and just make sure it's...
NARRATOR: Strong currents can easily topple the BRUV,
so Duncan will check it out on the bottom.
NARRATOR: Sharks can easily detect prey
through clouds of muck.
FRANCES: Sharks sort of have a sixth sense.
They can sort of electrorecept.
So they have these little organs towards the front of their noses
that are called ampullae of Lorenzini.
They kind of detect little electrical currents.
And so they're not relying
necessarily exclusively on sight to hunt.
NARRATOR: Remoras are fish that cling to sharks.
They swim alongside and feed on the host's scraps.
FRANCES: Large remora, maybe a large shark nearby.
NARRATOR: A large remora could mean
that a very large shark is closing in.
FRANCES: I didn't read that. Can you say again?
Duncan, Duncan, test, test, can you hear me?
FRANCES: Excellent.
NARRATOR: The BRUV is rolling.
They'll leave it for a day
and then find out if they're in the right spot for sharks.
DUNCAN: With this visibility,
it's probably time to get out of the water
and let the BRUV do its work, I think.
NARRATOR: Stories abound of sharks sneaking up on swimmers,
and dolphins zooming to the rescue.
In 2018, off the coast of Australia,
a snorkeler diving with a pod of dolphins
suddenly spots a Galapagos shark.
These large predators are known
to take down seals and sea lions.
Before long, more sharks appear,
and they're getting closer.
But he hardly believes what happens next.
(dolphins squeaking)
A pair of dolphins charge
and scatter the threatening sharks.
(squeaking)
A dolphin pod has safety in numbers.
When the matchup is one-on-one, it's usually a different story.
MAN: He's got a dolphin in his mouth!
NARRATOR: Recently, two Australian oystermen
capture this savage struggle up close.
JASON DARKE: I've never, ever seen anything like this before.
Only on TV, and even then, it's rare.
We were going about eight kilometers out.
We were probably halfway there
when off in the distance we noticed a fin
which we assumed straightaway would be a dolphin.
A dolphin. It's a dolphin.
Jai, here, hold my phone.
JAI DARKE: And once we realized the size of it,
there's no curve in the back of it,
we realized that it was not a dolphin.
JASON: This was much bigger than a dolphin fin,
much, much bigger.
JASON: The shark we knew straightaway
was a great white shark.
It would've been approximately 10 to 12 foot.
Rather large.
He's coming this way, he's coming this way.
He's coming right to us.
He's got a dolphin in his mouth!
He just swam straight past us with a dolphin in his mouth.
JAI: This is (bleep) you see on Nat Geo Wild.
NARRATOR: But then things get wilder.
JASON: So, we'd been watching the shark for a while,
and I was carefully following the shark
as it was swimming away with the dolphin,
when, all of a sudden, out of nowhere...
Oh, my god, another one, another one!
JAI: Oi, oi, oi! Oh, (bleep)! Oh, (bleep)!
JASON: Oh, my god, another one, another one!
JAI: Oi, oi, massive one, massive one!
Oh, (bleep)! Oh, (bleep)!
Look at it!
Oh, that just come out from underneath the boat.
The moment I saw the second shark,
adrenaline started pumping through my veins.
I didn't know what just happened.
Oh!
That scared the (bleep) out of me!
JASON: The second shark was bigger than the first.
It would've been 12 to 14 foot, probably,
but it was definitely bigger.
JAI: It was huge.
Oi, they're fighting, they're fighting,
they're fighting!
Oh! Oh, (bleep)!
He just stole that dolphin!
He just stole the dolphin!
Oh, he's massive!
Oh!
JASON: Look at the size of the thing!
NARRATOR: A dolphin is worth fighting over.
FRANCES: We do know that if a shark gets the opportunity
to eat a dolphin, they absolutely will.
And in fact, it's a really prized food source.
Like many marine mammals, dolphins have all this blubber,
so that's a good nutritious meal.
NARRATOR: From the injuries, it's clear the dolphin
was initially attacked from behind and below.
JASON: He swam straight past us
with a dolphin in his mouth.
NARRATOR: How did the shark get past this dolphin's defenses?
FRANCES: Dolphins are really quite zippy.
They can outmaneuver a shark fairly easily,
especially if they're in deeper or open water spaces.
NARRATOR: To understand how sharks catch
these slippery creatures, the team heads to a beach
that offers a unique look at Shark Bay's dolphins.
FRANCES: So, we're right now at Monkey Mia in Shark Bay.
There has been 20 years
of really incredible ecological and biological research
on the interactions between sharks and dolphins.
NARRATOR: Dolphins were first drawn here in the 1960s
by fishermen sharing their catch.
Today the site is regulated by the Parks and Wildlife Service.
FRANCES: We have some friendly dolphins that come here
very regularly, and we get to see them up close and personal,
which is really special.
NARRATOR: No need for a baited underwater camera.
Here, dolphins come to you.
And they're covered in scars.
FRANCES: So this individual that's just approaching us
just now is called Piccolo.
And you can see on her dorsal and on her back,
she's got scars from encounters with sharks.
Dolphins make this trade-off.
A lot of the food that they want most
and the easy fishing grounds, the yummy fish,
occur around shallow seagrass beds.
Unfortunately, that's also where tiger sharks
preferentially like to hunt.
NARRATOR: To protect themselves,
dolphins have a secret weapon: echolocation.
They can send out a beam of sound
from a fatty part of their head, called the melon.
The sound beam bounces back and forms a mental image
in the dolphin's brain of the world around them.
FRANCES: Echolocation is the way that dolphins have to see
in dark and low-lit environments.
Basically, it's like radar or sonar.
NARRATOR: But there are limits to this superpower.
FRANCES: So, it works kind of like wide beams on a flashlight.
They can only see kind of directly ahead of them
or to the sides.
So, if they get attacked from the back or from underneath,
they probably won't see the predator coming.
NARRATOR: Dolphins have a blind spot,
and sharks know it.
NARRATOR: Great whites use their massive power
to charge from beneath in a breach attack.
KIRK: White sharks you would consider
more of an ambush predator.
FRANCES: It's probably the shark that you don't see
that you worry about,
because a lot of white sharks rely on surprise.
They're stealth predators.
NARRATOR: It's easy to sneak up on a lone dolphin,
but the safety of the pod can stop an ambush,
even from a great white.
A white shark swims with a group of dolphins.
The ocean-going mammals show no concern
for the killer in their midst.
Their ability to communicate and spot their stalker
gives the shark no chance at an attack.
The team heads out to search for more scarring,
and more signs of shark/dolphin battles.
FRANCES: To our port now just a little bit.
10, 11 o'clock.
Maybe 100 meters out.
KIRK: So, we've got one dolphin up here.
Appears just to be logging or just resting at the surface.
FRANCES: It definitely has scars.
KIRK: That's the thing about dolphins, though,
if they don't wanna stick around, they don't.
NARRATOR: It's a perfect display
of another dolphin defensive weapon: speed.
They can reach up to 22 miles per hour.
A simple flick of the tail and they leave a trail of bubbles,
able to outswim most predators, including sharks.
But there's a shark that's even faster.
The mako.
DUNCAN: Mako sharks are one of the fastest fish in the sea.
And compared to other sharks,
their speed and agility cannot compare.
NARRATOR: Mako sharks are torpedoes with teeth.
Blasting up to 45 miles per hour;
twice as fast as dolphins.
(woman screams)
WOMAN: Shark right here!
NARRATOR: Near Maui, Hawaii, Captain Steve Lawless
captures a mako and dolphin encounter off his snorkel boat.
(scream)
MAN: He's got the dolphin in his mouth.
NARRATOR: The mako has the dolphin by the tail;
a sure sign that the shark outswam its panicked prey.
MAN: Has he swallowed the dolphin
or is the dolphin hanging out of his mouth?
DUNCAN: I think a dolphin could quite easily
outmaneuver a tiger shark.
However, if we brought a mako shark to the table,
not a chance.
WOMAN: This is crazy!
NARRATOR: Luckily for the dolphins of Shark Bay,
there aren't many makos here.
But there are tigers, and the team wants to know
if they're in the right place to capture one.
Step one: retrieve the BRUV.
DUNCAN: How'd you guys do?
Everything back in one piece?
FRANCES: Everything's back in one piece.
DUNCAN: I can't wait to see what was down there with that remora.
NARRATOR: Is the footage binge-worthy?
♪ ♪
Success: tigers on camera.
The team is in the right spot.
FRANCES: We know from BRUVs that this is an area
that has a lot of tiger sharks and many different habitats.
What we don't have evidence of on these BRUVs
is exactly what the sharks are eating.
NARRATOR: To really understand the shark/dolphin relationship,
Frances wants to capture a shark's-eye view of Shark Bay.
FRANCES: So, basically, what this is, is it's our fin camera.
What happens is we'll slot this over the fin of the tiger shark,
and we'll send it on its merry way.
KIRK: Alright, good to go? FRANCES: Good to go.
KIRK: Okay, got that?
NARRATOR: They set up a series of baited hooks
called a drumline.
FRANCES: Ready to go.
KIRK: Alright, going over.
Alright, we're on bottom.
FRANCES: One down.
KIRK: One down, four to go.
FRANCES: Alright, let's get the next one set.
NARRATOR: They check the lines every 30 minutes
to ensure no shark is harmed.
FRANCES: Got a shark on the line.
KIRK: Just want to see what we got.
Coming up!
Hooked good.
Coming under, coming under.
FRANCES: Alright, ready to go on that.
KIRK: Okay, on zero.
FRANCES: Zeroed.
Hold on.
KIRK: Watch it, Frances, watch it.
I'm losing the head here.
FRANCES: Oh!
NARRATOR: There's a primal conflict down in the deep:
dolphins and sharks.
MAN: Shark. WOMAN: Shark.
JAI: Oh, he's massive!
(scream)
JAI: They're fighting, they're fighting! Oh!
KIRK: Okay, on zero.
FRANCES: Zeroed.
KIRK: Watch it, Frances, watch it.
I'm losing the head here.
FRANCES: Oh!
NARRATOR: Shark researchers Frances Farabaugh,
Kirk Gastrich and cameraman Duncan Brake
are at one of the fiercest battlegrounds
in this ferocious struggle: Shark Bay, Australia.
FRANCES: Many of the dolphins that we've seen
have shown lots of evidence of encounters with sharks,
very specific scarring and bite marks.
So we know that these interactions are occurring.
NARRATOR: Their mission:
capture direct evidence of these battles
and observe offense and defense in action.
Which strategies work?
Which don't?
JASON: He's got a dolphin in his mouth!
NARRATOR: To do it, they want to catch
the region's supreme predator, the tiger shark,
and stick a camera on its fin.
KIRK: Pretty shark. Hooked good.
NARRATOR: They have their shark, but...
ASH: It's a bronzie.
DUNCAN: That moment when you're waiting for those stripes
to appear on the back of the shark,
and then you see a flash of bronze instead.
Yeah, it's almost heartbreaking.
You've got a shark; it's just not the right one.
NARRATOR: Bronze whalers are relatives of tiger sharks.
But they're not known for attacking dolphins.
KIRK: We'll get the bolt cutters ready, Frances.
FRANCES: Yep.
NARRATOR: The team decides to hang onto their fin cam
and keep searching for a tiger.
KIRK: Nice.
FRANCES: Okay, it's gone.
We just released it straightaway
and it was a really beautiful release.
DUNCAN: Right back to square one.
NARRATOR: Of nearly 500 species of sharks,
only about 10 target dolphins as prey.
The usual suspects top the list:
the tiger, great white...
JAI: Oh, he's massive! Oh!
NARRATOR: And hammerhead.
They mostly eat stingrays.
But a hammerhead will hunt down a dolphin given the chance.
MAN: Look at that shark, dude.
MAN: I got it, man. I got it all right here.
Holy (bleep).
NARRATOR: The notorious bull shark,
a known man-eater, makes the list.
DUNCAN: Bull sharks are very bold and brash.
Kind of bulldoze other sharks out of the way sometimes,
just to find out where the food is.
FRANCES: Every species of shark
is going to have different hunting modes,
different strategies, different sort of niches that they fill.
NARRATOR: But when it comes to hunting dolphins,
each of these different species share a common trait:
size matters.
JAI: Oi, oi, massive one!
JASON: Look at the size of the thing!
NARRATOR: To get past a dolphin's defenses,
the rule seems to be a shark needs to be as big or bigger.
But there are exceptions to every rule.
Off the Florida coast, a young blacktip shark is in pursuit
of a bottlenose dolphin more than twice his size.
DUNCAN: Yeah, blacktip sharks,
every time I've been in the water with them,
they always behave erratically.
They're like little kids on a sugar rush,
kind of bouncing around.
They don't really care about where you are.
They just want the cheeky free snack.
NARRATOR: The shark's running a risk.
His snack could attack.
The shark comes to his senses and backs off.
♪ ♪
The team hopes to film their own dolphin and shark faceoff
with a fin cam.
FRANCES: Alright, one more.
KIRK: So we just finished checking the lines.
We re-baited everything.
We've got some fresh meat on there for the shark.
FRANCES: Ah, I think we actually got a shark on the line.
DUNCAN: As we were going around,
we noticed that both of the buoys were underwater.
KIRK: Watch your feet, watch your feet, watch your feet.
DUNCAN: So, like, for it to pull both those buoys down,
it was gonna be a huge animal.
KIRK: Alright, you can go neutral. Coming up!
DUNCAN: Yep, here he is coming up.
KIRK: Alright, hold on.
♪ ♪
FRANCES: It's a tiger.
KIRK: Alright! Got a bruiser of a tiger.
DUNCAN: I jumped in the water.
The water around here is a little bit murky,
so we couldn't really tell how big she was
until we jumped in there.
KIRK: Ah, it's a big one. Big female.
FRANCES: Oh, it's huge.
DUNCAN: I've filmed tiger sharks all around the world.
However, jumping in the water here in Shark Bay
with these just huge, just off-the-chart,
ginormous, mama bus tiger sharks just blew my mind.
And it almost made some of the other sharks
that had been in the water look like tadpoles.
NARRATOR: Such a massive animal demands extreme caution.
FRANCES: Our first priority is the safety of everyone involved,
the safety of the animal, and then getting good science.
NARRATOR: Shark secured.
But there's a problem.
KIRK: Alright, this hook's straightening out,
so just be careful.
NARRATOR: A steel hook is the only thing keeping
this powerful shark safely in place.
And she's bending it.
KIRK: (bleep) It's straightening.
NARRATOR: If she straightens it much more,
this massive beast will break loose.
KIRK: Yeah, you are big, I know.
NARRATOR: Frances and Kirk have a decision to make.
KIRK: We can let her go, or we can try to do a workup,
hope this hook doesn't straighten fully
and we lose her before we get the camera on.
FRANCES: Alright, ready to go on that.
KIRK: Alright, Ash, you can come on over here.
NARRATOR: They decide to go for it.
KIRK: Come on up, Ash, we can probably get a tail on her now.
ASH: Got it.
We got a line on the tail, anyway.
KIRK: Yeah.
Once we lose control of the head though, we're (bleep).
NARRATOR: Keeping control of the shark's head is critical,
especially with her size.
A snap of the jaw could mean tragedy.
KIRK: Hands!
DUNCAN: This huge tiger shark, swinging around with its teeth.
Every time that shark shook its head,
the hook straightened a little bit more.
FRANCES: Okay, Kirk, incoming with the tape.
NARRATOR: The closest hospital is a six-hour boat ride away...
KIRK: Okay, hand me the tape again.
NARRATOR: ...more than enough time for someone to bleed out
if shark teeth meet human flesh.
KIRK: Okay, I'm zero, Frances, zero, zero, zero, zero.
FRANCES: Zero, I'm zeroed.
ASH: Okay, 3.8.
KIRK: 3.8.
NARRATOR: 3.8 meters.
This monster shark is 12 and a half feet long.
KIRK: She's so big.
NARRATOR: And the hook is straightening.
KIRK: Ah, it's probably gonna come out.
NARRATOR: If the shark breaks free,
it could swamp the boat...
KIRK: Yeah, she's pissed.
NARRATOR: ...or charge straight at Duncan.
KIRK: Maybe a little tighter on the tail, Ash.
ASH: It's gonna get lost!
KIRK: Watch out, watch out, watch out!
FRANCES: I got it, I got it.
NARRATOR: An almost 15-foot tiger shark
in Shark Bay, Australia, might be just perfect.
FRANCES: It's huge.
NARRATOR: The research team hopes to stick a fin camera
on the tiger's dorsal,
providing crucial insight into the epic clash
between sharks and dolphins.
But there's a problem.
KIRK: This hook's straightening out.
Watch your hands.
NARRATOR: The shark is bending the steel hook,
the only thing keeping her massive head still
and her bone-crushing jaws
away from underwater cameraman Duncan Brake.
DUNCAN: This tiger shark was on steroids, it was massive.
NARRATOR: Will the hook hold?
KIRK: If we're quick, we might be able to do this.
FRANCES: Got it.
NARRATOR: It's now or never.
KIRK: Alright, Frances, you ready?
FRANCES: Yep.
DUNCAN: That's pretty good,
that's going flush down the body.
FRANCES: Okay.
NARRATOR: The fin cam is on.
FRANCES: Clear.
KIRK: Okay. Awesome.
NARRATOR: They send her on her way.
KIRK: Dunc, I'm gonna do release, alright?
(snip)
DUNCAN: I really didn't comprehend
how big the animal was until it started swimming towards me.
Then she went right between my legs, and she was huge.
Then it swam off into the distance.
The fin cam looked like it was perfectly placed,
perfectly angled.
It's kinda creepy because within seconds,
in this water clarity, they just disappear.
KIRK: Cool.
FRANCES: Woo!
KIRK: We got it. Camera's out.
Now we're gonna check out, see what these guys
really do with their time.
FRANCES: That is a beautiful animal.
KIRK: Good work, Frances.
FRANCES: That was a truly massive individual
and just a beautiful, beautiful animal.
So I'm very excited to see what happens next.
KIRK: Any information we get back is gonna be novel.
So we're just really, really excited
to see what we get on this camera.
NARRATOR: Recently, another camera captured
a shark/dolphin clash, but this one flips the script.
DUNCAN: People forget that killer whales
are actually dolphins.
They're all part of the same family.
But they're bigger than tiger sharks,
and they're more cunning and more intelligent
than great whites.
If there's something that I am more cautious
of being in the water with than a shark,
it's definitely an orca, a killer whale.
NARRATOR: Off Costa Rica, a pod of orcas,
the world's largest dolphin, target a tiger shark.
DUNCAN: Orcas are so intelligent
that they will collaboratively hunt together
in order to take down their prey.
NARRATOR: The pod surrounds the tiger...
...trapping it at the surface.
(orca sings)
One orca moves in,
locking the shark in its jaws.
Now the rest of the pod gets a piece.
DUNCAN: And what's more twisted
is that they won't even eat the whole shark.
They'll dissect it and take out a special little bit
that they like the taste of.
When you pitch an orca against a shark
or several orcas against one shark,
it's almost game over every time for the shark.
NARRATOR: This battle goes to the dolphins.
FRANCES: And just because bottlenose dolphins,
the ones that are here, are smaller
does not make them any less shrinking violets.
They're still very vicious predators.
NARRATOR: Back in Shark Bay...
KIRK: Is it getting stronger?
FRANCES: Nope.
NARRATOR: The team hopes for their own amazing footage.
After a day hitchhiking on the tiger shark,
the camera automatically detaches and floats free.
Now the team needs to track it down
in 3.2 million acres of open water.
FRANCES: I think we might've passed it,
'cause we're starting to get weaker
and the signal's coming from that way.
NARRATOR: They're fighting the elements
and the setting sun to find it.
KIRK: As long as we're going the right direction,
I'll keep looking.
FRANCES: Okay.
I don't know if you can see behind us,
we're getting out of Shark Bay and sort of into the ocean.
It's a race against the clock.
KIRK: Keep this heading for a little bit.
(beeping)
FRANCES: If we don't find it before sunset,
it's gonna be nigh on impossible to collect at night
just because then we're looking for a black thing
in a black ocean.
KIRK: I think we're getting really close.
It's getting pretty loud.
FRANCES: Yeah?
(beeping)
NARRATOR: The camera floated free a few hours ago.
The hope is that it captured something never seen before:
a shark's-eye view of that shark
going fin-to-fin with a dolphin.
FRANCES: What we hope to find when we get that camera back
is we're really looking for how these organisms may interact
with their prey species, including dolphins.
NARRATOR: Documenting a dolphin encounter as a shark sees it
would be groundbreaking.
It could answer long-burning questions
about these two top predators.
It could also capture a whole lot of nothing.
FRANCES: The signal's definitely coming from this direction.
KIRK: Let me have a quick listen.
(beeping)
Got it right there! Right there.
FRANCES: For real? KIRK: Yup.
FRANCES: Oh, I see it! Yup! Ha ha!
Yes, Kirk. Well done.
That moment where we plucked the fin cam...
KIRK: Got it! Woo hoo!
FRANCES: ...from the sort of setting sun
and the seething ocean was incredible.
KIRK: Ha ha ha! There we go, guys.
Love it.
FRANCES: Now you have to make sure that it all worked.
Well, we have footage.
KIRK: That's a good start.
FRANCES: Let's find the release.
And boom.
KIRK: There she goes.
Kicking strong.
NARRATOR: Shark Bay, from the point of view
of a giant apex predator.
FRANCES: We did find it way out in that offshore there,
so maybe she gets deeper.
Although we might lose the light later on in the day.
NARRATOR: They've got hours of footage
of this tiger on the move.
It's valuable data;
just not the eye-popping action they hoped for.
FRANCES: This happens in fieldwork all the time.
But when you only have a limited window
and a couple shots or maybe one shot at it,
when that happens, it's rough.
Yeah, it doesn't, it doesn't feel great.
NARRATOR: Sometimes it's a matter of being
at the right place at the right time.
Captain Ash had recent luck of his own.
ASH: So we're just filming out here one day
and we saw this object.
See, that's a tiger at the back of the boat.
So we just followed it, four dolphins just appeared
out of nowhere with a juvenile dolphin, you'll see them here.
See? See, that's the tiger.
Little juvenile right in front of the shark.
We thought, "Gee, this tiger is just going to eat
this juvenile dolphin."
And watch what happens when the adults get involved.
They end up flicking this bit of seaweed
in front of the tiger shark
and distracting it from the little dolphin.
As if they're, like, teaching the little dolphin,
"Don't be scared of this tiger shark.
And just in case you get into trouble, there's that seaweed."
NARRATOR: The pod of dolphins work together
to keep the little calf safe from the tiger.
FRANCES: I mean, given the water clarity
and just also the sort of maneuverable space,
they probably felt this was a pretty low risk situation.
NARRATOR: Ash's footage points out a potential flaw
in the team's fin cam deployment.
The camera doesn't see any dolphins,
because in daylight, dolphins see the shark first.
Nighttime might be when all the action happens.
The team has a solution: a special night vision camera.
FRANCES: We know that tiger sharks are active at night.
The real question is,
how are they interacting with their prey at night?
NARRATOR: This camera can answer that question.
It uses infrared technology to peer into darkness.
KIRK: To my knowledge, there has never been
a nighttime deployment of a fin camera in Shark Bay.
NARRATOR: Night is when these two top predators
bring all their weapons to bear.
Their super-senses, echolocation in dolphins,
electroreceptivity in sharks,
allow both to keep battling after the sun goes down.
♪ ♪
They head north where Captain Ash feels they have
the best shot at catching a big tiger at night.
FRANCES: So, we're just loading up the boat now
to go set some lines to catch our sharks at night
so we can put on our night camera.
So, we gotta go.
DUNCAN: A lot more swell this evening.
There's a big storm front coming in.
So, we've got a limited amount of time to get this tag on.
ASH: Go get a tiger, mate.
♪ ♪
NARRATOR: If there's no shark,
they'll have to pull the lines before the storm rolls in.
FRANCES: So, right now, we're just looking for the buoys.
It's a little after 4:00 AM.
The wind has picked up.
So, fingers crossed, we get a big tiger really quickly.
NARRATOR: They're in luck.
FRANCES: You see it?
ASH: There it is, dead ahead.
FRANCES: We have a big old tiger shark on the line.
We're gonna work her up as fast as we can
and go from there.
ASH: Alright. Ready?
KIRK: Yeah. I'm on it.
FRANCES: It's big.
KIRK: It's a big female.
ASH: You want a hand or are you alright?
KIRK: Yup, coming down.
NARRATOR: Working a tiger shark is hard during daytime,
but downright dangerous at night.
Teeth and whipping tail...
all in darkness.
FRANCES: Stakes are high.
You know, we got one shot left at this.
So we gotta try to make it work.
KIRK: Watch out, coming up, coming up.
NARRATOR: Once again Duncan dives in,
this time in ink-black waters.
DUNCAN: Whenever you enter the water at night,
you've always gotta be concerned of not what you can see,
but what you can't see,
and when the lights go out, no one knows what could happen.
KIRK: Hold on.
FRANCES: Oh, (bleep).
KIRK: Watch it, Frances, watch it!
NARRATOR: Shark researchers Frances Farabaugh
and Kirk Gastrich are wrestling a tiger shark.
KIRK: Coming down, breathing.
Okay, you good?
ASH: Yeah, I've got it.
NARRATOR: They hope to attach a special nighttime fin cam,
but an incoming storm and a thrashing shark
might make that impossible.
KIRK: Although there have been daytime camera deployments
in Shark Bay,
there haven't been any nighttime camera deployments.
Whatever we get back from this camera is gonna be novel stuff.
So now that we've got the shark alongside the boat,
we're going to finish our workup,
attach this nighttime camera,
and let her go, see what she sees.
FRANCES: Try to just get it down a little bit more.
KIRK: Watch out, guys.
NARRATOR: The whipping shark and the crashing swells
are not making it easy.
FRANCES: Come on.
KIRK: How we going with that, Frances?
FRANCES: Almost done.
NARRATOR: Their underwater cinematographer Duncan Brake
is capturing the action up close.
Sometimes too close.
KIRK: Dunc!
Watch it.
You got it?
DUNCAN: Every couple of moments, there'd be a massive surge
which would be pushing us right in towards
the jaws of that massive tiger shark.
KIRK: Far as you got it? Okay. Cool.
Frances got the tag on her, and she's getting restless,
so we'd better get her back in the ocean.
NARRATOR: The shark is ready to release.
They have to time it just right.
KIRK: Okay, ready? FRANCES: Ready.
KIRK: Ready?
ASH: Hang on, hang on.
Yeah, I'm ready.
FRANCES: He's ready. KIRK: Good?
ASH: Yeah. KIRK: Go.
ASH: You're off? KIRK: Off!
ASH: Right-io.
NARRATOR: A first:
a nighttime fin cam deployment in Shark Bay.
KIRK: Woo! ASH: Awesome.
FRANCES: Yeah, that's a pretty incredible experience.
So now it's just a race against time
to make sure that we get the tag as soon as it pops up,
and that we gather that data and get it back.
NARRATOR: But there's a problem.
ASH: Dead ahead, Frances.
KIRK: You got it?
FRANCES: Yep, got it.
So we were just headed on our way back into the boat
and the tag popped off.
NARRATOR: Instead of hours,
the camera releases after only a few minutes.
FRANCES: All of the, what you had hoped
and you did all this work for,
it's just defeat snatched from the jaws of victory.
You're so high and then you just drop so low.
So here you can see the animal and the boat.
And then floats back up towards the surface here.
Bummer.
NARRATOR: But there is a silver lining.
FRANCES: What this does is the night vision camera works.
We can see the animal's head.
And it's encouraging to see these, these images come back.
So it's something, an area for further exploration, for sure.
KIRK: Off!
It came back with our first glimpse
of some underwater nighttime footage from these tiger sharks.
You get confirmation that this technology could work.
NARRATOR: The battle beneath the waves of Shark Bay
remains hidden for now.
But Shark Bay does reveal something to the research team.
This war might not have winners and losers.
FRANCES: I think it's a mistake to think of this conflict
between dolphins and sharks as a zero-sum game.
When it's in balance,
you end up with a healthy, functioning ecosystem,
which is what we're looking to better understand and protect
and preserve as we move forward with a changing planet.
NARRATOR: This balance between the ocean's supreme predators
is revealed off the Florida coast.
A diver is in the middle of a bait ball.
This swirling mass forms as a defensive maneuver,
a way to confuse predators.
Predators like sharks and dolphins.
But here, they put their differences aside.
DUNCAN: So, when there's a big bait school in the water,
all these sharks and dolphins
are collectively working together,
collaboratively preying on all these little fish.
When the ocean provides, it's almost like the sharks
and the dolphins have called a ceasefire
so that they can meet in the middle and take down their prey.
NARRATOR: It's another glimpse
into the world of sharks and dolphins.
(man yells)
One more chance to gain insight
into their complicated relationship,
one that is changing how we view each animal.
FRANCES: It's a mistake to think of dolphins versus sharks
as some kind of mismatched pairing.
It's not one that's like a heavyweight champion
and one that's a lightweight, by any means.
DUNCAN: With sharks versus dolphins,
there's not ever a clear-cut winner or loser.
It's just nature.
Captioned by Side Door Media Services