Camo Sharks: Breaching Test | SharkFest | National Geographic

RYAN JOHNSON: One of the most important tests that we're going to do is the breaching test.

GIBBS KUGURU: Breaching is sort of this ambush attack. They need speed, power, stealth.

RYAN JOHNSON: This is when we're going to be able to measure the color of the great white shark in its ultimate hunting mode.

NARRATOR: In the middle of Mossel Bay sits Seal Island.

RYAN JOHNSON: This island's the epicenter for great white sharks in South Africa.

NARRATOR: Every day, hundreds of fur seals swim for their lives through a gauntlet of great whites.

RYAN JOHNSON: The great white sharks' success rate in hunting Cape fur seals is almost 50%, and that's really high for any predator. So with these shocks I got very specific areas where they want to hunt and patrol, and it's usually right underneath the natural routes that the seals are exiting and entering the islands.

NARRATOR: Ryan and Gibbs are towing a decoy seal in the hopes of encouraging sharks to breach.

RYAN JOHNSON: It's about trying to capture the breaching shark alongside a color board and being able to measure the color of that breaching shark.

NARRATOR: It's a quiet morning, but Seal Island rarely disappoints.

GIBBS KUGURU: Oh, there's a predation. Natural predation right over there. Oh, it's still going for it. Oh, [INTERPOSING VOICES]! Oh. Isn't this hot?

RYAN JOHNSON: This is in trouble.

GIBBS KUGURU: Yeah. He's using the boat for cover.

RYAN JOHNSON: And even though the shark missed on that first breach, it scared that seal so much, and it's now hiding around the boat, using it for cover.

NARRATOR: The seal leads the shark right to the decoy.

MAN: Woo.

GIBBS KUGURU: Oh, yes!

RYAN JOHNSON: Got it. Got it.

GIBBS KUGURU: [INAUDIBLE] one there.

NARRATOR: The shark and the color board are clearly in frame. It's the first successful breach of the experiment.

GIBBS KUGURU: It sends goose bumps down my spine every time. I mean, you just can't help but feel emotional every time you see it.

NARRATOR: Sharks are here in numbers.

GIBBS KUGURU: Oh.

RYAN JOHNSON: There we go.

NARRATOR: Stalking seals all day long.

GIBBS KUGURU: It's having a go at it. Woo.

NARRATOR: As the sun sets after a day of data collection, the team hopes for one last breach.

RYAN JOHNSON: Hit that spot. Hit that spot.

GIBBS KUGURU: Oh, ho.

RYAN JOHNSON: Oh, we've lost the color board. We've lost the decoy. Because it's so dark, the shark couldn't even see which way to go. He's going for it again.

[SOFT MUSIC PLAYING]