Luckiest Goddamned Seal on Planet Earth

[Satan]

Seal balances on great white shark’s nose to escape jaws
Incredible photos show how close seal came to meeting its death in waters off Cape Town, South Africa, where great whites are known as 'Air Jaws'

October 08, 2013 by David Strege

http://cdn.grindtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/CATERS_Great_White_Shark_Seal_Sequence_11-1024x682.jpg

A seal escaped the deadly jaws of an attacking great white shark in waters off South Africa by balancing on the shark’s nose before dropping back into the water and swimming away.

The incredible images above and below were captured by photographer David Jenkins of Dublin, Ireland, while on a great white shark tour boat off Cape Town. They show just how close the seal came to meeting its death, as the white shark clearly missed its target while attacking from below, as white sharks are known to do. The shark appears to have pushed the seal up into the air with its snout as the seal held on before making its escape.

“The seals were making their way back to ‘Seal Island’ after feeding out at sea and the sharks travel below them,” Jenkins said, according to Yahoo! News UK. “The sharks are really well camouflaged due to their dark backs and when the seal looks down it is hard to make out the shark in the dark below.

“When the shark picks its time to attack, it can accelerate at around [25 miles per hour] upwards, which can send both the shark and the seal flying up out of the water.”

The resulting aerials are usually spectacular, and the reason great white sharks are known as “Air Jaws” around Seal Island in False Bay and area waters.

“The breaching sharks are amazing; the speed and agility just takes your breath away as they can explode from below without warning,” Jenkins said.

“This seal was one lucky pup.”

http://cdn.grindtv.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/10/shark-and-seal.jpg

[Nickdfresh]

Reminds me of Guitar Shark in fantasy football. :D

[Sensible Shoes]

ABC had more photos of thisi last night, it was incredible.

[Angel]

My brother has some amazing photo's from some of his trips to that area. Would love to post some of the pics...but looks like we'll be tied up in courts for awhile to get any of his photos...

[sadaist]

Great Whites are fucking magnificent beasts. Scary as all fuck can be, but just amazing to see. They loves chomping on seals.....and surfers love to wear black wetsuits & flop around like seals. O_o

[sadaist]

“This seal was one lucky pup.”




You wouldn't think that if you got to see the whole photo.


http://i202.photobucket.com/albums/aa214/sadaist/Misc/GWbite_zps00d4fb7e.png


i know, i know. Dumb. Seemed funny at the time. Now it just looks like poor Jack is about to eat a pooh.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Surfers who are mistaken for seals by sharks every once in a while are a little less lucky. :notme:

Very impressive pics!

Deep water gives me shivers... Just swimming in Lake Geneva (which is about 350 meters deep at its deepest) makes me wanna swim back to shore after a 200-meter swim, because then I'll think of the few dozen meters beneath, which is stupid because there is nothing but pike in there, or a few catfish (a Swiss swimmer was said to have been bitten by one 2 years ago as she was swimming on the Swiss side).
I used to swim from the shore to a few hundred meters away on the French Atlantic coast until I was 13, when I first saw Jaws actually. Stupid there again, but I quit swimming away because of that film.
I used to swim away in the Mediterranean Sea when I was a child, until 1981 when I read in the local newspaper that several blue sharks had been spotted not far away from the place where I bathed. They were 2 meters long, nothing to do with Great Whites, but... :umm:

Now if we go sailing with wifey, kids and friends and the mood is about diving in and swimming around off shore, I will do it - swim as fast as possible around the boat and not answer to others asking why I swam so fast... they know why the fuck anyway, I'm a goddamn coward when there's more or less deep water underneath. :biggrin:

I do a lot of trekking too, as we have a large area of mountains around us, in the Northern Alps. I hate it when there are climbing parts, overhangs to get over, precipitous rock faces... I always get over them, despite my fear of heights, they're the best treks anyway, the ones with vertiginous paths. What nobody understands is that I no longer have fears on the way down: I climb down with my back on the rocks as much as possible, so that for them it isn't fear of heights that I have, but just apprehension...

I think it's the same fear that you have, either in deep water or up along rock faces, call it vertigo or apprehension...

I both admire and misunderstand those who swim across seas and even oceans, with all the fauna underneath... Brrrrrr.... :eek:

[sadaist]

Surfers who are mistaken for seals by sharks every once in a while are a little less lucky. :notme:

Very impressive pics!

Deep water gives me shivers... Just swimming in Lake Geneva (which is about 350 meters deep at its deepest) makes me wanna swim back to shore after a 200-meter swim, because then I'll think of the few dozen meters beneath, which is stupid because there is nothing but pike in there, or a few catfish:


YES!

I used to waterski. And while floating & waiting for the boat to come back around all I could think about was what was under me looking up. Even in a shallow river of fresh water. Makes no difference what you know is in the water. You just picture this vast wet darkness with 2 huge eyes looking at your little dangling legs. Fuck that. Fuck it big time. I couldn't wait for the boat and would either climb back in fast or grab the rope & say "HIT IT" as fast as possible. I wanna tuck my legs up just thinking about it.


hmm...vast wet darkness that smells like fish? I feel an ex-wife joke brewing.

[PETE'S BROTHER]

around all I could think about was what was under me looking up.

in my few experiences so far...it's amazing.































the being underwater part, not lookin' up your skirt:love0072:

[Jérôme Frenchise]

YES!

I used to waterski. And while floating & waiting for the boat to come back around all I could think about was what was under me looking up. Even in a shallow river of fresh water. Makes no difference what you know is in the water. You just picture this vast wet darkness with 2 huge eyes looking at your little dangling legs. Fuck that. Fuck it big time. I couldn't wait for the boat and would either climb back in fast or grab the rope & say "HIT IT" as fast as possible. I wanna tuck my legs up just thinking about it.


:biggrin: I precisely see what you mean!

By the way, feeling too much fear or apprehension is exaggerated. But then, feeling no fear at all is exaggerated too.
The woman who swam from Cuba to Florida did a real feat, but it seems she didn't feel any apprehension while swimming out there, it's insane... Well, I would never try to do that for all the gold in the world.

[Jérôme Frenchise]

Sharks seem to like to eat seal a lot - like bears do salmon.

[Satan]

Is it really wise to piss off a hungry shark with a decoy when you're that close to him?

If fresh seal meat is unavailable, he might decide on whatever else is nearby...... http://www.cosgan.de/images/smilie/teufel/d070.gif