Sea turtles are equipped with some pretty heavy-duty body armour, but their tough carapaces are no match for the serrated teeth of tiger sharks.
While cruising off the coast of Corpus Christi recently, Texas-resident Kaitlin Warnke was lucky enough to capture some remarkable footage of a tiger shark’s ruthless attack on a turtle. After carefully circling its prey, the shark moved in for the kill – biting the turtle repeatedly before clamping onto its catch and descending to the depths.
Tiger sharks are generalist diners and will munch on everything from octopuses and fish, to dead whales and even albatrosses. When attacking turtles, the predators usually wait for their shelled prey to surface for air and then use their sharp, recurved teeth sort of like “can openers” to slice open the tough carapaces.
But these reptiles don’t always make for easy pickings. Turtles have been recorded showing off some nifty defence tactics when under attack – like this crafty critter that gave its assailants “the cold shoulder”:
In this case, the turtle was able to manoeuvre its body so that it was perpendicular to the shark’s jaws, making it tricky for the predator to lock down (imagine trying to chomp down on a Pringle held vertically in your mouth). Turtles will also keep tight circles remaining close to sharks so the hunters can’t close in on them.
In this case, however, it seems the turtle came off second best and the shark proved why its one of the ocean’s apex predators.
source: earthtouchnews.com
