The scary revenge of seals with sharks

Most of us are familiar with the image of seals being bitten by sharks to death.

Sharks are reviled by seals

However, in reality, sometimes the most terrifying predator of the ocean loses its life because the furious revenge of the hairy beast is often considered "weaker".

Cape seals are "caught" by attacking blue sharks off the coast of South Africa.(Photo: HMG Press)

Scientists have documented many Cape seals that attack blue sharks off the coast of South Africa. Cape seals, which are often the favorite bait of " great " white sharks, are discovered to raid and kill medium-sized blue sharks, then consume their guts before removing the remaining remains. floating on the sea.

The above behavior made the marine biologists extremely surprised. They are not sure why seals, which normally hunt smaller fishes, turn to attack torpedo-shaped sharks.

The seal consumes the gut of the shark before releasing its large prey to its size.Photos: (Photos: Wikipedia Commons)

Blue sharks are about the same size as Cape seals . Experts say this is the first time a seal has been caught capturing such a large prey.

Ocean photographer Chris Fallows was the first to observe this strange phenomenon in 2004, operating a submarine service off Cape Town, South Africa. In 2012, Mr. Fallows once again witnessed a huge seal attacking five blue sharks for two hours. The estimated blue sharks are between 1.1 and 1.4 meters long.

Dr Neil Hammerschlaf, a member of the Rosenstiel School of Marine and Atmospheric Sciences (USA), said seals eat the intestines of sharks because they contain the most energy . This behavior can seriously affect blue shark species, because their numbers have been reduced due to overfishing of human activity.

Seals are often known as prey of giant white sharks.(Photo: Word Press)

"Seals are generally considered to be the prey of larger sharks. Many blue sharks are also caught many times chasing Cape seals male, juvenile or adult, though not yet available. There are generally few reports of seals hunting sharks and in all such cases the victims are smaller sharks.

The Cape seal eating large shark meat has erased the long-standing popular view of this animal's diet, which is thought to include only small fish, head and bird animals . close to this action is not only important for understanding the interactions between the two species, but also greatly helps us understand the nutritional ecological characteristics of seals. The number of Cape seals is increasing, while the population of blue sharks falls , ' said Hammerschlaf.

A video that shows the seal killing a much smaller shark.

Although the exact origin of strange behavior is still unknown, the researchers said that seals may be practicing partial sharks to eliminate the competition for fish they normally eat.