Bull Sharks Upriver | National Geographic

the attacks come with terrifying
regularity here in the world’s largest
mangrove swamp in the Bay of Bengal
villagers trudged through a murky river
to net shrimp larvae locals speak of a
monster that attacks underwater without
warning it happened to sumitra mystery
barcelona Cabo sorry it was an ordinary
day I woke up and then I went for
fishing in the river I was pulling my
net in the water for three hours when
the animal bit me it was like a sharp
razor cut
I pushed the animal and it immediately
took off my hand
I swam to the shore and saw the blood
running from my hand
many here bear the scars of these
frightening encounters National
Geographic biologist rocky strong an
adventurer Fabien Cousteau have come to
investigate rocky believes the culprit
might be a bull shark
they set the bait
why this spot versus any other this is a
place where two major rivers converge
and even more importantly all the locals
say this is a good spot for sharks
something is biting
but the researchers can’t make a catch
well no no really even good good bites I
have to say it’s the longest time I’ve
spent fishing without any results at all
later they’re led to a market were two
small sharks are for sale so in here all
yours
goodness gracious ah this is this is a
brand new pup by the look of the
umbilical marks these pups were newborns
to determine the species the researchers
count T five six seven eight nine and
ten
that’s our fish it’s conclusive these
are bull sharks as rocky suspected this
sometimes aggressive species has been
documented in rivers throughout the
world
Rocky’s theory is that bull sharks
developed the ability to live
temporarily in freshwater so that
females can give birth where their young
are safest from other sharks but maybe
it’s after giving birth that the females
had further upriver in search of food
sometimes encountering people why Upper
River versus say further down the coast
or deeper into the ocean because they
can because they can leave all their
competitors behind and be king of the
hill up inside a an environment that
they’re very good at dealing with and
other sharks just aren’t
both shark and human are seeking food in
these waters to help them survive
and that competition can sometimes lead
to dangerous clashes