Whale Kills Shark, Setting Biology on Its Ear
Nov. 28, 2009 — -- This story and the related video retell part of what you can see in the documentary "The Whale That Ate Jaws" on the National Geographic Channel.
It tells the true story of a 1997 encounter between a great white shark and an orca killer whale. Partially captured on film, it was witnessed by a boat-full of people on a whale watching trip near the Farallon Islands, 26 miles west of San Francisco.
Our report that follows is written in the same Old English verse form used in the great medieval epic, "Beowulf."
Readers may remember that Beowulf himself was said to be a formidable swimmer beneath the waves.
What could be worse
than the great white?
The nightmare shark,
the master monster,
Gobbler of gullible
bathers at beaches,
Cruelest of killers
(as "Jaws" has burned into our brains)
Row upon row
of flesh-tearing teeth.
A fearless bully
for he fears none
Of the other creatures
in the sea. Or does he?
Well ....
One sunny day
near California's coastal islands.
Where about a hundred great whites gather
for two months every fall,
To dine on the sumptuous
sun-bathing seals,
A tourist boat chanced
on a surprising display.
At this point an orca whale surfaces next to the boat with a shark in its mouth. "He is eating the shark!! a woman is heard shouting on the film shot that day. "Oh, my God...this is really, really strange!"
A biologist was radioed.
He rushed to the scene.
When he got there, the great white
beast was just scattered
Gobbets of flesh
floating like flotsam.
But what had happened?!
It soon became clear,
The fatuous fish
had met his match.
A magnificent mammal --
orca, the killer whale,
Apex predator,
the "Wolf of the Sea"
