first thing you notice is the flash the
flash of silver when the school turns is
born like a single creature with a
thousand dart beats swirling and bearing
in the plankton rich currents where
oceans meet as we descended adrenaline
infused our euphoria feared
I stood helpless and enclosed with my
cage mates a professor from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill and two of his MBA students we
didn’t know where or when it would
appear as they scanned left-right and
below I fixed my gaze at two o’clock on
the gloom beyond the school abruptly
banished in its void a deeper gloom
materialized unhurried almost leisurely
Cheney appeared I was through my hands
from the cage bars and held them to my
sides I stared at 17 feet she was
gargantuan the size and bulk of an SUV
she angled towards us with casual sweeps
of her massive caudal fin as she
approached closely I detected what no
film or image had ever revealed to me
her eyes were not black her eyes were
slate gray with discrete lighter pupils
those pupils those eyes locked on us and
as she swam even closer for 3,500 pound
mass created a wave actually pushing his
back within the cage communis and her
closeness terrified us have you ever
been truly terrified well that moment
defined the word for me yet terror
mingled with fascination as we watched
the Sun shimmering off her camouflage
skin just feet away if it weren’t for
the caution she
commanded I could have actually touched
the great white sharks of Hans by South
Africa or known the world over for their
regular appearance and the two waters
off the Western Cape I had come to
observe them to study them firsthand
clad in a three millimeter wetsuit to
guard against the 59 degree bang well a
current I hovered at waterline and in
between the lifting of the green swells
I caught glimpses of the rugged
coastline beyond well the schools
returned coalesced and swirled and
what’s known as predator confusion
effect this is when prey species band
together to move as a single larger
creature to confuse and discourage
potential predators now given this
effect it’s actually possible to detect
the arrival of a predator not by its
appearance but by the activity preceding
its events think of it is nature’s only
warning system and in time as I could
discern the appearance of these giants
fascination displace fear
well the schools banks dispersed and
then this once again in slow motion
you
there are many compelling reasons to
strive to extend our senses to give us
every advantage of perception in this
incredibly competitive world of ours yet
I can take a few more compelling reasons
that a lunging biting great white shark
now after thinking this is about sharks
the only part of the story you see while
that encounter taught me much about
sharks they told me far more about us
humans and it’s this contextual
understanding that opens a window on the
wild world 1260 miles so that northeast
of Hahn’s by I exchanged my wetsuit for
a pair of trekking boots it was here
that stepping from the land rover was
more than simply leaving a vehicle it
was stepping from the full security of
our human world and into the honest
savagery of the African bush led by our
guide Kyle I was joined by my friend and
college roommate al we were exploring
the porter region of South Africa’s
Kruger National Park now Kruger is a
vast park larger than many countries and
it’s home ghoul rogues gallery of lethal
predators spotted hyenas leopards Nile
Crocs black mambas to name just a few
our bush walk was breached scarcely an
hour
that’s Kyle to my left as we cautiously
entered the sabi River Basin we didn’t
speak of it it was all sensed it a
hyper-vigilance which drew our attention
to the acacia trees at the far limit of
our vision and while I was engrossed
they’re searching for animal sign from
black rhino traps to tiny dung beetles
along the way I couldn’t shake the
gripping sensation that we were being
targeted by something now this wasn’t a
nagging feeling I could simply dismiss
this was new unnerving
and certain I’ve been charged by
Grizzlies that’s overt in-your-face
aggression the kind of experience that
puts you on high alert this this was
different in the oddly intense quiet
which descended upon the bush we felt
watched studied there was good reason
they’re known as the pride of eight
eight full grown African lions who
patrol the vicinity of the sabi River
that day while we tracked elephants and
searched for Buffalo school along the
river
the pride of eight practice this stark
fact was confirmed by another guide upon
a return to the lodge on foot he shared
with cautionary emphasis the pride of
eights shadow you yanked from 200 metres
out he told us just beyond the edge of
our vision palpable yet hidden the great
cats had stalked us shielded from us by
the limits of our senses it was in that
moment of adrenaline stoked clarity I
realized two things that deep beneath
the shallow surface of our senses by the
new limitless capabilities the animals
in our midst and that by tapping into
this uncanny animal detection we can
wield life-saving advantage over the
millennia humans have looked to animals
to detect the presence of food water
shelter even medicine yet their
capabilities extends far beyond that in
December 2004 just one hour prior to the
onslaught of one of the most powerful
tsunamis in modern history elephants
trumpeting and fled for higher ground in
Sri Lanka as Yala National Park
and nearly the same time flamingos
inexplicably abandoned their low-lying
breeding grounds in India’s point calamy
or wildlife sanctuary and while this was
all happening zoo animals throughout the
region refused to leave their shelters
against all routine undoubtedly these
creatures have so much to share so much
they can teach us yet animals aren’t the
only teachers out there when I was just
six my dad told me to explore the limits
of my night-vision
knowing my curiosity and my love of
animals he posed a question
he said how would you like to see in the
dark like a cat I nodded with wide eyes
what six-year-old wouldn’t he knelt down
and he shared his secret he said when
you’re looking for something at night
don’t look directly towards it look
around it look past it over the years
I’ve come to realize that by gazing
skyward or at the periphery of an object
those 240 million tiny receptors along
the edges of my retinas known as rods
would begin to pick up the ambient light
and then something amazing happened the
outline of the object would begin to
appear in the center of my field of view
fast forward 10 years when my dad’s
teaching me how to drive at night brave
man my dad
he gave me brilliant yet simple advice
he said don’t look for the lights of an
approaching vehicle in the road look for
them on the trees in the distance before
the vehicle crests the hill or rounds
the bed in essence by focusing on the
elements around me he taught me to see
what had been unseen oftentimes its
advanced and once again this notion of
contextual understanding whispered in my
ear for me there’s a place that gives
voice to that whisper the confluence of
the Douglas River in the Pacific Ocean
in Alaska’s Katmai National Park is home
to one of the greatest concentrations of
the planets largest terrestrial
carnivore the Alaskan brown bear this is
a land of superlatives of glacier mantle
mountains amid erupting volcanoes of
Swift rivers carving vast tracts of
tundra a land where the nation’s largest
state and the world’s largest ocean
compete to create unparalleled coastline
that’s the boot of one of my fellow
brown bear researchers it’s a size 12
and it’s dwarfed to scale to that brown
bear track from our study area I love
this image because if there was ever any
doubt it proclaims loudly quite
literally that nature is far greater
than us and it’s through this lens of
humility that we can see farther Lear
Lee
as a person of science I need to see
proof
in fact I demand it I needed to know
what I stands for the waters off the
Cape of Good Hope or in the bush border
and Kruger was real or imagined it every
time doubt threaten to eclipse my
unshakable sensation the animals
confirmed what I had perceived and the
vigilant curiosity that inspired me then
inspires me right now to explore this
journey brings me to the crossroads of
proof and wonder but while it’s true
that science demands proof scientific
advancement is born of wonder what I
learned that chill waters off ons by is
far greater than any shark that white
shark taught me something invaluable
eyes enable us to look knowledge tables
us to see and while I didn’t fully
realize it at the time with that shark
my dad and that bear were teaching me
whether lessons nature could teach all
of us all of us to endeavor to explore
beneath the surface thank you
[Applause]
flash of silver when the school turns is
born like a single creature with a
thousand dart beats swirling and bearing
in the plankton rich currents where
oceans meet as we descended adrenaline
infused our euphoria feared
I stood helpless and enclosed with my
cage mates a professor from the
University of North Carolina at Chapel
Hill and two of his MBA students we
didn’t know where or when it would
appear as they scanned left-right and
below I fixed my gaze at two o’clock on
the gloom beyond the school abruptly
banished in its void a deeper gloom
materialized unhurried almost leisurely
Cheney appeared I was through my hands
from the cage bars and held them to my
sides I stared at 17 feet she was
gargantuan the size and bulk of an SUV
she angled towards us with casual sweeps
of her massive caudal fin as she
approached closely I detected what no
film or image had ever revealed to me
her eyes were not black her eyes were
slate gray with discrete lighter pupils
those pupils those eyes locked on us and
as she swam even closer for 3,500 pound
mass created a wave actually pushing his
back within the cage communis and her
closeness terrified us have you ever
been truly terrified well that moment
defined the word for me yet terror
mingled with fascination as we watched
the Sun shimmering off her camouflage
skin just feet away if it weren’t for
the caution she
commanded I could have actually touched
the great white sharks of Hans by South
Africa or known the world over for their
regular appearance and the two waters
off the Western Cape I had come to
observe them to study them firsthand
clad in a three millimeter wetsuit to
guard against the 59 degree bang well a
current I hovered at waterline and in
between the lifting of the green swells
I caught glimpses of the rugged
coastline beyond well the schools
returned coalesced and swirled and
what’s known as predator confusion
effect this is when prey species band
together to move as a single larger
creature to confuse and discourage
potential predators now given this
effect it’s actually possible to detect
the arrival of a predator not by its
appearance but by the activity preceding
its events think of it is nature’s only
warning system and in time as I could
discern the appearance of these giants
fascination displace fear
well the schools banks dispersed and
then this once again in slow motion
you
there are many compelling reasons to
strive to extend our senses to give us
every advantage of perception in this
incredibly competitive world of ours yet
I can take a few more compelling reasons
that a lunging biting great white shark
now after thinking this is about sharks
the only part of the story you see while
that encounter taught me much about
sharks they told me far more about us
humans and it’s this contextual
understanding that opens a window on the
wild world 1260 miles so that northeast
of Hahn’s by I exchanged my wetsuit for
a pair of trekking boots it was here
that stepping from the land rover was
more than simply leaving a vehicle it
was stepping from the full security of
our human world and into the honest
savagery of the African bush led by our
guide Kyle I was joined by my friend and
college roommate al we were exploring
the porter region of South Africa’s
Kruger National Park now Kruger is a
vast park larger than many countries and
it’s home ghoul rogues gallery of lethal
predators spotted hyenas leopards Nile
Crocs black mambas to name just a few
our bush walk was breached scarcely an
hour
that’s Kyle to my left as we cautiously
entered the sabi River Basin we didn’t
speak of it it was all sensed it a
hyper-vigilance which drew our attention
to the acacia trees at the far limit of
our vision and while I was engrossed
they’re searching for animal sign from
black rhino traps to tiny dung beetles
along the way I couldn’t shake the
gripping sensation that we were being
targeted by something now this wasn’t a
nagging feeling I could simply dismiss
this was new unnerving
and certain I’ve been charged by
Grizzlies that’s overt in-your-face
aggression the kind of experience that
puts you on high alert this this was
different in the oddly intense quiet
which descended upon the bush we felt
watched studied there was good reason
they’re known as the pride of eight
eight full grown African lions who
patrol the vicinity of the sabi River
that day while we tracked elephants and
searched for Buffalo school along the
river
the pride of eight practice this stark
fact was confirmed by another guide upon
a return to the lodge on foot he shared
with cautionary emphasis the pride of
eights shadow you yanked from 200 metres
out he told us just beyond the edge of
our vision palpable yet hidden the great
cats had stalked us shielded from us by
the limits of our senses it was in that
moment of adrenaline stoked clarity I
realized two things that deep beneath
the shallow surface of our senses by the
new limitless capabilities the animals
in our midst and that by tapping into
this uncanny animal detection we can
wield life-saving advantage over the
millennia humans have looked to animals
to detect the presence of food water
shelter even medicine yet their
capabilities extends far beyond that in
December 2004 just one hour prior to the
onslaught of one of the most powerful
tsunamis in modern history elephants
trumpeting and fled for higher ground in
Sri Lanka as Yala National Park
and nearly the same time flamingos
inexplicably abandoned their low-lying
breeding grounds in India’s point calamy
or wildlife sanctuary and while this was
all happening zoo animals throughout the
region refused to leave their shelters
against all routine undoubtedly these
creatures have so much to share so much
they can teach us yet animals aren’t the
only teachers out there when I was just
six my dad told me to explore the limits
of my night-vision
knowing my curiosity and my love of
animals he posed a question
he said how would you like to see in the
dark like a cat I nodded with wide eyes
what six-year-old wouldn’t he knelt down
and he shared his secret he said when
you’re looking for something at night
don’t look directly towards it look
around it look past it over the years
I’ve come to realize that by gazing
skyward or at the periphery of an object
those 240 million tiny receptors along
the edges of my retinas known as rods
would begin to pick up the ambient light
and then something amazing happened the
outline of the object would begin to
appear in the center of my field of view
fast forward 10 years when my dad’s
teaching me how to drive at night brave
man my dad
he gave me brilliant yet simple advice
he said don’t look for the lights of an
approaching vehicle in the road look for
them on the trees in the distance before
the vehicle crests the hill or rounds
the bed in essence by focusing on the
elements around me he taught me to see
what had been unseen oftentimes its
advanced and once again this notion of
contextual understanding whispered in my
ear for me there’s a place that gives
voice to that whisper the confluence of
the Douglas River in the Pacific Ocean
in Alaska’s Katmai National Park is home
to one of the greatest concentrations of
the planets largest terrestrial
carnivore the Alaskan brown bear this is
a land of superlatives of glacier mantle
mountains amid erupting volcanoes of
Swift rivers carving vast tracts of
tundra a land where the nation’s largest
state and the world’s largest ocean
compete to create unparalleled coastline
that’s the boot of one of my fellow
brown bear researchers it’s a size 12
and it’s dwarfed to scale to that brown
bear track from our study area I love
this image because if there was ever any
doubt it proclaims loudly quite
literally that nature is far greater
than us and it’s through this lens of
humility that we can see farther Lear
Lee
as a person of science I need to see
proof
in fact I demand it I needed to know
what I stands for the waters off the
Cape of Good Hope or in the bush border
and Kruger was real or imagined it every
time doubt threaten to eclipse my
unshakable sensation the animals
confirmed what I had perceived and the
vigilant curiosity that inspired me then
inspires me right now to explore this
journey brings me to the crossroads of
proof and wonder but while it’s true
that science demands proof scientific
advancement is born of wonder what I
learned that chill waters off ons by is
far greater than any shark that white
shark taught me something invaluable
eyes enable us to look knowledge tables
us to see and while I didn’t fully
realize it at the time with that shark
my dad and that bear were teaching me
whether lessons nature could teach all
of us all of us to endeavor to explore
beneath the surface thank you
[Applause]
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