Tag: Turtle

Tiger shark chases turtle to beach in wild scene caught on video

A beachgoer in Western Australia this week captured extraordinary footage showing an 8-foot tiger shark nearly beaching itself while trying to catch a turtle.

A beachgoer in Western Australia this week captured extraordinary footage showing an 8-foot tiger shark nearly beaching itself while trying to catch a turtle.

The footage posted below, courtesy of Ruth Gaw, shows the shark swimming rapidly toward shore and the turtle scooting onto the sand in the nick of time.

“The turtle got away, and the shark didn’t stay much longer,” Gaw told FTW Outdoors. “A large stingray [also] got chased in, but I had stopped recording when it happened.”

The shark nearly stranded before thrashing back into the water.

The pursuit occurred at Monkey Mia, a tourist destination famous for white-sand beaches and abundant marine life.

Gaw spotted the shark approaching as her husband Derek and son Arran were fishing for mackerel.

Tiger shark trying to get off the beach. Photo: Ruth Gaw

Her footage shows the shark swimming beneath fishing line, and line draped over the shark’s back as it reached the shore.

Not long before the shark encounter, the family had been swimming in waist-deep water.

Tiger sharks can measure nearly 15 feet and often prey on turtles. The apex predators are considered dangerous and have been implicated in several attacks on humans.

Watch: Small turtle shows lions who’s in charge of watering hole

The Africa lion is king of beasts, but a brave little turtle is not impressed. Watch as the turtle takes charge of its watering hole.

The Africa lion is king of beasts, but a brave little turtle is not impressed.

The accompanying footage shows a small turtle – more precisely a terrapin – swimming boldly up to a male and female lion in what initially seems a defense of its watering hole.

It’s worth watching to the end as the turtle becomes more emphatic with each encounter and the lions aren’t sure how to respond to the interruption of their important drinking time.

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The rarely observed interaction was captured by guide Reggi Barreto, 30, in the MalaMala Private Game Reserve in Greater Kruger Park.

Barreto told Latest Sightings: “I knew the lions would look for water to drink and we positioned ourselves in the perfect spot with the sunlight in our favor, ready for the sighting. What came next we did not expect – I was pleasantly surprised when the terrapin came out of the wallow towards the male and then the lioness.”

While the carnivorous terrapin might have been defending its territory, it’s more likely that the turtle detected blood on the facial hairs of the lions, which had just feasted on a zebra carcass.

Said Barreto: “It was an incredibly rare sighting for me to film – watching the terrapin approach the lions that had blood on their chins from the zebra. It seems as though the terrapin was actually more interested in getting some of that blood off the lions’ chins, as opposed to ‘chasing the lions away.’ ”

–Images courtesy of LatestSightings.com