INSANE! Video clip of man and shark

[MA-Caver]

http://www.biertijd.com/mediaplayer/?itemid=2030These guys (IMO) are not brave or courageous or anything but stupid, insane and just all around asking for a membership to the darwin awards.

Great white sharks are primarily ambush predators but given enough incentive (which is very little... especially if they're hungry) they'll take an exploratory bite out of anything.
Oh sure these guys probably thought that if they keep their movements slow and keep the animals in sight at all times they'll be alright.
Some of these fish were small; about 6-8 feet in length and others were of the average 12-15 feet. Still, any one of them could've "made a meal outta me and come back for more!" (AC-DC)
As apex predators of the oceans (sharing the bill with Orcas) these animals fear nothing. Watch the sharks as they swim past the cameras and note that their entire bodies are nothing but muscle and that the broad evenly cresent tails are built for speed. Also note in a few spots just how tightly they can turn around.

In a steel (doubly reinforced) cage I'd probably get in the water with these beautiful creatures... but out in the open and trying to touch them on the nose and tails and anywhere else? Umm.. no.

 

[Xue Sheng]

Nah these guys are fine.

Great Whites only eat intelligent prey and those things they mistake for intelligent prey.... No mistaken here

 

[exile]

Those guys managed to use up most of a lifetime's worth of good luck in a single afternoon. Good work, boys...

 

[tshadowchaser]

while I admit it would be a rush to get that close to a great white I really don't think I want to.
Darwin award they may be in the running for

 

[MA-Caver]

can someone link the video so it can be shown directly HERE instead of jumping off site... I'm just not computer saavy enough to do it

 

[Flying Crane]

fascinating footage, and it does show that many of our fears can be exaggerated.

However, one of the big mistakes people make is convincing themselves that wild animals are just not....wild. Stupid risk, esp. as a breathhold diver. Attacks are much more common on people at the surface, like breathhold divers and surfers. They can just look too much like a sea lion or elephant seal, which is favorite food for many great whites. Scuba divers on the bottom are almost never attacked, I think the sharks can see them better and recognize that they are not the food they are looking for.

 

[exile]

fascinating footage, and it does show that many of our fears can be exaggerated.

However, one of the big mistakes people make is convincing themselves that wild animals are just not....wild. Stupid risk, esp. as a breathhold diver. Attacks are much more common on people at the surface, like breathhold divers and surfers. They can just look too much like a sea lion or elephant seal, which is favorite food for many great whites. Scuba divers on the bottom are almost never attacked, I think the sharks can see them better and recognize that they are not the food they are looking for.

I agree. But some of the actions these guys performed... a frontal approach to a GWS, motions towards its face, grabbing its tail fin to hitch a ride... it just looks like they were trying to see how far they could get without anything happening. The problem is that animals vary in their individual responses as much as human beings do. Taking a chance on a shark not reacting aggessively as you get literally in its face seems... well, like taking a very big chance indeed....

 

[Tames D]

I think the shark had a crush on him

. I would love to do what that guy did, but I don't think it'll ever happen. I know it will never happen, lol.

 

[Xue Sheng]

You do realize that some other less than intelligent individuals will see this and start a new (and short lived, at least as short lived as they will be) sport called Shark taunting.

 

[Flying Crane]

I agree. But some of the actions these guys performed... a frontal approach to a GWS, motions towards its face, grabbing its tail fin to hitch a ride... it just looks like they were trying to see how far they could get without anything happening. The problem is that animals vary in their individual responses as much as human beings do. Taking a chance on a shark not reacting aggessively as you get literally in its face seems... well, like taking a very big chance indeed....

oh I agree completely. Nothing like climbing into a lion's cage and acting like a piece of meat...

you'd never catch me trying these stunts. Really asking for trouble in my opinion, I am surprised at how much the got away with and wonder how long it might last. Problem is, all it takes is one moment where a shark takes a quick bite, either out of curiosity or irritation, or hunger, and it's all over for somebody.

Sharks have largely been demonized and we probably fear them more than we need to, but a healthy respect should be maintained and I think these activities really pushed the boundaries. They are unpredictable and you cannot stop them if they decide to come in for a bite.

 

[exile]

Sharks have largely been demonized and we probably fear them more than we need to, but a healthy respect should be maintained and I think these activities really pushed the boundaries. They are unpredictable and you cannot stop them if they decide to come in for a bite.

This is absolutely true. And the demonization in question is so way, way out of line with reality. The Vancouver acquarium has a great shark section with a lecture every couple of hours, and one of the points that the marine biologists who speak to the assembled visitors—every time I've been there—is that there are documentations for both annual shark attacks and the number of people killed annually by (i) coconuts falling on their heads and (ii) crushed under vending machines that they's tipped over in an effort to get their change back, and that each of (i) and (ii) is a bigger number than shark attack fatalities in any year that there are records for. Puts things in a bit of perspective.

But of course if you go out looking for trouble with sharks, well, you're gonna find it!

 

[Jade Tigress]

Scooby snack anyone?

They were extremely lucky IMO.

 

[Flying Crane]

This is absolutely true. And the demonization in question is so way, way out of line with reality. The Vancouver acquarium has a great shark section with a lecture every couple of hours, and one of the points that the marine biologists who speak to the assembled visitors—every time I've been there—is that there are documentations for both annual shark attacks and the number of people killed annually by (i) coconuts falling on their heads and (ii) crushed under vending machines that they's tipped over in an effort to get their change back, and that each of (i) and (ii) is a bigger number than shark attack fatalities in any year that there are records for. Puts things in a bit of perspective.

But of course if you go out looking for trouble with sharks, well, you're gonna find it!

Yeah, when I was in Maui last Christmas time, I stopped in at the Maui Ocean Center Aquarium. They had a big tank with all kinds of local sharks, including a Tiger, probably about 8 or 9 feet long. They had a diver in the tank doing cleaning and maintenance, no problems, with the Tiger swimming all around him. And Tigers are another big one when it comes to potential attacks on humans.

I used to do that same kind of work in a small aquarium here in San Francisco, but we didn't have any of those big, impressive species. But it was certainly interesting to be in the tanks with them.

The thing is, nobody would ever try a stunt like this with a Grizzly Bear or a Polar Bear, or a pride of lions in the Serengeti. This is the same thing. You are in their element, and they are the apex predator. Keep some distance and don't go putting your head in their mouth. Maybe they arent' in the killing/eating mood at the moment, but that could change in the blink of an eye.

 

[Xue Sheng]

The thing is, nobody would ever try a stunt like this with a Grizzly Bear or a Polar Bear, or a pride of lions in the Serengeti.

Actually they might, but it is unlikely they would survive the filming so we would not know about it. There was the self trained Grizzly expert that recently got himself mauled to death wasn't there?

There was a gentleman a few years back that climbed into; I believe it was the polar bear enclosure at a zoo because he dropped his camera.

I do not think the camera or the camera owner did to well that day.

 

[Flying Crane]

Actually they might, but it is unlikely they would survive the filming so we would not know about it. There was the self trained Grizzly expert that recently got himself mauled to death wasn't there?

There was a gentleman a few years back that climbed into; I believe it was the polar bear enclosure at a zoo because he dropped his camera.

I do not think the camera or the camera owner did to well that day.

Well yes, it does happen, but we pretty much accept the fact that it's nuts to do it.

By the way, the Grizzly Man movie was fascinating.

 

[exile]

You are in their element, and they are the apex predator. Keep some distance and don't go putting your head in their mouth. Maybe they arent' in the killing/eating mood at the moment, but that could change in the blink of an eye.

Given the risks involved, the benefit seems so, um, fleeting, eh?

 

[Flying Crane]

Given the risks involved, the benefit seems so, um, fleeting, eh?

it's gotta be one hell of a rush tho, I can certainly appreciate that. Not how I'd go about getting it...

 

[exile]

it's gotta be one hell of a rush tho, I can certainly appreciate that. Not how I'd go about getting it...

I've read something somewhere about people who develop something like an actual psychophysical addiction to extreme danger. There was a study done of a group of contemporary mountain climbers—guys of the Chris Bonington type, who go out to the Hindu Kush or the Towers of Paine with a couple of mates and do the thing as an Alpine climb, relying on speed, efficiency and over-the-horizon technical virtuosity to get up and back under what can become, in just an hour or two, conditions of mortal peril. Apparently some of these blokes get addicted to their own adrenaline, or certain by-products of that adrenaline dump. And they keep going back and upping the stakes...

It should be noted that there is indeed a certain Darwinian outcome here. A recent book—The Boys of Everest, by Clint Willis— details the history of Bonington's mountaineering circle, most of them young guys in their twenties and thirties during the 1980s, when Bonington dominated British Himalayan mountaineering. And as you might expect, most of them died on the mountains...

 

[Flying Crane]

I've read something somewhere about people who develop something like an actual psychophysical addiction to extreme danger. There was a study done of a group of contemporary mountain climbers—guys of the Chris Bonington type, who go out to the Hindu Kush or the Towers of Paine with a couple of mates and do the thing as an Alpine climb, relying on speed, efficiency and over-the-horizon technical virtuosity to get up and back under what can become, in just an hour or two, conditions of mortal peril. Apparently some of these blokes get addicted to their own adrenaline, or certain by-products of that adrenaline dump. And they keep going back and upping the stakes...

It should be noted that there is indeed a certain Darwinian outcome here. A recent book—The Boys of Everest, by Clint Willis— details the history of Bonington's mountaineering circle, most of them young guys in their twenties and thirties during the 1980s, when Bonington dominated British Himalayan mountaineering. And as you might expect, most of them died on the mountains...

Yes, i'm not surprised. If you engage in dangerous behavior, eventually you will slip up and have an accident. If it's a bad enough accident, you won't survive it. Get out while the gettin's good...

 

[Skip Cooper]

The result of this video leads to a simple conclusion:

Thinning of the herd!!!

...much like the Jackass and Wild Boyz videos do. They are a service to mankind. With less of these people around, rush hour will soon become a thing of the past. I can't wait...