The Dorsal Fin

NatGeo Wild’s “Shark Attack Experiment: Live” premieres on Friday November 25 at 9pm EST, 6pm PST. The two-hour live event will reportedly investigate if “sharks are out to get you” and will feature divers and conservationists interacting with sharks in South Africa’s waters. According to the NatGeo site, the team of experts will attempt to “separate shark attack myths from realities.”

“Shark Attack Experiment: Live” will cap off NatGeo Wild’s “Sharkathon” which will feature 9 hours of shark programming shot at various locations around the globe.

NatGeo Wild has released a promotional clip for their upcoming “Killer Shots: Great White Ambush”. The show will follow videographer/photographer Andy Casagrande as he attempts to film great white shark predation events (Carcharodon carcharias) around South Africa’s False Bay. The area is home to a large population of cape fur seals (Arctocephalus pusillus), which are natural prey for white sharks.

The promotional clip features footage of white shark breaches and evasive maneuvers by fur seals that manage to escape becoming a white shark’s next meal. The clip also provides some background information on white shark ambush techniques, along with the seals’ means and methods of avoiding shark attacks. However, the primary focus of the show seems to be on the planning and research performed in order to “get the shot.”

“Killer Shots: Great White Ambush” airs July 8 at 10pm ET/PT on NatGeo Wild.

I really like the second half of the video clip above from NatGeo Wild. It’s actually rich with information about how sharks locate meals. It also educates the audience about ampullae of Lorenzini, and the hammerhead shark’s unique head shape.

Unfortunately, the first half of the video contains ominous warnings about humans and hammerheads being on a “collision course,” because they happen to occupy the same body of water. This is followed by some relatively graphic “attack” footage that seems to be forced into the segment, as it really has nothing to do with the narrator’s discussion of the hammerhead shark. In fact, not long after the second instance of faux shark attack footage, the narrator asserts that the scalloped hammerhead sharks in question “don’t appear to look upon humans as a potential meal.”

The video does go on to redeem itself after the unnecessary “attack” footage, but it makes me wonder why the clip has scenes of panicking victims and bloody water, in the first place. I also question why the information describing the video refers to the hammerhead as a “vicious shark” who “never lets a human get between it and a tasty meal,” when the main theme of the video speaks to the contrary.

I’ve enjoyed National Geographic’s offerings ever since I can remember, and it was a National Geographic feature on white sharks that first piqued my interest in sharks when I was barely old enough to read. It makes me wonder if a young child were watching this clip whether they would be more likely to remember the worthwhile information in the second half of the clip or the scenes of an implied shark attack.