- 2 days ago
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00:00yeah you can give it a crack if you want oh it's it's kicking oh wow have i lost it
00:14i am trying my best to bring in a shark i never thought i would say those words
00:21oh it's got to be a fight in it
00:22yeah this should be a juvenile bull shark which is
00:34big enough to bite me
00:37nico lubitz is a shark scientist we're 10 kilometers up the horton river in queensland
00:43on a mission to study of all the things baby bull sharks this is a nursery so all the babies live
00:51here for first three or four years of their life and then they'll slowly start moving out to the
00:57open ocean and is that normal for sharks to be able to go from salt to fresh for bull sharks it is
01:02so most other shark species can't do that there is a special shark especially adapted to this kind of
01:08environment the colors are phenomenal yeah they're beautiful aren't they okay so i will try and get
01:15down there in the mud which is obviously if you could just crock spot me we're catching them to
01:20gather important biological data that will help tell their life story oh my goodness all right now
01:27we just want to make it quick all right if you want to put one hand here yep you're all right little
01:33one she's powerful i can feel her power straight away oh still down you can tell i'm not a oh that's
01:40fine they don't really bite like that what they do but
01:43in a moment like this they're less likely to actually why are you tagging babies um i'm actually
01:51collecting genetic samples from the babies to look at relationships within river systems
01:57so we can actually relate them back to the big adults we're tracking off the coast and see
02:00where the females go to pub do you have any suspicions about where they go i do
02:06whoop that's all right live a big long life yeah she'll hopefully be back here and have her own
02:15babies in about 10 15 years time i'm physically shaking and it's not from fear i think it's just
02:24the adrenaline of what just happened i don't know but i can feel it going through my body it's like i've
02:30had many many soft drinks you're stuck chaotic chaotic but it feels both soft there's another rock
02:47as a nature journalist i spend a lot of my time observing wildlife from behind my binoculars
02:53in this series i'm getting up close and personal oh my god no matter how deadly the animal brilliant
03:08that's fantastic and it's not just for fun seeing animals like this is absolutely incredible
03:17i'll be joining scientists on location as they try to gain a deeper understanding of animals
03:23one we all think we know it's so adorable and this time it's sharks oh my god what bull sharks
03:35they're known to be aggressive and deadly look at the bull shark are you kidding me
03:46but bold new attempts to track them are revealing there may be a whole lot more to them than their bite
03:53i'm dr ann jones and things are about to get wild
04:15to help me understand the secret lives of bull sharks nico has invited me to join him on a trip to ghoul body
04:22or or orpheus island on the great barrier reef
04:29the underwater ecosystem here is super fertile making it the perfect place for adult bull sharks
04:36to live and hunt after they leave the protection of river systems
04:41look at this place eh it's like a stereotypical island paradise all i'm missing are the palm trees
04:52and it's giving like science meets white lotus you know where you think you're in paradise but
04:59there's danger beneath the surface and here that's the sharks and i am hoping to meet them face to face
05:07look them in the eye but it's not going to happen today because i need to go get settled in
05:16the accommodation turns out to be a bit more science school camp than white lotus
05:21all right this is home for the next week or so top or bottom
05:33not bad there's no downtime for me though
05:39because i've got to meet a team of shark experts and researchers who along with nico want to give me
05:46the low down on what i've got myself into so this is going to be the plan we have five days to catch
05:53an adult bull shark and there's a couple of spots i have in mind where we've had really good luck in
05:57the past one of them is hazard bay there's two big drop-offs there and we get really big animals patrolling
06:02the edges because it goes from a coral flat into sort of like a sponge bed bull sharks are incredibly hard
06:08to observe in the wild so to study them you have to catch them so we're using big hooks and big bats
06:15that's you you can see that we catch sharks that snap these in half yep some sharks out there just too
06:22big to catch so all right so what happens if we do get one i will be controlling the head so i'll be
06:30pulling on the rope and i'll be getting the shark next to the boat and that's where the rest of the
06:34team will come in so we have a uh a tail rope it's like a lasso almost we'll tie it off and then we
06:39can flip it belly up they sort of go into like a little sleep state it's called tonic immobility
06:46so that helps me too we need to get hands on so nico can perform surgery to insert a tracker
06:54that will map their movements this is one of the tracking devices that will go into the shark this will
06:59give us data for at least 10 years i'll make the tiniest little incision just so it fits this tag
07:04into the into the cavity of the shark so far nico and the team are tracking 708 individual sharks
07:13from 27 species so you say there's a bit of chance like is it going to be hard to find sharks
07:20not for us we've got the gun team job so they say that shark research is basically 95 boredom
07:29and five percent absolute chaos holy moly this is going to be amazing
07:43the smell of fish bait has me up early to find shark wrangler megan and the rest of the crew loading
07:49up the boat morning good morning how are you good i'm excited what can i do to help do you want to
07:56roll up this tape right we've got the tags the most important part how are we looking ready to go
08:04yep all night some nice water
08:07starter sheets bolt cutters do we need the bolt cutters we do yes we'll need those ones that's how
08:12we uh free the sharks again with everything on board we've got a 20 minute commute out to our fishing
08:18grounds oh i love it here i'm gonna be sad to go home so we're off to put our drum lines which are
08:26sort of like like rod but for big sharks we're going to set six baited drum lines about 150 meters apart
08:37each one has a tasty mullet attached to the white float and if we get a bite we should see it get pulled under
08:53but just in case we check them every 10 minutes
08:56bull sharks leave their river nurseries around the age of five when they're 1.4 meters long
09:09but the adults we're trying to find could be as big as four meters
09:15oh yeah
09:17something is nibbling
09:20suddenly a float completely submerges and it's action stations
09:26And it's time for me to get out of the way of the professionals.
09:36Tiger.
09:37We got a tiger!
09:39Woo!
09:40Big tiger!
09:47It looks big to me.
09:52Oh, my God.
09:53It might not be a bullshark, but tiger sharks are another key predatory species.
10:01They can reach five metres in length and weigh up to 600 kilograms,
10:06making them nearly as big as great whites and almost as dangerous,
10:12so definitely still worth studying.
10:15She's pretty beautiful.
10:17She's so beautiful.
10:18I want to assess where the hook sits.
10:21Yep. This process is uncomfortable to witness,
10:24but Nico tells me that tiger sharks are resilient animals.
10:28You're trying to get her into position so that we can then jump in
10:31and grab any sort of finion.
10:33Yep. Are you ready?
10:36Yep, that's...
10:37That's your tail.
10:38All right, beautiful.
10:43All right, beautiful.
10:44Isn't she gorgeous?
10:45Yep.
10:48When they're really young, it's way more distinct.
10:50And as they grow up, they lose that very distinct strength.
10:52She's like a little colourful.
10:55This one will have to slip her away from us.
10:57The team must work as quickly as possible.
11:00Oh, my God!
11:01Oh, no!
11:02She's gone.
11:03And to reduce stress,
11:04they turn the shark upside down to put it into a sleep-like state.
11:08Yep.
11:09And now hold her in tonic,
11:11because then she'll go to sleep.
11:12OK.
11:13Did you just pat her belly?
11:15Oh, my God, Nico!
11:16I love doing that.
11:18So, this is a tiger shark, OK?
11:20Yes, this is a tiger shark.
11:22It's not what we're after, but it's still a really cool animal.
11:27While it's thought that bull sharks travel up rivers to pup,
11:30nothing is known about how tiger sharks give birth.
11:34So, the team collects samples
11:36that may help with their scientific mysteries.
11:41And she gets ID'd.
11:42So, I'll show you. It looks kind of like a spaghetti.
11:45We always call them spaghetti tags.
11:47So, that's our number one nine seven five.
11:50And it's got our phone number on it.
11:51And so, someone can give us a ring
11:53if they manage to get this thing in.
11:56Sometimes we name our sharks.
11:57So, we're thinking maybe we can name this one Anne.
12:01I mean, a feisty tiger.
12:03That does sound like me, doesn't it?
12:04Yeah.
12:05Then this one's Anne.
12:07All right.
12:08Let's give her a little stand on it.
12:12That smells good.
12:13Wow.
12:14If you want to give her a pet,
12:16see how smooth she is when you go in this direction?
12:19Ah.
12:19You just don't want to go the other direction?
12:20Yeah, if you go the other, it's really rough.
12:22Oh.
12:23So, in one direction, she feels almost reptilian.
12:26Yeah.
12:27But in the other direction,
12:28she feels like the coarsest sandpaper there is.
12:32Yeah, she's awesome.
12:34She's a really cool animal.
12:35After a moderately frenzied ten minutes...
12:38Three, two, one...
12:41..it's time to release Anne.
12:43The shark.
12:44Not me.
12:45That was the first time I felt that real punch of fear.
12:56And I got a really good look at her teeth.
12:58The teeth they use for shredding.
12:59Those ones.
13:00Yeah.
13:01It's only through the skill of these scientists
13:04that they were able to keep her still enough
13:06to plant the tags, to get the samples, to do their job.
13:11We spend another four hours on the water.
13:15And while we catch everything from a scolet's hammerhead
13:19to a tawny nurse shark...
13:21Just watch, she's swimming towards the line.
13:23..there's still no sign of a bull shark.
13:26So, tomorrow, it's back out on the water.
13:29None of the work the team are doing here
13:42would be possible without newly affordable technology.
13:49And this morning, Bridget and Shana
13:51want to show me its possibilities.
13:55When they're not helping to catch bull sharks,
13:57they're studying their cousins.
13:59Juvenile stingrays and reef sharks.
14:04A lot of the data that we have on their species
14:07uses acoustic tags and satellite tracking,
14:10which is really great for telling us big, large-scale movements.
14:13But it means that you've got to actually tag those animals
14:16and you've got to capture them.
14:17So, another way to collect a whole lot of data
14:19at a really fine scale is to use drones.
14:23Ray-flicks, I like to call it.
14:24Ray-flicks?
14:25Yeah.
14:27Ooh-wee!
14:29Oh, that's so cool.
14:30It's like a flying bath mat.
14:31And so, what's really cool about this is we can, for my research,
14:36I want to see when they're feeding and how long they're feeding for,
14:39which, if you're tagging them, you don't get to see that.
14:42You can see where they're moving and when,
14:43but this allows you to see exactly when they're feeding.
14:47So, this guy here's a cow tail.
14:49So, they come along and they kind of hover over the surface
14:52and they use these sensors to kind of find out where the prey is,
14:55almost like a metal detector.
14:56All those little critters that they're wanting to eat,
14:58they go in the mouth.
14:59Oh, that is so cool.
15:00So, these rays are actually really important in nutrient cycling
15:03because of the way that they feed.
15:05So, they're ecosystem engineers?
15:06Absolutely.
15:07Ray-Flix is compelling viewing, but given I'm right here,
15:13I want to see them with my own eyes.
15:16They said they were just here.
15:23Looks like one of those stealth aircrafts,
15:25cos black and flat.
15:27I'm edging up on it sideways as if I'm going to have to, like,
15:30yah, or something.
15:34Hello.
15:37Oh, it's like...
15:40Whoa, they go really fast.
15:43Got scent of me or something and went...
15:45That is wild.
15:59I'm back out at the worryingly named Hazard Bay
16:03so that Nico can retrieve a part of his research toolkit
16:07Yeah, watch it out. Thank you.
16:08We are 300 metres away and being in the water soon.
16:13It's a receiver that's been recording the acoustic pings
16:17of bull sharks cruising by.
16:22Pretty close to it.
16:23Mm-hm.
16:23We've got nine metres off.
16:25And the float that we put in the water is about nine metres off too,
16:28so we should be pretty much on top of it.
16:30Rightio.
16:31And the scary bit is we have to collect this device by hand.
16:35Jump in, dive down, retrieve it, come back up, job done.
16:39You make it sound easy.
16:42It sometimes is.
16:43All right, well, he's hoping today's the day.
16:46Yes.
16:47All right.
16:55Conditions are, frankly, very sharky, with milky low visibility.
17:03And I have never felt more like a seal.
17:17Then, just as my nerves run out...
17:20There's a network of over 400 of these listening stations
17:38along the east coast,
17:40and it's revealing some curious behaviour
17:43in the 79 bull sharks that they're following.
17:45Niko has discovered they utilise their environment
17:53and resources in two different ways.
17:56So, what we've got here is two individuals
17:59that we've tagged roughly three and a half years ago.
18:02And this first one here is a large female.
18:06She's been what I would call a mover.
18:09Oh, wow, look at her go!
18:11Only about six months after we tagged her,
18:13she was in Sydney, where she spent the summer time.
18:15And then, when the water started getting colder again,
18:19she just sprinted back up the coast and ended up back here.
18:23She basically hugs the east coast of Australia,
18:26going back up and down and up and down.
18:29So, some bull sharks travel thousands of kilometres,
18:33but there are others that are way less adventurous.
18:36For the last three and a half years,
18:38all she's been doing has been moving between Townsville,
18:40Magnetic Island, the Palm Islands, Hinchinbrook and Mission Beach.
18:44Oh, wow, she's really local.
18:47To try and understand the reason why some sharks migrate
18:50and some stay put,
18:52Nico looked at the genetic samples taken from ocean-going adults
18:56and the babies upriver.
18:58So, we can actually genetically link them.
19:00And so far, it appears that animals that are born in Queensland
19:04and pup in Queensland, or northern Queensland, I should say,
19:07in the tropics here,
19:08that they are less mobile than animals that are born or originate
19:13from, like, central northern New South Wales, southern Queensland,
19:16where there's more climate variation or more temperature variation
19:19over the year, so summer versus winter.
19:21It seems that southern-born bull sharks travel north
19:27when the winter water temperatures drop below 19 degrees.
19:30It surprises me, sort of, how I can equate this to some human behaviour.
19:36Yeah. Because there's the grey nomads, right?
19:38Oh, yeah, they are.
19:40That, like, live in the southern parts of Australia,
19:42perhaps reproduce in the southern parts of Australia,
19:44but every single winter, they want to come up to the north
19:48to eat lots of bananas and pineapples and whatnot.
19:50Fair enough. They want to get a piece of paradise.
19:52They want to get a piece of paradise.
19:54But then there's people who are born, raised up here,
19:56never leave, never want to leave.
19:57They're going to fish here for the rest of their goddamn life.
20:00That's it.
20:02Understanding how bull sharks use our coastal waters
20:05can help us avoid run-ins with their toothy ends.
20:09What sort of other things can these tracking devices actually tell you?
20:14So, they can tell us residency times.
20:15When are they more likely to occur around beaches
20:18or other places that people use?
20:20What are areas that maybe should be avoided
20:22at certain times of the year in terms of swimming?
20:24Because there's more bull shark activity
20:26than at other times of the year.
20:29And this kind of knowledge is increasingly important
20:32as climate change warms the oceans.
20:35So, their thermal tolerance,
20:37as it's getting warmer and warmer further south,
20:39they're going further south.
20:41Yeah. So, they can potentially, in the future,
20:44explore new territories that they haven't in the past.
20:47For example, we know that the Hawkesbury River,
20:49just north of Sydney, never really used to have
20:52any juvenile bull sharks in it.
20:54But more and more, we see that there's juvenile bull sharks
20:56popping up in that river system.
20:58So, females actually go into the river and start popping in there.
21:01Yeah. And that's one of the reasons why they're of interest, right?
21:03Because they like to use the same habitat that we like to use.
21:07Yeah.
21:07And that means that we come into contact with each other.
21:10And sometimes that ends poorly for humans,
21:13and sometimes that ends poorly for sharks.
21:17So, acoustic trackers are proving to be a vital tool
21:21in both shark conservation and keeping us safe,
21:26which is why we're hoping to tag more bull sharks.
21:29if we ever catch one.
21:45Suddenly, we're on.
21:59It's getting really wet.
22:07Oh, my goodness.
22:08Oh, holy moly.
22:10That's a big bull shark.
22:16Sorry.
22:17Oh, my God.
22:18Sorry.
22:19My face just flashed a little bit.
22:21She's pretty angry.
22:23Yep.
22:26She's going to be a bit of a handful.
22:28Yep.
22:29Get it on. That's going to be your only chance. Get it on.
22:36No, I haven't got it. Quick.
22:39Come on.
22:44Come on. Tight.
22:48Nice. Well done.
22:51I'm going to run her this way, OK?
22:55A blunt snout and white underbelly are a dead giveaway
22:59as the team flip this 200 kilograms of pure muscle.
23:03It's got to be a heavy one. I know. So please go fast.
23:07Scalpel.
23:09We have caught a huge female bull shark,
23:13and it seems like she might be pregnant.
23:16She looks absolutely bulbous from this angle, doesn't she?
23:19Yeah, she does.
23:21Oh, you're going to be a mum soon.
23:25Probably not for the first time.
23:27You might find that for a second there.
23:29If she is expecting, that would make her at least 15 years old
23:33and ideal to track.
23:35Right, making the incision.
23:37So Nico gets to work performing surgery
23:39to insert the acoustic transmitter.
23:42All right.
23:44Marty's through.
23:46She's not quite large enough.
23:48Yep, through up the tag.
23:52All right.
23:5451416.
23:56All right.
23:58Tag's going in.
24:00Beautiful.
24:01It's, like, super emotional to see the shark,
24:03but not for the reason you think it is.
24:05Like, you would think you would be scared,
24:07but actually she looks so helpless right now.
24:12It makes me tear up.
24:17Yep.
24:18Okay, let go.
24:19Pull out.
24:20Nice.
24:21Better?
24:22Yep.
24:23To dig deeper into bull shark hunting habits,
24:24Nico has also tracked one of their favourite prey,
24:27giant trevelli.
24:29And the interesting thing is that at a specific reef,
24:33when we get the first detections,
24:35usually around October time of the prey fish,
24:38because they all aggregate to spawn,
24:40bull sharks that were a month ago,
24:42a thousand kilometres to the south,
24:44they ping in on the exact same day
24:46as the first prey fish that we've tagged as well.
24:48So the sharks know exactly when to rock up
24:51at that particular reef on the day that the prey arrives.
24:54That's awesome.
24:55So they're using, like, all their amazing sensorial abilities
24:58to bring together the information...
25:00Yeah.
25:01..to make strategic choices
25:02in terms of where they're going and why.
25:05Yeah.
25:07So perhaps they're more than opportunistic killers.
25:12And that's not the only finding
25:14overturning our common understanding of bull sharks.
25:18Genetic samples have revealed possible family dynamics
25:22between an adult brother and sister.
25:26When we looked at the tracking data afterwards,
25:28both of them were migrating thousands of kilometres,
25:30but we caught them within two weeks of each other
25:32in the same area,
25:33which, it may have been a coincidence,
25:35but it's interesting that they're full siblings,
25:37and thinking about the whole East Coast
25:39and how many bull sharks there are,
25:40to actually catch full siblings is rather interesting.
25:44I mean, that sort of brings out
25:45a potential different side of a bull shark, right?
25:47It does, yes.
25:48Because, like, bull sharks have this sort of reputation
25:50as being bullish, literally, like being, you know,
25:53punching through the water and taking prey
25:55and being vicious.
25:57But this, like, says that they could be, like,
25:59elements of familial relationships that occur in a social way.
26:05Yeah.
26:06Yeah.
26:07It might be that they're sort of honing in on each other
26:08as siblings because it's a familiar individual.
26:12You were literally born with it at the same time, right?
26:14But, unfortunately, it's just a bit of a theory.
26:17Another one of the mysteries.
26:18That's it.
26:19Yeah!
26:20Hold!
26:21Hold!
26:22Got it.
26:23No, I got it.
26:24That's all right.
26:25Do you want to take a genetics out?
26:26Uh...
26:27And that way we can try and figure out
26:28if she is related to any of the babies in the river system
26:31that we sampled before.
26:33You gonna do a snippy?
26:34Yeah, just hold onto it.
26:35Hold it.
26:36And then...
26:37Yeah.
26:38Like that.
26:39Perfect.
26:40That's it.
26:41Oh, God.
26:42It's...
26:43It's...
26:44It's...
26:45It's beautiful.
26:46The shark is showing signs of getting tired.
26:48The external tag number is one, nine, eight, two.
26:51My arm is under the boat.
26:53So the team must work quickly to finish up.
26:56External tag.
26:57Pull it tight.
26:58Hold on.
26:59Yep.
27:00Hold on.
27:01Yep.
27:02You guys do the measurements.
27:04I'll do the head.
27:05Push the fin down.
27:06Yep.
27:07Yep.
27:08Yep.
27:09Push the fin down.
27:10Yep.
27:11There.
27:12Two metres.
27:13Fifty.
27:14Three.
27:15Two, five, three.
27:16That is big.
27:17Thirteen centimetres longer than the average female.
27:20Are you ready?
27:21I'm ready.
27:22Say three, two, one, please.
27:23Three, two, one.
27:24Three, two, one.
27:25Yes.
27:26Nice.
27:27I'm sorry.
27:28With our adrenaline subsiding, I'm curious about how this team feels.
27:46What was that like for you guys in particular, like, who haven't done this as much like me?
27:51What was that like?
27:52Um, well, I feel like it's hard to predict the movements of the sharks.
27:58I mean, these two have done so many sharks now that they can kind of read the behaviour.
28:05Um, I was just scared I was going to get a tail to the face the whole time.
28:10Yeah, she did look like she was going to flipper flapper you.
28:12Yes, yes.
28:13I think every single time we get a shark, you know, your heart just kind of starts to
28:17raise.
28:18It's like, wow.
28:19Yeah, this is amazing.
28:20I think seeing them that close as well, you just get a new perspective on them.
28:23Because you think of like a shark, the perception is like this big menacing, man-eating thing.
28:29But to see them that close, you see they're actually, you know, like you said earlier,
28:33they are vulnerable.
28:34I've learned to see bull sharks in a whole new light.
28:47What a privilege it's been to experience their life journey from vulnerable river babies
28:52to huge monster mamas in just one week.
28:57I think the thing with these big adaptable animals is that we underestimate how complicated
29:07their lives actually are.
29:09Okay, of course, they're called bull sharks, right?
29:12So they are really big and they are really robust.
29:16Their lives have more nuance than their name gives away.
29:21And sure, we may never be the best of mates, but I think that they deserve a relationship
29:26with more respect and less hyperbole.
29:31And the only way we are going to achieve that is by truly understanding the secret lives of sharks.
29:44She's huge.
29:45She is huge.
29:46Next time, it's sea snakes.
29:56It's a coyotemania.
29:57It's beautiful.
29:58She's young.
29:59So they're frahaus up different parts of those in the empreended years.
30:01But it's just like midf位 and they're different.
30:02The-
30:11It's perfect.
30:15What do you think?
30:16At the time.
30:17I think you're quite simple.
30:18So you feel like you're all ooh?
30:19Right?
30:20Let's go, hey, open the room.
30:21The gathering here.
30:23It extends both a bit.
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