Watch the sighting here:
For the first time on Latest Sightings, we’re featuring a shark encounter. We received this video from Stacey Farrell, from Heritage Tours and Safaris, who filmed the interaction in the iSimangaliso Wetland Park, in northern KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa.
Guest Appearance
At the start, we see a raft of hippos resting peacefully in the water. Suddenly, a shark made an unexpected guest appearance.
Stacey said, “While we were on a hippo and crocodile safari, we spotted a small bull shark swimming close to a pod of hippos. We stopped the boat along the bank, so we could watch hippos return to the water.”
The shark’s dorsal fin is visible above the waterline in the image above, marked by a red circle.
Bull Sharks
Also known as Zambezi or Lake Nicaragua sharks, they are euryhaline, meaning they can survive in both salt and fresh water. They inhabit warm, shallow waters in the ocean and rivers.
Bull sharks are known for their aggressive temperament, and they have been linked to many cases of human and shark conflicts.
Dirty Water
Sharks have good eyesight, but their vision becomes limited in turbid water, as seen in the video.
Said Farrell, “This water isn’t very clear, causing visibility to be very low. This made the shark a bit disoriented, and it started swimming right into the hippos.”
As luck would have it, the first hippo it approached was a mother hippo, protective of her nearby calf. True to her instincts, she threatened the shark with a slash of her mighty jaws.
Instantly, the shark took evasive action and swam to safety.
Not Deterred
In her account of the interaction, Stacey explained that when hippos defecate in the water, it attracts small fish. These, in turn, must be what attracted the shark.
As such, the shark was not easily deterred and continued to circle the hippos.
Consequently, every time the shark got too close, the hippos would react aggressively, either by blasting air through their nostrils or lunging towards it.
Wait! Is This A Game?
Subsequently, possibly emboldened by its mother’s actions, one of the younger hippos decided to go after the shark.
The calf is seen just in front of its mother in the image above. As it spied the shark’s fin, it lunged towards it, sending the shark thrashing through the water for safety.
Later, Stacey said, “Luckily for the shark, it was much faster than the hippos and managed to swim away without serious damage.”
Does This Happen Often?
As this is the first time we’ve received footage of this kind, it is difficult to comment with authority.
However, since the two species have overlapping habitats, it may well happen more frequently than we know. Indeed, if the shark is hunting fish, as suggested by Stacey, this could well be a learned strategy of sharks entering this particular body of water.
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It is worth pointing out that it is unlikely that the shark would attempt to prey on the hippos. For one thing, they are just too big.
Secondly, hippos have an incredibly thick hide, up to 8 centimetres over most of their body. While sharks do have sharp teeth and powerful jaws, they probably couldn’t damage a hippo’s skin.
Thirdly, hippos are themselves aggressive and would probably do more damage to the shark than vice versa.
However, should a shark come across the decaying carcass of a hippo, it might well be able to bite off chunks of softened tissue.
Be sure to send us your footage of unlikely interspecies action!