yego.me
💡 Stop wasting time. Read Youtube instead of watch. Download Chrome Extension

Great White Sharks of Guadalupe Island | Most Wanted Sharks


2m read
·Nov 11, 2024

NARRATOR: But everyone loves Lucy. The story of this great white is the classic "Finding Nemo" tale, but about 2,000 pounds heavier. When divers spotted Lucy back in 2008, her distinctive tail wound looked fresh. And she seemed in desperate need of a good meal. A damaged caudal often puts a shark's life in danger. It's crucial for propelling a shark through water.

APRYL BOYLE: Lucy's tail deformity could be from fighting with another shark when she was younger.

NARRATOR: And Lucy's not only survived, she's thrived. She did it by modifying the way she swims to sway a little more than the average great white. And now Lucy's adoring public keeps an eye out for her signature floppy fin and her unique swagger. Unlike other female great whites, Lucy returns to Guadalupe Island every year. And that is because she has not given birth yet. If she did, she'd be gone at least 12 to 18 months, because that's how long a shark pregnancy lasts.

NARRATOR: Fans don't know for sure why Lucy is still not a mom. It could be that male sharks are turned off by her misshapen fin. Or maybe Lucy hasn't yet met Zapata, the most famous and recognizable male great white of Guadalupe Island. This tough guy is a 14-footer, who has mixed it up with other apex predators and has the battle scars to prove it.

RALPH COLLIER: Zapata is a very large shark. To sustain the wounds it received, the attacking shark must have been very large, possibly 18 or 20 feet in length.

NARRATOR: He might not play well with other sharks. But luckily, unlike Bullet, Zapata actually enjoys hanging out with people. That's my favorite shark right there, Zapata.

NARRATOR: Scarboard, at an intimidating 18 feet long, isn't just one of the most massive sharks at Guadalupe Island, she's one of the biggest great whites in the world. But like all sharks, no one will know for sure how old she is until after she dies.

RALPH COLLIER: One of the ways to determine the age of a shark is by dissecting it. If we cut through a vertebra, we can see rings similar to those of a tree showing annual growth. She got her nautically themed name because of scars on the right, or starboard, side of her body.

APRYL BOYLE: When sharks engage in head-to-head combat, they can do incredible damage to each other, which is what happened to Scarboard. But sharks have amazing healing abilities.

NARRATOR: Scarboard shows up at Guadalupe every other year. And the next time you see her, many of her scars might be gone. Bullet, Lucy, Zapata, and Scarboard, four sharks whose physical flaws grabbed our attention and helped make them famous.

More Articles

View All
We Need to Rethink Exercise (Updated Version)
Losing weight is hard, and unfortunately, your body is sabotaging you every step of the way. Your body is a biological machine that follows the laws of thermodynamics and needs energy and raw materials to stay alive, which is why you eat. The energy from …
Communicate with Users, Build Something They Want - Ryan Hoover of Product Hunt
All right, so maybe we could start with this question from Stuart Powell, and his question is, “What’s your advice for non-technical founders?” As you are a non-technical founder and solo founder, or a cofounder. Prabh is a solo founder but had a founding…
Chandragupta, Ashoka and the Maurya Empire | World History | Khan Academy
We’re now going to talk about the Moria Empire, which is not just one of the greatest empires in Indian history, and really the first truly great Empire. It’s also one of the great empires of world history. Just for a little bit of context, we can see whe…
We Explain the Seen in Terms of the Unseen
Now people might object at this point and go, “How dare you invoke in science things that cannot be seen, things that cannot be observed? This is completely antagonistic towards the scientific method!” Surely, and I’ll say to anyone who’s thinking that r…
Example question calculating CPI and inflation | AP Macroeconomics | Khan Academy
The CPI, or Consumer Price Index, is used to measure the cost of a typical basket of goods the typical household in the nation of Jacksonia buys. Four loaves of bread, three pounds of cream cheese, and eight books are purchased each week. The prices of th…
How to sell a $90,000,000 private jet 😳
You have a budget in your mind for this first airplane. I can go all the way up to 80, 90 million, and I really like the G Stream product. G7 and G. You’re my guy! I definitely can. 62 million is the new one; 10 years old is 36 million. Let’s say you get…