“Yeah, you better run!” – The seals, probably. Photo: YouTube//Screenshot
If you’re a seal, great white sharks are not exactly your friends. You’d like to avoid them whenever possible, but since great whites are very, very sneaky, that’s not possible 100 percent of the time. But, as the old saying goes, there’s safety in numbers.
“Off the coast of South Africa, seals risk their lives every time they set out to eat,” said the inimitable host David Attenborough during the production you see below, part of BBC Earth. “Powerful ocean currents attract huge shoals of fish. But in recent years, this stretch has attracted increasing numbers of great whites, too. These usually solitary hunters are gathering in unprecedented numbers.”
Great whites are extraordinary hunters. They’re stealthy and fast, hitting top speeds with only a few powerful pumps of their tails. Seals are smaller and more nimble, but when it comes to predator/prey relationships, seals are definitely the underdogs. Which is why some of them have developed a behavior to protect themselves from one of the most fearsome predators of the ocean.
That behavior? A seal gang. A bunch of Davids versus the Goliath. Many hands make light work, right?
“As the great whites move in for the kill, the seals do something astonishing,” Attenborough continued. “Together, they turn on their enemy. As more join, the mob grows — in both number and confidence. The tables are turning. By sheer force of numbers, these fur seals drive the world’s most notorious predator back out to sea.”
