In this, the first of an annual event...
the BBC Natural History Unit...
will push back the frontiers of wildlife filming.
In this first programme...
by combining the most up-to-date filming techniques...
with the most recent scientific knowledge...
we will reveal something of the life...
of one of the least known and most awe-inspiring creatures in the ocean.
You may feel you already know something of this animal...
because replicas of it have been the focus of several cinema films.
But the real living animal has only been seldom glimpsed...
and it's only been filmed from inside the protection of underwater cages.
In this film we're going to venture beyond those cages...
to reveal something of the life of the Great White Shark.
The animal glides dreamlike through its watery world...
and into our subconscious.
It's one of the last great predators to roam free on the planet...
a creature of fearful symmetry.
This is the Great White Shark of myth and legend.
No carnivore in the sea or on land...
has the power to strike such deep terror in our souls.
Yet the white shark is not a lone, blood-thirsty killer...
but a selective and skilful hunter with a complex social life.
We are about to follow the shark into its own element, the open ocean...
to reveal its natural behaviour as never before captured on film.
The Great White Shark's range extends through all the world's seas...
but it's often found in cool, temperate waters...
near its favourite feeding grounds.
This is the Cape Coast at the southernmost tip of South Africa...
the convergence of two great oceans, the Indian and the Atlantic.
Known to early navigators as the "Cape of Storms"...
this rugged coastline is dotted...
with the skeletal hulls of shipwrecked vessels.
The Cape Coast swarms with wildlife.
Among the most abundant and lively inhabitants are the Cape fur seals.
It's early Spring, and the seals are here to breed...
on the many small islands along the coast.
In a channel protected from the outside surf...
a large raft of seals congregates.
Here in these sheltered waters occurs a primeval contest.
The destinies of the seal and the Great White Shark...
have evolved together for millions of years...
an intricate partnership of hunted and hunter.
Like the lion and the antelope...
the shark and the seal co-exist...
in a relationship both harmonious and violent.
This small pup was lucky...
possibly because the shark had already eaten its fill.
On Dyer Island the Cape fur seals breed all at the same time...
and produce such a large number of offspring...
that many will escape the white shark.
But the shark is not the main agent of death for the seal.
Disease, starvation, and other causes also take a heavy toll.
One of the most crucial lessons a pup must learn...
is how to survive in the sea...
and sometimes his first lesson catches him off guard.
Suddenly the pup is surrounded by adults...
in the middle of a large seal raft.
The seals keep tightly together close to the shoreline...
and stay away from the open waters of the channel.
The raft is a highly effective system of communal defence...
not unlike gazelles seeking protection from a cheetah...
by grazing in a large herd.
But the inexperienced pup strays away from the safety of the raft.
The white shark is the largest predatory fish in the sea.
Even at birth, it's 3 to 5 feet long.
These sharks hunting in the channel are 8 to 1 4 feet in length...
and weigh hundreds of pounds. Amazingly, they are still juveniles.
These young sharks have a diverse diet...
that includes fish, squid and even other sharks.
At this time of year there's no richer hunting ground...
than Dyer Island.
These high school students from Cape Town...
are developing a new attitude towards sharks...
as a result of a special educational programme...
sponsored by the White Shark Research Unit.
The line has no hook...
so the shark decides whether it stays around or not.
South Africa was the first country in the world...
to fully realise the importance of the white shark as a top predator...
and the first to declare it a protected species.
But it wasn't always this way.
Not long ago white sharks were hunted...
like the big cats of Africa, as trophies.
The only good shark, according to the prevailing attitude...
was a dead shark.
To vanquish the most feared monster in the sea...
Carcharodon Carcharias, the jagged-tooth-one...
was proof of masculinity. The bigger the monster...
the bigger the psychological kick from killing it.
During this period, the largest sharks were virtually fished out.
Only when dead and without water to support its immense bulk...
does the white shark look so grotesque.
The living white shark in its own natural element...
is a different matter entirely.
A majestic creature of ideal hydrodynamic design...
it glides through the sea with minimum effort...
and perfect grace.
Once worshipped by early cultures...
the shark's form has become an archetypal image...
of the raw primal power of nature.
Today in South Africa white sharks are still hunted...
but not for lifeless trophies.
Craig Ferreria of the White Shark Research Unit...
assists scientists studying the white shark population along this coast.
With him is Greg Marshall of the National Geographic Society.
It's quite simple. It's a widely used procedure...
except we're not going to hook the shark.
We're going to wait for him to come and bang it in.
Shark takes off, the tag will come loose...
take the pole away and that'll be left in the animal.
Now they wait for a shark to come to the bait.
The belief that white sharks attack anything resembling food...
turns out to be a myth.
In reality the white shark is often suspicious and even timid.
Craig's task is to lure the shark as close to the boat as possible...
and plant the tag just below the dorsal fin.
Coming back...
Just get him.
Each shark reacts differently to the bait.
While some are shy, others are very aggressive.
This pugnacious individual sneaks in and snatches the bait.
It's not willing to give it up without a tug of war.
Alright, OK.
OK, OK. Pull him slowly, slowly.
Hang on. She's got a tag. Pull the boat away.
-What number is it? -What is it, AD...?
-Looks like ADI to me. -ADI.
This shark was tagged a few weeks ago.
Its return will provide valuable information...
on its movement since last seen.
But most white sharks are tagged and are never seen again...
confirming their nomadic habits.
Here comes another shark. This one has no tag.
Nice and easy. OK, here's your chance.
Nice. OK, beauty.
Despite the taggings, we still don't know...
how many sharks are out there or where they go.
To try to find out where they go...
Greg Marshall will attempt something never done before...
attach a video camera called a "crittercam" to a white shark.
It's always nerve-wracking to make a deployment.
Lots of things are possible. It's an incredibly powerful animal.
As a result it can do damage to the camera if it wanted to.
We don't know enough about its behaviour.
In a couple of cases the shark came...
and rammed against the boat.
The Great White Shark is the animal...
that is in some way in our subconscious.
We know that this is an animal that could take us out.
We're curious, we're fascinated, we're terrified of that possibility.
I would rather face my terror and try to understand.
I want to know this beast.
If Greg's unique camera works...
it will allow us to travel into the white shark's world...
for the very first time.
When the shark swam away I saw the camera take...
and start to fly behind the animal as it's supposed to...
and fly in the right orientation as she moved away.
It was very exciting, a great feeling.
And now we take an incredible ride.
The shark patrols just below the surface...
then veers towards the bottom in a long, purposeful descent.
She spends most of her time near the surface or at the bottom...
but not in between.
The high dorsal fin is surprisingly flexible...
and, like the keel of a boat, serves to stabilise and prevent roll.
She reaches the bottom.
The greyish-black hide on her back provides excellent camouflage...
as she cruises along the seafloor.
The crittercam can show us exactly where the shark likes to hunt...
and when it makes an attack.
There, suddenly a fish appears. The shark takes off after it.
The crittercam has a bumpy ride as she strikes out again.
Here she's clearly fed, a piece of her meal dangles from her mouth.
We catch a glimpse of another white shark.
Great Whites may not be the lone rogues we once thought they were.
In the hunting channel at Dyer Island they appear to move in groups.
Another shark passes by, and she veers towards it.
The crittercam may be revealing social interaction among the sharks.
The camera has a link that dissolves in seawater.
After two hours the camera should pop off.
But anything can happen.
The shark encounters another shark...
and the camera is dislodged and floats to the surface.
The shark, ever curious, circles...
and inspects the alien object that had hitched a ride on her back.
Floating on the surface, crittercam emits a signal...
so that Greg Marshall can find it and retrieve the valuable videotape.
-It's got to be along this line. -OK.
I think that's it right there.
As a remote video...
crittercam records images without human intrusion...
and allows us to experience events that we wouldn't ordinarily see.
It may lead to a more complete understanding...
of the Great White's behaviour.
-Got it. -OK. Man!
Pretty baby.
Other new remote technology would reveal...
the relationship of white shark and seals...
is more fascinating and complicated than previously imagined.
Back on Dyer Island, it's February...
and there are no more young pups to make easy meals for the sharks.
The sharks must now hunt adult seals...
and they are incredibly swift, agile and alert.
Here the shark can't use stealth, a bolder strategy is called for.
It cruises in plain sight.
The seals respond by porpoising.
Like birds mobbing an enemy or gazelles following a cheetah...
the seals swim behind the shark. Why?
Perhaps to keep watch on the enemy, distract it...
or simply to discover whether it's hungry.
The trick is to avoid becoming a meal in the process.
The white shark's strategy in the game is to appear uninterested...
but it's always looking for a straggler.
Their behaviour resembles an old children's game:
What time is it, Mr. Wolf? Three o'clock.
What time is it now, Mr. Wolf? Four o'clock.
What time is it now, Mr. Wolf? It's suppertime!
The mortally injured seal floats to the surface.
The shark returns immediately.
The vigorous side to side thrashing...
powers the saw-edged teeth...
and enables the shark to devour the carcass bite by bite.
Here the shark has coped with an elaborate communal defence.
But in another ocean...
the shark has to deal with a different defensive strategy.
The northern elephant seal keeps close to the bottom...
using stealth to avoid becoming prey to a shark.
When he surfaces, he's most vulnerable to attack.
He's looking for a place to haul out...
but this sea lion rock won't do.
The elephant seal is not yet mature...
he's only two to three years old.
He's managed to survive the hazards of life at sea.
Now he joins other young elephant seals...
who migrate every autumn to these shores.
We're at the Farallons...
an isolated cluster of islands in the Pacific Ocean...
27 miles off the coast of San Francisco, California.
At this time of the year the white sharks are here too.
These are big ones, mature adults...
they haven't been fished out here.
The sharks encircle the islands, hidden in the depths waiting.
The Farallon Islands are a National Wildlife Refuge...
run by the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.
Off California, both seal and white shark are protected by law.
Peter Pyle, a biologist for the Point Reyes Bird Observatory...
manages this refuge.
Our study is unique in that we don't bait.
We don't put any blood or bait in the water.
Therefore, everything we see on the shark...
is what they're doing on their own in a natural setting.
I've probably seen a couple of hundred shark attacks by now.
Shark attack off Indian Head, large pool of blood. Are you there?
-Yes. Indian Head? -Looks pretty good. Are you ready?
I'll be in the boat in a few minutes.
-Karen, are you there? -Yes. I'll be there in a minute.
-Are you ready, Pete? -Yes. Is everything set here?
-All set? -Yes.
-OK. -Ready?
-Going up? -Going up.
-So where is it? -It's on the side, in the lee.
Scot Anderson is the principal white shark biologist here.
He and Peter race to arrive before the attack is over.
Thanks Karen.
It still looks like we got a floater, off Indian Head.
-Better get out there quick. -We'll be there in a minute.
What's the direction? OK, I got the birds now, we're on it.
The sea is stained bright crimson...
with oxygen-rich elephant seal blood.
The seal was killed in a massive first hit.
For some reason the shark has vanished...
but it'll be back.
The shark is immense, the size of a mini-bus.
It dwarfs the 1 4-foot boat.
The kill provides food for others. A ravenous petrel shares the feast.
This is a 400 pound seal, and it takes a while to finish it.
The shark consumes its prey methodically, piece by piece.
Powerful tail beats...
assist the sawing action of the two-tonne shark.
Scot and Peter try to keep up with the shark...
to observe the details of the feeding process.
They must move as close as possible...
without actually getting in the shark's way.
She's going to hit us.
-Where? I can't see... -She's coming to hit us.
Give her room, this is a big shark.
Go in Peter, she's about take it.
Pretty wild, that was great!
Now, there are two Great Whites circling below.
In the only study of white sharks in their natural, undisturbed state...
Scot and Peter take photographs of each shark involved in the kill.
She's underneath you.
That's a big one isn't it? She's eighteen.
The sharks are here for the food...
but are interested in anything on the surface.
They often bump the researchers' boat or mouth the motor.
Whether from hunger, aggression, or simple curiosity, no one knows.
Previously it was thought that there is only one shark at each carcass.
But we've since discovered there are more;
from three to five sharks arrive to investigate the kill.
There is no feeding frenzy...
the carcass is approached in a cautious and controlled manner.
Access to the food may be determined...
by a series of visual displays and postures.
The white shark has a body language of its own...
which we're only beginning to recognise.
Two sharks swim side by side.
With the pectoral fins held down, mouth slightly agape...
the sharks move closer to each other...
until one gives way.
Size seems to be the determining factor in dominance.
The larger sharks control the scene.
A shark approaches the carcass hunched in full display posture.
A larger shark rises up from below.
The first one arches its body and quickly gives way.
The bigger shark has established its right to feed first.
Now, the feeding is finally over...
and the sharks go back down to resume stalking.
The countershading of their hide, dark above, light below...
makes them almost impossible to spot from above.
The shark may spend from two weeks to a month stalking...
waiting for the opportunity that makes it worthwhile...
to return each year to the same hunting ground.
The shark's strategy is to cruise along the bottom...
watching for silhouettes above.
Sea lions in a group are difficult to target and catch.
The shark prefers a single target.
Scot Anderson studies the sharks...
in the same way as whales have been studied.
He attempts to get photos to identify individuals.
First lures the shark up...
using a shape that resembles an elephant seal.
A surfboard seems to work as well as anything.
This is what Scot is after:
photos of the dorsal fin and tail.
These are the kind of bites that we see on objects that we put out...
a surfboard in this case.
And you can see the upper teeth lay down a crescent shaped bite...
and they cut away flesh and take away a piece of the animal...
whereas the bottom teeth are much sharper in a point...
and actually pin the prey.
So the two sets of jaws working together...
are very effective at removing large pieces of flesh.
You can see here each set of teeth.
The shark's actually missing one tooth here.
They can bite clear through something like this...
but probably, when they get it in their mouth they sense it's not...
a seal or sea-lion which they're used to eating.
It's much harder and they probably let go as soon as they feel it.
This is just a shark feeling the board.
The next challenge for Scot involves getting photos of the entire shark.
The video board has a video camera in a housing...
that's durable enough to withstand an attack...
and also remain floating.
Scot's decoy works.
These were the first films of Great Whites underwater in California.
Only rarely do they actually attack the surfboard.
This inquisitive shark uses its potentially lethal jaws...
to gently explore the surfboard.
Scars and differing coloration...
are clearly visible on these close views.
Scot will use these views...
to assist him in identifying individual sharks.
The scars on the bodies of the Farallon sharks...
provide more clues to their social rituals.
The postures and displays used to avoid direct combat...
do not always prevent contact.
These big female sharks...
have what appear to be combat or mating scars.
White sharks have never been observed mating...
but it's likely their sexual behaviour...
is turbulent, to say the least.
One big question is: Are the same sharks coming back each year?
Everybody thought the sharks out here...
were the same sharks, but nobody had any evidence.
It's different, I went through this.
Exactly, it is different.
It's either on the other side, or it's further forward...
Scot and Peter sift through the available evidence...
to attempt to catalogue all the individual Great Whites...
that come to the Farallons each Autumn.
Videos, stills, and sightings are all examined.
Some suggest that hunting seals and sea lions...
can be dangerous for the shark.
-It could be from a seal or sea lion. -It doesn't look like a shark bite.
-Four teeth... -2 on the bottom and 2 on the top...
which would be the two main canines.
Over seven years of study, up to 40 individuals have been identified.
The researchers now know some of these returning sharks well...
and have even become fond of them.
One of these is a massive, 18-footer named "Stumpy"...
so-called because the tip of her tail is missing.
We don't know where Stumpy is during most of the year...
but we know she shows up every Autumn at the Farallons.
What's more, she appears to come to the same spot to hunt.
How do you know Stumpy is here?
You set the board out, and she lets you know.
This is how a Great White kills an elephant seal in the first hit.
In one precise torpedo-like blow...
the shark hits the prey from below.
The impact of the first lightning strike...
may incapacitate the seal.
This strategy saves energy...
and may minimise the risk of injury to the shark.
In the Farallons...
no shark is more successful at this strategy than Stumpy.
She's the only animal we've recognised...
taking three different seals in one year.
That's amazing when you think it's been calculated...
one seal should last a shark up to 3 months.
She must be building up a lot of fat.
We suppose that's because she goes down and breeds...
and probably doesn't eat much during the time she's giving birth.
Great White Sharks are the ultimate predators.
Highly complex and adaptive...
they vary their strategies to suit different situations...
and to outwit exceptionally agile prey.
Of all the great predators on the planet...
white sharks are the only ones that cannot be caged or tamed.
As images of fierce uncontrolled nature...
they are imprinted indelibly upon our collective consciousness.
"Jaws" and a lot of other movies instilled this belief in humans...
that white sharks were killing machines...
that wanted to jump into boats or grab humans and eat them.
We've learned that this is really not the case at all.
They're primarily interested in elephant seals.
As the animal behind the myth is revealed...
the great white shark remains no less formidable as a predator.
Its fearful symmetry is not diminished.
Perhaps we need to know that it still survives out there.
Like the tiger in the forests of the night...
the white shark is the essence of wildness.
What time is it now, Mr. Wolf?