National Geographic: The Fox and the Shark Page #3

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he gets his tuna on a plate.

Keep it in the air anyway,

because he's a bit cranky!

Running tests on the great white sharks

in the wild is always unpredictable.

We should have an impression on plate!

The plate is designed to measure

pounds of pressure per square inch.

That is amazing.

We're looking at the test strip

now and that looks as if...

This one is 500 kilograms,

One thousand pounds.

That one's more than 1, 000 pounds.

A thousand pounds per square inch

enough to puncture metal plating.

But what exactly is it that draws

a great white and prompts it to bite?

Is it the smell of prey,

or the sight of it,

or the vibrations it

sends through the water?

That's a crucial question for divers

so Rodney helps set up

another experiment.

What I hope to do here is

to really work out

whether the great white sharks

are interested in humans,

whether they can actually see

that there's an unseen shield there,

whether they may be

interested in fish or sound

Just to see

what they are interested in.

They swim around and around so many

times the cages without biting

and haven't had any true results.

I n order to test sight,

Rodney will use a cage of quarter inch

Lexan plastic to give the sharks

a clear view of his shape.

An underwater speaker

will test for sound,

broadcasting low frequency vibrations

to simulate the vibrations

made by moving prey.

A thawed tune will provide scent.

Will the sharks show

any clear preference?

Which one will attract them the most?

The adrenalin that rushes in you

as you go down there

and as the shark comes in

when you're in the Lexan tube

gives you a real rush

that excitement all over again.

It's like the first time

in my shark cages.

It's exciting and my heart you can

feel it a little higher

in you beating a little faster

as you realize that

you are part of an experiment,

that the sharks don't

really know whether or not

they can get at you or not.

It was quite unnerving really,

because I felt like I was naked

in the middle of the street in the

shop window with everything exposed...

Again and again, the circling

sharks pass Rodney by,

and return to the source

of the sound vibrations.

The proof is clear at close range,

underwater vibrations,

not sight or smell,

are what attracts the shark.

Rows of sensory cells along the flank

are especially attuned to these stimuli

Well, there's absolutely no doubt in

my mind they're far more interested

in the low vibrations than they

ever were in me

or the tuna...

The more Rodney has studied them,

the more he has come

to learn about sharks,

the great variety of sharks

all 370 species of them.

I get lots of pleasure from looking

at the different species of sharks,

from the carpet shark that lays on the

bottom with its frilly mouth

to the nurse sharks that seem to

rummage around and sleep a lot

to the beautiful whaler sharks and the

bull sharks and the silkie sharks.

There's so many of them the mako

sharks and the great white sharks.

All of them have a different feel,

a different way to swim,

a different way of life.

But they're all beautiful

the way they swim and glide

and fly through the water.

And the biggest and most mysterious

of all:
the whale shark.

It's not just the largest

of the sharks

it is, in fact,

the largest fish in the ocean.

But despite its menacing

size and appearance,

this is among the most gentle

and benign of all sharks.

It eats plankton, not people.

Few in number, slow to reproduce,

the whale shark is one of the great

and vulnerable wonders of the oceans.

Whale sharks to diver have been

one of the greatest pinnacles of

sharks in all the oceans of the world.

They were the largest shark,

they were a docile shark,

they were a shark

that you could hitch a ride on,

a friendly shark, all the things

that the great white shark wasn't.

Growing to over 50 feet and 20 tons,

the whale shark is so big that it

supports other fish, like these remora.

They hitchhike harmlessly

on the whale shark

and eat the food it leaves behind.

Ironically, the most

visible fish in the ocean

is also one of the least understood.

No one can say where or when these

sharks reproduce,

or even how old they grow to be,

but some scientists believe

they live as long as we do,

Roaming the tropical ocean in search

of food and occasionally, each other.

Now imagine a shark this big

with teeth to match

a massive, meat eating predator.

At one time, such a shark did exist:

carcharadon megaladon 50 feet

of carnivore

lived during the Miocene ear some

It was the largest ocean going

predator that ever existed.

Rodney traveled to South Carolina

to find out more about the megaladon.

He and naturalist Vito Bertucci

will dive in the Cougar River

off Charleston.

It's a dangerous dive.

But this was a hunting and dying

ground of carcharadon megaladon

and his fossilized teeth

lie embedded in the river bottom.

The most important thing

to worry about here

is just to work you way

into the current

and down the anchor line

and then once we get down,

you have to be aware

that there are sharks

and turtles in this area

and an occasional alligator,

and if you do come up on one,

not to be startled by it and if you

ignore them, they usually ignore you.

Alligators, the only danger

with them is on the surface.

If you see one come at you

at the surface,

all you have to do is dump

your air and go down.

And they won't come after you.

The sharks, if they come up to you,

just give them a shove

and they'll take off.

Well, I got my

knee pads on for praying

I hope this turns out alright.

Here goes.

The water is cold. Visibility is nil.

The darkness is decidedly spooky.

I had some incredible images of

monster sharks swimming around.

I n these gloomy water,

a monster carnivore

would be right at home.

Within minutes, Rodney finds the first

traces of these ancient killers.

Luckily, of course,

it's the teeth, not the shark.

You okay?

Yeah, why?

I dunno if I can get up

here very easy.

Just leave your gear on the floor.

How do I get this helmet off?

I feel a bit like Houdini.

Why are they different colors?

This one was in the sand.

On the sand?

Yeah, it the sand

and these were in the mud.

You know, when I was heading down

there with you for the first time,

I thought, "what am I doing here?"

It was dark and crazy and I'm pulling

and I'm spinning sideways

on the rope down there and it was only

when I saw the bottom come up slowly

that I realized there was a

steady bottom there

and I thought, "I cannot give up now

because I gotta get back in the boat."

And then I went on and then when I saw

that first half a tooth down there

I thought,

"Ah, this is worth it."

And then I started looking, looking,

and I forgot about all the problems

that you told me about down there

and started

looking, looking, looking for teeth.

And, you know,

you can get carried away.

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