Original subtitles

[frantic music]

Downloaded from YTS.MX

[Forrest] Sharks,

one of Earth's oldest predators.

They've been adapting and improving

Official YIFY movies site: YTS.MX

for over 450 million years,

but sometimes even the smallest step

can represent a giant evolutionary leap.

Land sharks, you heard me.

Sharks that leave the water.

And if sharks start coming onto land,

what does that mean for science?

I'm Forrest Galante.

I've spent my life tracking rare species

and reintroducing animals that were believed extinct.

Oh, my God!

Not the typical mission of a biologist,

but my team and I travel the globe

discovering and protecting wildlife.

[epic music]

[Forrest] I've come to Papua New Guinea

to track down three critically understudied

species of walking sharks.

Croc, croc.

Trekking into treacherous waters

with a deadly history

in an attempt to capture definitive proof

of sharks actually leaving the water.

There he goes.

To walk on land.

Welcome to the Island of the Walking Sharks.

[ethereal music]

[Forrest] Sharks don't just predate humanity,

sharks existed before trees.

There are currently over 500 identified species,

always evolving, changing their behaviors.

Now, imagine you're a shark and you make your living

hiding from bigger sharks out on the reef,

but every night the tide drops down

and into these tide pools

get stuck these little fish and crustaceans.

It's basically a buffet.

These epaulette sharks have evolved the ability,

the specialized fins and body structure

to be able to wait until the tide drops,

use those fins and belly crawl,

like a salamander, out of the deep ocean

into these tide pools to hunt for fish,

crabs and all kinds of little things.

What an amazing evolutionary advantage.

[mysterious music]

[Forrest] Papua New Guinea is a sovereign nation

located just north of Australia.

These pristine islands and rain forests

are among the least explored in the world,

making it the perfect place for epaulette sharks

to adapt and evolve in secret.

I'm here to collect

as much data as possible on these sharks

with the ultimate goal

of capturing never before seen proof,

they're actually walking out of the water.

And I'm gonna start with the local fishermen.

[upbeat music]

[Forrest] Good morning.

Hey, brother.

[man] -Hi there. [Forrest] -How you doing?

[woman] You got a nice face, bro.

[Forrest] So this is Port Moresby,

the capital of Papua New Guinea,

one of the most ecologically diverse

and bio-rich places on the planet.

And not just with the wildlife,

there are over 850 languages spoken here.

There's over 800 coral species,

over 650 species of fish,

if there's anywhere in the world

that we're gonna find some new shark behavior,

it's working with people like this. Right guys?

[kids] Yeah.

[upbeat music]

[Forrest] I'm headed to their largest fish market,

but first I need to connect with a friend

that inspired this expedition.

-Vicky. [Vicky] -Hi.

[Forrest] Hey, welcome to PNG.

[Vicky] So good to see you.

[Forrest] How's it going? It's good to see you.

It's been way too long.

[Vicky] Yes. Super stoked we are here.

[Forrest] Vicky Vasquez holds a masters in marine science

and has helped discover multiple new shark species.

I first met her several years ago

on a fact finding trip in Missouri

at the Wonders of Wildlife Aquarium.

[Vicky] Say hello to my Hemiscyllium Oceallatum.

[Forrest] What a beautiful little animal.

[Vicky] So this one is from Australia.

We know tons about it, but there's actually been

three discovered in Papua New Guinea

and we know nothing about those.

[Forrest] The walking shark is often referred to

as an epaulette shark,

named for this large spot behind their fins

that looks like a military epaulette.

Where does the name walking shark come from?

[Vicky] They are using their pectoral fins,

these fins right by the gills

and also these back fins over here as feet.

[Forrest] Stunning little animal.

Vicky inspired me to plan this expedition

to track down the three poorly studied

walking shark species, the Papuan Epaulette,

the Hooded Epaulette and the Leopard Epaulette,

and prove once and for all

if their unique adaptation truly allows them

to leave the sea and walk on land.

[cheerful music]

[Forrest] Where can I find this one?

[man] -No, I don't know. [Forrest] -No?

[Forrest] You don't eat this one?

[man 2] -It only gets my hook. [Forrest] -Yeah.

[man 2] I will pull it up, kill it and throw it back.

[woman] -There's one. [Forrest] -Yeah. Okay.

[woman] -It's down this side. [Forrest] -On that side.

[Vicky] -Oh. [Forrest] -Oh, look.

[Vicky] That right there is a bamboo shark,

so that is the cousin.

[woman] That is a different one.

[Forrest] Yeah, different one. Do you know this one?

[woman] I know this, but I don't know the name.

[Forrest] Where can I find it? I want to find one alive.

[woman] Okay, you got to go down there

where the wharf is.

[Forrest] She said down here, I think.

[Vicky] I think it's worth a try.

[Forrest] Do you know where to find somebody

who catches this shark? This one.

[man 3] -Yeah, over there. [Forrest] -This guy.

[Forrest] This guy here. Hello, guys. Hello, brother.

[Elias] -Hello. [Forrest] -How you doing?

[Elias] Good, good, good.

[Forrest] Do you know this shark?

[Elias] Oh, yeah, I know them.

[Forrest] You know it? Do you have it here?

[Elias] No, no, no, I don't have it here.

[Forrest] Okay.

[Elias] But if you want, I can take you.

[Forrest] You can take me there now?

-You're good to go? [Vicky] -I guess so.

[Forrest] John, let's load up, let's go.

-Okay? We can go now, hey? [Elias] -Yep.

[Forrest] And alive, the shark is alive?

[Elias] Catch live ones, yeah.

[Forrest] Okay.

[Vicky] So, was this part of the plan?

[Forrest] -Nope. [Vicky] -Alright.

[Forrest] Thomas, you take the van and I guess...

Yeah, we'll send you our location.

[Thomas] Yeah. Be safe.

[Forrest] Watch your head, Mitchell.

So, we've just met a fisherman at a fish market

and he said jump in my boat and I'll take you to see some

of these rare walking sharks we're looking for.

[Forrest] You live here?

[Elias] No, it's about half an hour.

[Forrest] Oh, we're going to your house?

[Elias] Yeah.

[Forrest] Ah, okay. So, we're going to his house.

[Vicky] 30 minutes away on a boat.

[Forrest] Yep.

This one, for sure, hey? This one?

[Elias] -Yeah, that one. [Forrest] -That one, okay.

[Vicky] Yeah, good, good point.

We should make sure it's the right shark.

[Forrest] Yeah, I guess we'll find out.

[suspense music]

[Forrest] We've known this man for all of about two minutes,

but he's identified the papuan epaulette

and I can't pass up the chance of getting my hands on one.

[upbeat music]

[Vicky] Got it, thank you. Hi, I'm Vicky.

[Forrest] Where do you keep the sharks?

[Elias] We keep them in the sea, yeah.

[Forrest] You've got them there?

[Elias] Yeah.

[Forrest] Can you show me, please?

[Elias] No worries.

[Forrest] Sharks right in here?

[Elias] Yeah. One here, this way.

[Forrest] Look at that.

[Vicky] This is a papuan epaulette shark.

Oh, my God.

[Forrest] You've got tons of them.

[Elias] Yeah, we got ten, eleven.

[Forrest] Wow.

[cheerful music]

[Vicky] Alright, this guy's a little feisty.

[Forrest] Why do you catch these, Elias?

[Elias] There is some who put them in aquariums.

[Forrest] -For aquariums? [Elias] -Yeah. Oh, yeah.

[Forrest] Papuan people?

[Elias] No, it's to the foreigners.

[Forrest] The Australian epaulette

is the number one shark in international pet trade,

but these Papuan epaulettes have a bolder pattern

and are more rare

because their known range is much smaller,

so they fetch an even higher price

among unique fish collectors,

but there's very little data on these sharks

and we don't know

if they're being fished to extinction.

[Vicky] In the aquarium trade, having ten sharks makes sense

because only 50% usually survive.

[Forrest] Yeah, look at this, this one's pregnant,

so she's gonna lose her pups most likely.

[Vicky] So, where did you catch these?

[Elias] Under the stones, under the reefs here.

[Vicky] -Yeah, reef sharks. [Elias] -The reefs out here.

[Vicky] That's where they like to hang out.

[Forrest] Well, the thing is

they're endemic to a tiny little region

right around the big city of Port Moresby.

[Vicky] Right.

[Forrest] This could be 20% of the population sitting

in these buckets right here, for all we know.

[suspense music]

[Forrest] Have you ever seen this one come out of the water

onto the rocks?

[Elias] Yes. When it's low tide.

[Forrest] So, nobody in the scientific world,

like Vicky and I, has ever seen this before.

So, because we know so little about these animals,

here's what I'll do.

If you help me take this one and put it back on the reef,

I'll give you a very good speer gun.

I don't like to buy sharks, it's bad for the sharks.

Instead you can get food.

You can shoot some nice fish to eat, no problem.

[Elias] -Thank you. [Forrest] -You'd like that?

[Elias] -It's good. [Forrest] -Okay.

[Elias] It's a deal.

[Forrest] Alright, it's a good deal.

[tribal music]

[Forrest] So, we're just heading out to the area

that Elias told us he caught the sharks at.

Let's start with one of the big girls.

1.35.

[Forrest] Our goal is to take measurements and DNA samples

before releasing them.

[Forrest] You can see it's very non-invasive.

[Vicky] I want to get

genetic analysis with the fin clips

because there's still this confusion

with where their range ends. Can you read the number to me?

[Forrest] -Yep. 006990. [Vicky] -Great.

[Forrest] Just by doing this, we've probably collected

the most data that has ever been collected

on this species in history.

[Forrest] Time to gear up and return them to their home.

[Forrest] So, now you can shoot fish

instead of catch sharks. Huh?

[Elias] Yeah, I like it very much.

[Forrest] Good. Alright my friend.

[Elias] Thank you.

[suspense music]

[Forrest] This is a great spot.

Nice, healthy coral reef.

[Forrest] Now that they're tagged,

I need to return them to the safest spot I can find.

Just deep enough

that no one should be able to recollect them.

[Forrest] I think he's gonna walk, Johnny.

Watch here. There he goes.

And look at how he's using those fins to walk

right into the reef to be safe from predators,

isn't it amazing?

So, now we just have nine more to let go.

Absolute mission success.

[Forrest] I never expected to find one of these

rare walking sharks in a fisherman's catch,

but I'll take the win.

Now, they need to recover where it's safe.

We're not going to witness any of them

walking onto land here,

but we've collected significant scientific data

and maybe one of the other sharks in PNG

will walk for us instead.

[Vicky] Yeah, we saved sharks today.

You don't get to say that a lot.

[Forrest laughs] Exactly.

[Vicky] So, I think we're ready to try

looking for another epaulette shark.

It's called a hooded epaulette shark.

[Forrest] These sharks are especially active at night,

feeding in shallow reefs and tidal areas.

[Vicky] If that is what we're gonna do,

we gotta to head to Madang.

[Forrest] -Let's go to Madang. [Vicky] -Alright.

[upbeat music]

[Forrest] Madang is 300 miles to the north,

on the opposite coast on the island of New Guinea.

[Vicky] Right here, in the Madang Lagoon,

you have over seven to 800 species of coral,

-100 species of reef fish. [Forrest] -Wow.

[Vicky] And that's the most in the entire world.

The cool thing is we have mangrove

and reef habitat to explore.

There's tons of places for them to hide.

[Forrest] Okay. Johnny, grab your dive gear.

-We're going in. [Johnny] -Alright, let's go.

[Forrest laughs]

[upbeat music]

[Johnny] -Forrest, croc. [Mitch] -Forrest.

[Johnny] Forrest, croc, croc.

[Forrest] Back up, back up. Watch out, watch out.

[Forrest] There's a sub-adult salt water crocodile.

[Forrest] Salt water crocodiles

are the world's largest reptile.

[Forrest] Watch out, Johnny, watch out.

[Forrest] And the most likely to attack humans.

[Forrest] -Did he get ya? [Johnny] -No.

[Forrest] We should get out of here. This is not worth it.

[Johnny] For sure.

[Forrest] To leave that croc, let's go.

[Forrest] Ooh.

[Forrest] No sightings yet,

so we're coming back for a night dive.

Since they are nocturnal feeders,

we have a better shot of spotting them after dark.

[Forrest] This is part of Shark Week,

I always make my cameramen go in first.

If there's any sharks, they get the nips.

And then I go second. Gotta protect the asset.

[Mitch] Who's the asset? I'm the asset?

[Forrest] No, I'm the asset. That's why they go in first.

You're even more important than I am.

You don't go in at all.

[Mitch] Exactly.

If you lose me this show goes to [bleep].

[suspense music]

[Forrest] What we're gonna do

is look all over the tops of the reefs

to see if one of these smaller sharks

can actually be out walking,

looking for small crustaceans and fish they would be eating.

This is a beautiful feathered sea star.

Just amazing the way they open up.

Guys, there's a big tasselled wobbegong down here.

It's so cool.

Like a living rock with a face full of weeds.

This is literally a species of shark

that I've wanted to see my entire life.

♪

The name wobbegong is actually an Aboriginal term,

most people believe means living rock.

These guys lay and wait as ambush predators

hiding in the sand like this.

Whoa, did you see that? It tried to eat that fish.

I'm actually reluctant to get too close,

they have huge mouths

and can attach and latch on to a diver.

That is one of the coolest, weirdest [bleep] sharks

in the entire world.

But not the one we're looking for.

♪

Look at how magnificent and healthy this reef is.

It's real--

[Johnny] Forrest, hey Forrest, whitetip, whitetip.

[Forrest] Whoa. Watch out, Johnny.

He could be feeding at night. They're a nocturnal predator.

If there were any hooded epaulettes here,

this guy would gobble them up. Let's head up.

[ethereal music]

[Forrest] You know, we tried the mangroves,

ran into the wrong kind of toothy critters.

We did the night dive,

which obviously didn't shake out.

I'm thinking, you know, being in this Mandang Lagoon

we should head to an area that's totally unique,

which is the region with all of this limestone topography

with deep tunnels and deep caverns.

Hopefully, we can find one of these hooded epaulettes

hiding out in one.

[Vicky] I think that's a great idea.

I mean, this place is surrounded by people,

yet these sharks are very elusive

and I think that's because they're really good hiders.

[Forrest] Yeah, and a lot of people often think

it's just like all the same under water,

nothing could be further from the truth.

♪

So, in a place like Papua New Guinea,

there's so much endemism, you know, between regions

and it's because the ocean bottom is so diverse

and there are these deep water canyons

that our little walking sharks couldn't get across

and then these big coral reefs and these shallow plateaus.

[Vicky] Yes, above the surface you couldn't tell,

but below the surface it becomes a lot more obvious

that this area is a long The Ring of Fire.

People call this place the Garden of Eden

because all these animals

that really couldn't migrate very far,

somehow did,

because these tectonic plates pushed them around.

[Forrest] Right.

[Vicky] And that is why we can be, like,

an hour plane ride away

and looking at a completely unique looking shark,

even though it's closely related

to the ones we've already been looking at.

I've seen them in pictures, but I don't think

it really has set in how freaky they look.

This shark was discovered in 1967.

[Forrest] That is pretty recent.

[Vicky] So, that's why it's so cool that we're here.

We're helping to explore and confirm things.

You never know

what we're gonna add to that science.

[Forrest] So, we're gonna find Vasquezoni today or what?

[Vicky gasps] Yes.

[Forrest laughs] Name one after you.

[Vicky] Yes, please. The Vicky shark.

[Forrest] That's it, that'll be pretty cool.

[cheerful music]

[Forrest] Two dives in

and we've come face to face with large predators.

If the walking sharks are here,

these threats will have them hiding deep inside the reef.

[Forrest] A lot of these cave holes

go back 15-20 ft.

[Forrest] Fortunately, I've got just the tool.

[Forrest] Tell Mitch to grab the pipe cam.

[Vicky] Sounds good.

[Forrest] We've re-purposed a commercial plumbing camera

used to inspect toilets

and waterproofed it to function as our pipe cam.

[Forrest] Okay, got it.

[Forrest] It should reveal any hooded epaulettes

hiding deep in the reef, but I'll be working blind

while Vicky reports on the image from above.

[Vicky] And it feels like I'm diving.

[suspense music]

[Forrest] What do you see, Vicky?

[Vicky] Right there.

It's a venomous lionfish. Maybe try a different spot.

[Forrest] Copy.

[Vicky] I think I saw something.

Pull it back a little. Wait, go back, go back.

[Forrest] It's pretty weird having no idea

what you're seeing up there.

[Vicky] Hey, I think I see something.

Turn it one more time.

[Forrest] Tell me which way to go.

[Vicky] Can you move forward more?

Yeah, right there. Right there, right there.

Perfect. It looks like an epaulette shark.

[Forrest] Johnny, mark my spot.

[Forrest] If Vicky can confirm she saw a hooded epaulette,

I've designed something special

that may lure it out.

[Vicky] Definitely saw an epaulette shark.

[Forrest] Really?

[Vicky] It was really far into that crevice.

I saw the right color patterns.

[Forrest] Let's grab that ridiculous reef trap

and let's set it up before it gets out of there.

[Mitch] Yeah, I'll grab it.

[upbeat music]

[Forrest] Designed to be just

like where an epaulette would naturally hide and hunt,

this is a custom-made artificial reef

and fish trap hybrid.

It looks like a bit of coral, but it acts like a cage.

And when stuffed with stinky bait,

it should lure in an epaulette

via a system of one way tunnels.

[Forrest] Whether this will work or not,

I have absolutely no idea

because nobody's ever attempted this before,

but I think it looks cool.

[Mike] It's [bleep] heavy.

[Forrest] Try flying here with it.

[suspense music]

[Forrest] Mike, JQ, this is the spot, right here.

Towards me a little bit.

And the hope is, as this epaulette decides

to leave the reef to go out and hunt,

he gets a whiff of all that stinky mackerel that's in here

and we have an epaulette in the morning.

Good work, guys. Let's head up.

[Forrest] So, yesterday, I didn't get to see

whatever it was that was on the pipe camera,

but Vicky is fairly certain that was a hooded epaulette,

so we set out the reef trap.

You can actually start to see the float there, see it?

[Vicky] -Yeah. [Forrest] -Okay, got it.

[Vicky] Okay, fingers crossed we got something.

[Forrest] Let's see. Alright, it's coming up.

-Okay, ready? [Vicky] -Yep.

[Forrest] Alright.

There is something in there, Vicky.

It might just be the bait.

[Vicky] Okay, [bleep].

[Forrest] Vicky's there is something moving inside.

[Vicky] Is there?

[Forrest] Yeah, open the porthole.

Look on the side right there, right here.

[Vicky gasps] I see it.

[Forrest] Oh, my God! We got one. It's here.

[Vicky] Let me grab it. Oh, yes!

[Forrest] Whoa. Whooo! It's a hooded epaulette.

[Vicky] Oh, wow! It's so pretty.

[Forrest] Look at those markings.

[Vicky] This looks nothing like any epaulette shark

we or most people have ever seen before.

[Forrest] All I've seen are the diagrams.

They do not do it justice. This thing is stunning.

Look at this little animal. Look at it.

[Vicky] A lot of the ones we've seen so far

had dark or black spots on them.

[Forrest] Uh-huh.

[Vicky] This one is, like, all brown

and the spots are white, so it just really pops.

[Forrest] Okay, I'm gonna get the kit,

so you can start getting data.

[Vicky] Yep.

[Forrest] Just like the Papuan Epaulettes,

we're taking samples

and gathering as much data as we can

during these precious minutes

before he needs to get back in the water.

[Forrest] 1.5 lbs.

There's one more super important photo.

[Vicky] -Yeah? [Forrest] -Okay, this one.

[laughs]

[Vicky] Perfect.

That'll be the cover of the paper.

[Vicky] Sad to see this guy go.

[Forrest] One last look, guys, this is it.

[Vicky] Bye, bye.

[Forrest] Rarest walking cat shark on Earth

going back to its home.

[epic music]

[Forrest] You can see how beautifully he blends in

to his environment.

He's home, resting on his reef.

[Vicky] I can't believe we have seen

two endemic epaulette sharks here in Papua New Guinea,

-but I have to go. [Forrest] -Yeah.

[Forrest] With two sharks down,

Vicky has more than enough data

to begin publishing our findings,

but I'm not leaving until we find out

if these sharks walk on land,

which would be an evolutionary milestone.

Our third target is the leopard epaulette.

[Vicky] If you can get that, that'll be amazing.

[Forrest] I'm so glad you came, Vicky.

It was awesome. Good job.

[Vicky] Yeah, it's been fun. Thanks for having me.

[Forrest] It's been great. Of course.

[upbeat music]

[Forrest] We've chartered a plane to take us

to the remote coastal village of Tufi.

It's in the province of Oro,

about 350 miles to the southeast.

♪

This is the most remote

and challenging location to film in so far.

[Forrest laughs] What are we going in?

[Mitch] [bleep] I don't know, man.

[Forrest] They're not refueling. We're just going.

[Forrest] But the locals have confirmed sightings

of the leopard epaulette,

♪

so it's worth the first class treatment.

[Forrest] No joke,

heavy guys should be on the left side of the plane

because there's a lot more weight

on the right side of the plane.

[Mitch] Hopefully, we can make it to Tufi.

[Forrest laughs] That's right.

[cheerful music]

[Forrest] The people of Tufi Village

are completely off grid.

Since they don't rely on modern technology,

I have no way of knowing how they'll respond to us.

And from these heights, this coastal paradise

is truly looking like the land that time forgot.

[Forrest] I like the people to ration here.

[Mitch] Yeah, right?

[Forrest] Man, this looks pretty good.

♪

[Forrest] We're just pulling into Tufi Village now.

Then we're gonna head up river to try and find the tribe.

[Forrest] The villagers we are looking for

are not used to guests

and I'm told they believe they have

a spiritual connection to sharks.

So, it's possible they may be very protective of them.

[Forrest] We've been told

the people that worship the sharks

are up this tributary here.

I would say, if there's any hope

of us finding the leopard epaulette,

it's getting local information.

[relaxing music]

River's getting pretty narrow, Mitch.

[Mitch] Yeah.

[Forrest] I mean, they said at the end of the river.

This is the end of the river.

[suspense music]

[Forrest] Oh, look at this. A stunning waterfall.

[Forrest] Look at that, Mitchell, Mitchell.

[Mitch] What?

[Forrest] There's a skull up there.

♪

Actually, come with me.

Will you give me the camera? There's a cave here.

[Thomas] We don't want any injuries.

[Forrest] There's a cave here.

[Thomas] Be careful.

[Forrest] It keeps going. Mitch, come.

[Mitch] Okay, coming.

[Forrest] Look at it, look at it. Alright.

Oh, my God, look here.

There's a whole pile of skulls here.

There's three up there.

[man] There's a whole floor of them.

[Forrest] They're not fresh.

Many of these skulls are fossilized.

[Forrest] And that's been bashed in by a blunt object.

Look at that.

[Mitch] There's so many of them.

[Forrest] Look at that one back there,

tucked into the rocks. That's a child's skull.

[man 2] -Burial site? [man] -Some kind of ritual?

[Forrest] Like a grave site or--

[man] Well, we definitely shouldn't be here.

[Forrest] No, come. Let's leave, guys.

I don't like this at all.

We're just gonna go the same way we came.

Let's go.

[bleep]!

Hello.

The guy's moving "come down". He's telling us to come.

Come, stay close, please.

Hello.

[Forrest] I can only hope

our trespassing hasn't offended them.

[Forrest] Hello, boss.

I'm Forrest, this is Mitchell.

We were told that you know

about the sharks in the ocean here.

We've just come only to talk about sharks.

[leader] Okay, then.

I'll welcome you into my community.

[Forrest] Oh, well, thank you very much.

Thank you, thank you guys.

Thank you, thank you, thank you.

[leader] I sent the warriors to spy

what were you doing here.

[Forrest] Were they watching us the whole time?

[leader] Yes.

[Forrest] Oh, I didn't see them at all.

We didn't see them at all.

[leader] Let's walk across this way.

[Forrest] Okay.

[leader] -If something come-- [Forrest] -So cool.

Hello, hello, hello.

[Forrest] There are over 850 languages

spoken in Papua New Guinea,

and it's common for locals to speak several of them.

Our host can speak eight languages

and his English is quite good.

[leader] Korafe Tribe. We belong to Korafe Tribe.

[Forrest] Korafe Tribe. Okay.

[leader] Korafe Tribe, yeah.

[Forrest] And Korafe Tribe is very connected to the ocean?

[leader] -Oh, yes. [Forrest] -Yeah.

[leader] -This is our land. [Forrest] -Yeah.

[leader] And the saltwater belongs to us.

It's where we normally go out fishing.

[Forrest] -Of course. [leader] -Fishing, diving.

[Forrest] So, I need your help to know where to go

to find this shark.

[man] This, you will normally find them

in a place where it's like a moon.

[Forrest] What's like a moon?

[man] The island is like a moon.

[Forrest] The island is like a moon shape?

[man] Yep. In the night time when--

[Forrest] This elder has been fishing these waters

his whole life

and he looks like he knows a thing or two about sharks.

[Forrest] Thank you, guys. Thank you, guys.

[Forrest] And I'm hoping his guidance

leads me to finally see a shark that walks on land.

[frantic music]

[Forrest] There are over 600 islands

off the coast of Papua New Guinea.

So we started our search on a map

by estimating how far a Korafe Tribe fisherman

might travel from where we met them,

we singled out certain groups of islands,

compared their shapes and we immediately spotted it.

[epic music]

[Forrest] Here's home for the next week.

Evening guys.

[Forrest] This is our best shot

at finding the third walking shark:

the leopard epaulette.

[Forrest] We have finally arrived at an area

that we believe to be the moon shaped reef.

We're gonna get on top of that reef

and hopefully find a leopard epaulette.

Let's gear up, guys.

[Forrest] The moon island

is just one of many here in Milne Bay,

which is 22 miles long and nine miles wide.

An enormous area to search for a leopard epaulette.

[suspense music]

[Forrest] Let's just drift down the ledge.

[Forrest] Manta ray, right there. Manta ray.

[Forrest] But no sign of any leopard epaulettes.

[man] Let's go.

[Forrest] We're gonna get one tonight?

[man] -Yes. [Forrest] -Can I have them?

[Forrest] What we're gonna do is,

scour along this leading edge of the reef.

And see if we can find any signs of epaulettes

hiding in these caves.

Look at this magnificent moray eel.

Epaulette sharks will hunt

in a similar manner to these eels,

looking for anything that's sleeping

for them to prey on.

[Forrest] Still no luck.

To increase our chances,

we've broken the map into zones

and are systemically moving across the bay.

[Forrest] Check this out. This is a World War II plane.

See the twin tails back there?

That's how you know. It's a P-38 Lightning.

[Forrest] This plane was likely lost

in the Battle of Milne Bay, during an attack in 1942.

[Forrest] But, I don't see

any signs of epaulettes on the wreck.

[suspense music]

[Johnny] Two sharks right below me.

[Forrest] Silkies. I think we've gotten too deep.

Let's head up to the top of the reef

and look for epaulettes up there.

[Forrest] We are now three days in

with no sign of the leopard epaulette.

It's time to shake things up a little.

I've sliced up some fresh mackerel

and I'm baiting every leopard epaulette

sized nook and cranny on this reef.

We'll come back later to see if any sharks

walk out for a bite.

♪

[Forrest] This is the area that we believe

is the perfect area for epaulettes

based on everything they told us in the village,

so we're just gearing up now.

♪

[Forrest] The sun went down hours ago.

Time to see if we've drawn out

the incredibly rare leopard epaulette.

The bait is gone. We know there's action here.

Something's moving.

That's it.

[Forrest] Whoo, hoo. Got one.

[Forrest] We've caught one.

The extremely rare leopard epaulette,

our third walking shark.

[epic music]

There's another.

They're all over this ridge.

[Forrest] Whoo, hoo, hoo.

Got another one. Another one.

[Forrest] This species is incredibly good at hiding,

but just like the hooded epaulette,

they couldn't resist the free meal.

[Forrest] Woohoo!

[music intensifies]

[Forrest] I'm just gonna keep collecting the data

to turn over to Vicky.

She is gonna freak out when she sees

how much data collection we're getting.

Come on, little guy.

[scale beeps]

Just under a pound at .9.

47 and a quarter.

There you go, little guy. Bye, bye.

[Forrest] The water is so shallow here

that I can release them safely from the boat.

[Forrest] It is so good to see such a healthy population

of these phenomenal little animals.

But the reality is,

we still haven't answered the biggest question,

which is, "Do these animals walk on land?"

But, hopefully, tomorrow night

we'll take a crack at answering whether or not

these things actually leave the water.

Ooh. What a night.

[relaxing music]

[mysterious music]

[Forrest] After last night's tremendous success

in finding these incredible leopard epaulettes,

we're heading directly inshore from where we found them

to set up a little secret weapon

and see if we can accomplish the impossible

and try and get a shot

of a walking shark out of the water,

walking on land during tonight's low tide.

See, this is a perfect little rocky tide pool area

right next to an abundant reef.

[Forrest] What I have here

is a four-camera surveillance system

with infrared,

so it puts out no light whatsoever,

so I can take these four cameras,

strategically place them at places

that seem perfect exit points for an epaulette,

and see if by some miracle,

one of these wide cameras show us an epaulette.

Mitch, you wanna come give me a hand?

[Mitch] Yeah, yeah.

♪

[Forrest] Find an area like this, see?

Where we know the tide is slowly going down,

so see how there's this little deep water channel here

and there's all these little mud skippers and crabs.

See that mud skipper there?

And so, if anybody wants to leave the water

and come out and hunt that,

we'll have that camera set up here as the tide drops.

[Forrest] This is exactly the scenario we need

to observe walking out of the water.

[Forrest] There is my full surveillance system.

I don't want anything that could inhibit

these sharks from coming up here,

so I have with me a little seaweed-looking poncho.

Hope you guys are ready for a long evening.

[Forrest] If these leopard epaulettes

push themselves up onto the rocks,

we could be witnessing

a biological milestone in shark evolution.

[Forrest] Tide's going down and more and more rocks

are getting exposed,

and it's leaving more isolated tidepools,

which is perfect for this little shark to come out

and hop from one pool to the next to find prey.

Some mud skippers going through frame.

Look, look at that. Look in the tidepool.

[man] Oh, my God, look at that.

[Forrest] That's it.

[man] He just walked in there?

[Forrest] Yep, he just came walking in this way.

He's sitting there. He's hunting crabs right now.

You can see his gills are just pumping water right now.

It's like he held his breath like a diver,

got into this narrow area

and now it's catching its breath again,

just recharging. This is so cool.

Come look, he's moving.

Look, look, look. He's coming further up.

There he goes.

Look, look, he's walking, he's walking.

Come, come, come.

Look, look.

Look at him using those fins.

[playful music]

This is so incredible.

Look at that, up and over the rocks.

There he goes, look at him, look at him.

This is spectacular.

♪

This is the first time in history

one of the Papuan species of epaulettes

has been documented walking.

[epic music]

How amazing is that?

To see a shark leave the water and come onto land.

The only known shark in the world

that walk out of the water and over land.

♪

Look at those fins,

look at the way he uses them to walk over the reef.

Look at that, look at that. Oh. This is incredible, guys.

Here he goes,

back into the deep from where he came.

The leopard epaulette. Goodness. Wow.

Guys. Good job, everybody.

Good job, Mitch. Good job, John.

♪

[Forrest] Papua New Guinea, what an incredible place

filled with the most amazing array of corals, fish...

and, of course, sharks.

[Forrest] Behind you, silky shark.

None more amazing...

Oh, my god, we got one.

...than the three species of epaulettes

that we came here and found.

Whoo hooo.

To come to this region,

a place that's been on my bucket list

since I was a little kid

and track down three of the most unique

evolutionary young shark species

on the planet

is beyond a dream come true, not only on a personal level,

but we have accomplished so much

for the science of walking sharks.

[Forrest] Look how he's using those fins.

We now know genetics, sex, identification

and all kinds of other fantastic data

for species of epaulettes that before this expedition

had near no research conducted on them.

I mean, I came to Papua with the hopes

that maybe we'd find one epaulette shark.

[Forrest] It's walking.

And we found all three

[epic music]

and got all new footage

of one of the most incredible things

that nature has ever put out.

♪

[Elias] Forrest, you see, it's walking.

Trying to find its way out back to the water again.

Yep, see? It's going now.

Okay, man. I hope this is helpful to you.