Even if you’ve never seen Jaws, you’re probably familiar with the plot.
The idea is that there’s a giant man-eating great white shark off the coast of Massachusetts, causing terror and mayhem. Well, fortunately, we never have to worry about that really coming true because sharks, when given the choice, prefer not to eat people.
Seals, on the other hand, are a totally different story. Sharks love seals. When sharks do attack humans, it’s usually because the human is on a surfboard and looks like a seal.
Seals, however, aren’t accepting their predator-prey relationship without a fight. They might be lower down on the food chain, but that doesn’t mean they’re going to sit back and wait to be eaten!
Well, one hungry great white learned that the hard way this past week. Lumpy, as his researchers affectionately call him, stumbled upon a seal by mistake in the murky waters off of Cape Cod, and immediately set off in pursuit.
Apparently very motivated, Lumpy leaps all the way out of the water, demonstrating a behavior called breaching that you almost never see in cold Atlantic waters. The seal, evidently not impressed by Lumpy’s efforts, counters with a breach of his own.
He careens out of the water a split-second before the shark. Slamming into Lumpy’s side, the seal steers him off course, and makes a speedy getaway. Thanks to the low-visibility in the water, this intrepid seal is probably gone before Lumpy even knew what hit him.
Are you astounded by this predator-prey relationship in action? Please SHARE on Facebook for all of your seafaring friends to watch and enjoy!
