third day at work ~ floating dead sperm whale
It was only my third day with a company called Quicksilver that operated out of Port Douglas, QLD working as a Marine Biologist and snorkel guide. When we got word that a dead sperm whale carcass was floating not too far from the reef we were snorkelling and exploring. I begged the Captain to drive back to Port Douglas via the carcass. His response was with an upturn face:
Why the f@#k on earth would you want to look at a dead whale carcass?!? (sorry, he is a old salty sea dog.)
I don't care about the dead floating sperm whale. I want to investigate what animals are eating the dead sperm whale carcass...
Yeah, ok - we will go via the stupid dead whale on our way home.
That was the best news I think I have ever gotten - To put it bluntly, I was pumped. I knew this would attract every large predator shark in the area - especially, tiger sharks. What we saw when we arrived was simply AWESOME!!!
One of many tiger sharks slowly devouring the sperm whale carcass.
We spent the next hour or so watching numerous tiger sharks slowly take bite after bite of this deceased giant of the sea. The largest tiger shark I saw was around the 6m | 18ft mark, which is pretty damn big.
I know these photographs are not by far my best work - they were done a very cheap point and shoot about 9 years ago. However, they do give you a good idea of the size of the sharks, as the whale carcass was around the 10m | 30 ft in length.
Thanks for reading and all the support, Steemit!!
All stories & photographs are of my own work unless noted under the picture in question.
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i like that
i like wildlife adventure
i up voted , resteem and followed
i would to be srong like you .
Wildlife traditionally refers to undomesticated animal species, but has come to include all plant
I think it was a planet earth documentary where they showed something like this in video, it shows how great the ecosystem is...when humans don't mess it up.
Seeing stuff like this in nature as part of a job is just the best experience. I remember I was out for a run on a mine site one time and I heard something crashing through the bush ahead of me. I stopped as this buffalo stumbled out onto the dirt track.
I must have spooked it, but then it turned, saw that I wasn't a threat, just a tiny human, snorted, then it crashed back into the bush again.
Heart was pumping like crazy.
Not as exciting as Tiger sharks though.
You should go see mountain gorillas though before that gets way to expensive.
great shots! is this a normal death? can you tell how old the whale was?
no idea to tell unless you do a necropsy on the animal
Those photos are still awesome (๑•‿•๑). If I was that close to a tiger shark, I couldn't keep my hands steady enough for a clear shot (๑˃‿˂).
wildlife.......adventure.....travel.....i like that so much...
Hello @thomasjmitchell, for me it is amazing to be seeing that huge amount of tiger sharks devouring that sperm whale carcass. I admire you as marine biologists and snorkel guide, because working in that waters with this type of predators, certainly must be very exciting, but it is very risky ... Of course without your work we could not enjoy the wonders of the marine nature. Well, I'm staying on land and I hope you keep bringing us more wonderful photos and stories. Greetings.