hi, i'm jonathan bird and welcome to my world! sharks are perhaps the most misunderstoodanimals in the ocean. in spite of the fact that people are only very rarely attackedby sharks, they suffer with a bad reputation. while the world’s largest shark, the whaleshark, is known to be harmless to people because it’s a filter feeder, other sharks havebeen known to attack people occasionally. the tiger shark and the white shark are twoof the largest so-called “man eaters,†and they have an equally large bad reputationfor being extremely dangerous to people. but what if i told you that these are notthe most dangerous sharks? in fact, statistically, the most dangerous shark in the world is probablythe bull shark.
it might seem hard to believe. the bull sharklooks just like a reef shark, but a little bigger. it doesn’t seem all that intimidating.so what’s the big deal? as it turns out, bull sharks are responsiblefor more documented attacks on people than any other species of shark. the famous blockbuster movie jaws, about aman-eating great white shark was the big-screen adaptation of peter benchley’s bestsellingnovel of the same name. it was actually inspired by a true story. in 1916, there were several people killedby one or more sharks off new jersey in the span of two weeks.
at the time, most people suspected a greatwhite shark. but one of the attacks occurred more then ten miles up a river, and whitesharks are not known to venture that far from salt water. it’s much more likely that theattack came from a bull shark. the bull shark is the only species of sharkthat regularly moves between salt water and fresh water. in fact, it has been caught byfishermen more than 500 miles up the mississippi river…in illinois! shark attacks are rare, and most often theyare believed to be a case of mistaken identity since attacks on swimmers often occur in shallow,silty water where the shark has a hard time seeing its prey.
nonetheless, bull sharks are considered extremelydangerous animals under some conditions. which is why i was so excited when my friendjorge loria from phantom divers in playa del carmen invited me to come film these sharks!he’s hand-feeding them! i fly on down to mexico, landing in cancun,then heading south to playa del carmen—a beach-lover’s paradise, and my favoriteplace in the world for cenote diving! but this time i’m not diving the cenotes.i’m heading out to a secret dive site in the ocean—hopefully filled with sharks.big sharks. i make my way over to phantom divers to meetmy old buddies jorge and charlie. “hey jorge! charlie! how ya doing? you guysready to film some sharks?â€
charlie and jorge have been feeding bull sharksfor a few years and they give me a few tips on what to expect and the best way to filmit. and of course, some safety tips! it’s very important, never lose sight ofthat bait. don’t have the bait and be looking this way. you have got to be looking at thebait the whole time. because it could be the shark comes the other way. usually they comefrom the front. my wife christine and i head down to the beachto climb aboard the phantom divers boat. then it’s off to the dive site on a beautifulsunny mexico day! (music up) before long we have reached dive site andcharlie suits up in his stainless steel shark suit. he’ll drop down a few minutes beforethe rest of us to get the chumming started
in advance. this saves us some bottom timefor filming. now the rest of us get suited up and prepareto dive. as usual when diving with sharks, i cover up to i don’t have much skin showing. well, lets go see some sharks! i descend towards the bottom through crystalclear warm water and eventually end up on a sandy sea floor at a depth of 80 feet. astingray glides past—it can smell the fish charlie brought down. jorge takes over for charlie and hand feedsa growing school of hungry mouths. i stay back a ways so i won’t spook the sharks.i know it’s hard to believe, but our scuba
bubbles are loud and scary to sharks. it doesn’t take long for the first coupleof bull sharks to arrive, but they keep their distance, not sure what to expect from us. a few minutes later, they approach jorge closerto see where the yummy smell is coming from. but they are not ready to trust him enoughto take the fish from his hands. even the stingray has managed to procure asnack from jorge. i’m starting to think these sharks are wimps! at last the first shark makes her move. shetakes the fish right from jorge’s hand. the next shark actually misses the fish, anddoesn’t have the maneuverability to turn
around and get it, so she finally gives upand goes around again. now that the sharks have figured out thatwe are not a threat, i can move a little closer to jorge for filming, and the sharks won’tmind. jorge’s steel mesh gloves protect him fromthe sharks’ teeth just in case his fingers get too close to their mouths. cameraman tim has floated up above the actionfor the bird’s eye view. the sharks have a voracious appetite. theykeep eating until we are out of fishy snacks. i can’t help but notice are monstrous theyare compared to a diver. bull sharks might look like reef sharks, but they get a lotbigger!
at last we have reached our bottom time limitand it’s time to ascend towards the surface. while we do a safety decompression stop nearthe surface, the sharks come up to investigate. clearly they have overcome their apprehensionabout us. in fact, it kind of seems like they don’t want to see us go. jorge has one last piece of fish and he offersit to the sharks as a parting gift. at the end of an exciting dive like this,i can’t help but be totally pumped! whoa! those sharks are huge! i can’t believei’m going to get a chance to feed them. later, back at the dive shop, i chat withjorge and charlie about what i’ll be doing tomorrow—wearing the chain mail shark suit!
have you ever worn chain mail before? no, never. well, these things are very heavy, they areabout 30 pounds for the full suit. so we’re going to put on the suit. it’s very importantthat you put your boots over the suit, because if not, on the boat it’s super slipperyand you can hurt your ankle like i did yesterday. okay, good advice! so put the boots on, and when we go in thewater, it’s very important that you put a lot of air in your bcd, so you can sinklike a rock. when we get to the bottom, completely deflate that bcd and i’m going to startthe feeding part, you know, so the sharks
get close to us, and once we’ve got theaction, i’ll hand the chum bucket to you. me and charlie will be right behind you. you’ll be fine man. i’ll be fine. i’m gonna wear chain mailman, that’s gonna be so cool! the next morning we head back to the samedive site, on another beautiful, flat calm day. boy do i love diving in mexico! once again charlie gets in first with hiscontainer of bait, to get the action started in advance, while i learn how to put on thechain mail. the chain mail suit is made of thousands ofinterlocking rings of stainless steel which
form a kind of fabric. it’s super flexible,but the sharp teeth of a shark can’t bite through it. unfortunately it weighs 30 pounds,so i will sink like a rock when i hit the water if i’m not prepared. jorge of course is diving with me, as is ashark biologist named mauricio padilla, who will be attempting to take a tissue samplefrom a shark! “one, two three!†i sink rapidly down to the bottom in my 30pound shark suit. when we arrive, jorge hands me a piece offish and now it’s my job to entice the sharks over. we were feeding yesterday so it doesn’ttake them as long to come over.
as i wave my piece of fish around, mauriciois behind me, waiting for his chance to take his tissue sample. soon a big bull sharks comes up and takesa close look at the piece of fish i’m offering. she likes what she sees because she makesanother pass around and takes it gently from my hand. jorge takes a turn next, while i grab anotherpiece of bait. then i feed again, and the shark makes a niceclose pass to a few other divers that are watching. the sharks are calm and relaxed,just like us. all this time, mauricio has been hanging back,watching the sharks and making notes. he knows
which shark he needs the tissue sample fromand now it’s time to make his move. he has with him a spear gun. but instead ofa spear, it has a special tip designed to grab a tiny sample of skin and muscle froma shark. the heavy chain mail makes my job really easy,i’m planted on the bottom! mauricio has to be patient. the shark hasto be really close because its skin is so tough. he has a camera mounted on the speargun sohe can identify the shark later. at last the right shark comes close…andmauricio fires! the gun camera footage shows perfect aim.the tissue sample came right from the thick
skin at the base of the dorsal fin. the shark absolutely feels a pinch, but thesample does not harm the animal, and in fact she comes around and feeds again. inside the tip of this instrument is a tinysample the shark’s tissue that will be used to learn what these sharks normally feed upon,and if they are interbreeding with other populations of bull sharks around the caribbean. later, a chat with mauricio about his researchproject. bull sharks are only one of the species he is studying in mexico. he shows me thetissue sample we got. so this is the core, and you can see the muscle.that’s the red thing, that’s the muscle.
and also we have the skin. we are going todo two kinds of analysis. with the skin, genetic analysis, in order to know if this populationis related with other populations. and with the muscle, we are going to do an analysisthat is called stable isotope analysis. with that, you can know if the sharks when theyare here are feeding on coronado or remoras or whatever. so how many have you taken so far? eleven. that’s probably not enough to learn muchyet. no, we need at least 30.
mauricio’s sampling program, combined withsome satellite tagging, is already shedding some light on the mysteries of the bull shark. and jorge’s hand feeding is helping to dispelsome myths about these sharks. well, there ya go. i fed the most dangeroussharks in the world. man eaters? what do you think? i don’t think so. in fact, i hadso much fun, i’m going to go see them again.
