"The Whale That Ate Jaws" - Shark Thread!!!! (1 Viewer)

[Ice Bowl]

Yeah, I know, it's a stupid title. But I didn't make it up. Some of you may remember a few months ago, when i was talking about a show I'd seen on the National Geographic Channel. Here are a couple of the posts from that thread...

If you haven't seen it already, check out the National Geographic channel for a show called "The Whale That Ate Jaws." It's about an orca who chomped down a great white in a seal rookery off the coast near San Francisco a few years ago, in a prime feeding area for great whites. Within hours after the fracas, biologists noted that the entire area was completely clear of sharks, and they stayed away for weeks - maybe months; I can't recall exactly.

This inspired them to run a series of experiments, and they eventually determined that the scent of dead shark in the water causes all other sharks in the area to get as far away as possible as fast as possible. The thinking is that - sharks being an apex predator - anything that can kill one shark is so unusually dangerous, all other sharks want absolutely no part of whatever the heck did it.

Just to provide a little backstory to flesh out the info in the clips, marine biologists say that there are three distinct "cultures" of orcas in the Pacific. These cultures are large, loosely associated communities, almost like tribes, that have generally distinct geographical ranges and a lot of shared knowledge and habits. That's apparently the origin of the term "culture" in this particular usage; they teach other within their group, and each group shares a specific set of common knowledge. Some cultures specialize in hunting seals, because that's the main prey in their territory, and they have a specific skill set that's suited for killing seals. Other cultures have skill sets that are better suited to killing different types of animals, and don't seem particularly talented at killing seals.

The gist of it is, they think that an orca from a southern culture that is known for killing sharks either ranged up to the San Francisco area and killed this one, or taught the technique to an orca from a northern culture. If you know this going in, you'll probably understand the clips a little better.

Anyway, several of you seemed really interested in seeing it, and I said I'd keep an eye out for it and let them know when it came back on. National Geographic Channel is running "The Whale That Ate Jaws" this Sunday, June 13th, at 12:00 noon Central time. I figured I'd just post it here, so everyone who followed that thread would have a chance to see it. Enjoy!

 

[Utah Saints]

Missed the first thread so thanks for the heads up. Highly interesting, will check it out.

 

[purvis_guy]

They ran this show the other night also, very interesting to see how the whale grabbed the shark turned it over, putting it to sleep, and then proceeded to eat it's liver.

 

[Blk&Gold4Life]

They ran this show the other night also, very interesting to see how the whale grabbed the shark turned it over, putting it to sleep, and then proceeded to eat it's liver.

Yea I saw it when it came on then. It's really amazing how adaptive killer whales are.

 

[Ice Bowl]

Yeah, if I remember correctly, the orca inverted, grabbed hold of the shark while swimming upside down, and then flipped back over right-side up so that the shark was upside down. Then opened it up and snacked on the liver. Probably the last thing in the world that shark was expecting to have to deal with when he got up and went to work that day.

 

[cdogg]

I thought the thread title read "The Whale That Ate Jews" and couldn't click the link fast enough.

 

[Ice Bowl]

There was only one of those that I know of, and it wound up turning out alright for the Jew. Took a few days, but he came out of it OK.

 

[KardiacKat]

They ran this show the other night also, very interesting to see how the whale grabbed the shark turned it over, putting it to sleep, and then proceeded to eat it's liver.

With some fava beans and a nice chianti?

 

[Ice Bowl]

Oh, good, SaintsFanInLA sees the thread. Saved me the price of a stamp for a PM!

 

[SaintsFanInLA]

They ran this show the other night also, very interesting to see how the whale grabbed the shark turned it over, putting it to sleep, and then proceeded to eat it's liver.

Hannibal Orca. Did it have it with some fava beans and a nice chiante?

I'm gonna put it on my dvr right now.



EDIT: DAYUM!! I see that KK already beat me to it!!

 

[KardiacKat]

EDIT: DAYUM!! I see that KK already beat me to it!!

I'm one of those fast women your mother warned you about.

 

[SaintsFanInLA]

I thought the thread title read "The Whale That Ate Jews" and couldn't click the link fast enough.

Mel? Mel Gibson? Is that you?

 

[Mojomajik9]

What I found interesting about that incident was that the other sharks in the area scattered like crazy and the scientists deduced that it was the smell of that shark's death that scared them away. They got some shark innards secretions and ran some tests in the water and sho nuff the sharks in the area went crazy and couldn't leave fast enough.

 

[Surviving Saint]

From now I will wear a necklace of shark innards when swimming near the beach.

 

[Eeyore]

What I found interesting about that incident was that the other sharks in the area scattered like crazy and the scientists deduced that it was the smell of that shark's death that scared them away. They got some shark innards secretions and ran some tests in the water and sho nuff the sharks in the area went crazy and couldn't leave fast enough.

If I ever find myself in shark prison I'm going to shank the first shark that I see so that they know not to mess with me.