David “Baz” Jenkins is a wildlife photographer who caught the unthinkable on camera – a seal outsmarting a shark. Great whites are known for their prowess as apex predators. Sharks have had plenty of time to refine their prey-hunting skills after inhabiting the ocean for 400 million years. However, Irish photographer Jenkins was able to capture a series of pictures where a seal was pursued by a large great white, only to get caught up on a nose-balancing act with the ferocious fish before ultimately swimming away.

While on a expedition watching sharks off the coast of Cape Town, South Africa, David Jenkins was able to witness the event.

David Jenkins recently spoke with Caters New Agency about the series of photographs in which he had depicted the seal-on-shark chase. “The breaching sharks are amazing, the speed and agility just takes your breath away as they can explode from below without warning,” he said.


Even ardent shark-watchers must be impressed watching the agility of the seal as this seal maneuvers away from the shark’s jaws, evading being the meal. David Jenkins surmised the unique interplay between one of the ocean’s most vulnerable creatures and one of the ocean’s most dangerous creatures. “This seal was one lucky pup,” he said.

The great white depicted is one of 440 known species of shark, classified into the eight main orders of: Hexanchiformes, Squaliformes, Pristiophoriformes, Squatiniformes, Heterodontiformes, Orectolobiformes, Carcharhiniformes, and the great white’s order of Lamniformes. With so many sharks roaming the ocean, organizations have devoted efforts to researching and improving survival for the creatures that do not necessarily always get their meals.

The Shark Research Institute is one such organization that has participated in initiatives to monitor the ecosystem as well as staying abreast of political issues with regards to sharks such as the recent Tokyo protest against keeping shark fin soup outside a Muji shop.

[Images Via YouTube]