All language subtitles for The.Croc.That.Ate.Jaws.2021.1080p.WEBRip.x265-RARBG2_English

NARRATOR: Around
the world, crocodiles and
alligators are on the move,

heading out to sea and
deep into shark territory.

From mysterious
severed heads.

NEALE: You can see
where the shark's
actually bitten it.

NARRATOR: To ambush attacks.

MIKE: Oh man. This
is incredible.

NARRATOR: What happens
when two of the deadliest

predators on the planet,
go head-to-head?

The Everglades, Florida,
a vast tropical wetland,

crisscrossed by a
network of swamps,
channels and rivers.

And an unlikely
mecca for sharks.

MIKE: When you think about
the Everglades, you don't
really think about sharks,

but every year we get
adults of Bull sharks, Lemon
sharks, and Blacktip sharks,

coming here to have their
young, because it's such

a great place for those
baby sharks to grow up.

NARRATOR: Dr. Mike
Heithaus has been studying

the predators here
for almost 20 years.

He discovered young sharks
can spend the first four
years of their lives

hunting for small fish in
the web of mangrove roots
that line these waterways.

MIKE: As the tide
goes down and there's
less space to hide,

those fish have to
come into the channel

and that's where the
sharks have a really good
chance of catching them.

But, they're not the
only predators in town.

NARRATOR: Alligators also
stalk these mangroves.

Able to hold their breath for
over 30 minutes, they move
silently through the water,

barely creating a ripple.

Feeding on everything from
fish to small mammals.

But do they also have
a taste for sharks?

In recent years,
members of the public

have captured glimpses
of shark gator clashes,

in the brackish borderlands
that separate Florida's
fresh and saltwater systems.

MIKE: We usually think
of sharks as saltwater
creatures and alligators

as freshwater creatures and
they should never interact,
but it's not that simple.

These sharks can come
up and live in almost
entirely fresh water

and alligators can survive
where there's a fair bit
of salt in the water.

My hunch is that these
animals run into each other
more often than we'd think.

Are they competitors or
this predator versus prey?

And who's the predator?

NARRATOR: As dusk falls,
the team prepares

for a groundbreaking
tagging operation.

Their mission for the
first time ever,

to put cameras on the
backs of sharks and gators

in the suspected
predator battleground.

As a thermal drone helps
looks for gators from above.

MIKE: Jack, what you
got? Point it directly
at one, yeah.

NARRATOR: The team begins
to explore a series of
narrow channels

that carve through
the shark nursery.

Gators are easier
to spot at night.

Their eyes contain guanine
crystals which reflect
light back off the retina,

that gives them the
effects of night vision.

But under flashlight,
their eyes glow bright red.

HUNTER: There's one, there's
one. Up on the left, left.

MIKE: That's a big
one. Oh, he's down.

See him?

Oh, I think I got it!
Yes, yes! Cut the
ropes, cut the ropes.

NARRATOR: As the team
wrestles the six-foot
gator alongside the boat,

they need to be careful.

Alligators are armed
with up to 80 teeth.

MIKE: Close that
now, please. Just
close it a bit.

NARRATOR: With a
bite force of over 2000
pounds per square inch,

their jaws are nearly twice
as powerful as a Bull shark.

MIKE: There, perfect.
Very nice.

So, the impressive thing
about alligator jaws

is they've got tons of
force to close 'em,

but not a lot to open
'em, so five or six wraps
of this tape

and it will not be able
to open those jaws,

which makes it safer
for the alligator and
definitely us.

NARRATOR: As the team
drags 150 pounds of angry
alligator onto the boat.

There's a shocking
discovery.

MIKE: Oh, look at
that! Look at his tail
or lack thereof.

NARRATOR: He's missing
over a foot of tail.

Has this potential shark
hunter, become shark prey?

Male alligators are
highly territorial and
regularly clash.

They can lose limbs
and tails to these
violent attacks.

But sharks are more than
capable of inflicting
similar wounds.

The team decides on a name.

HUNTER: I think Stumpy.

MIKE: Stumpy. He looks
pretty fat and happy.
HUNTER: Yeah.

MIKE: Not having any
trouble getting dinner.

NARRATOR: Next, they
ready the state-of-the-art
camera system, Gator Cam.

Armed with depth,
accelerometer, GPS and
temperature sensors.

For the next 24 hours,
it will record every
move Stumpy make.

MIKE: That looks pretty good.

NARRATOR: If he has
a run in with a shark, it
will be caught on camera.

MIKE: Cool?
HUNTER: Yep.

MIKE: Clear.

Yes! Yes! Woo!

HUNTER: Yeah!

MIKE: Yes!

NARRATOR: For the
first time ever, we're
riding on the back

of an alligator as it moves
through the Everglades.

Hugging the edge of
the mangroves, Stumpy
moves north,

just beneath the surface,
at a steady speed of two
miles per hour.

With pressure sensitive cells
around his jaw that detect
the slightest movement,

he's perfectly designed to
hunt in these murky waters.

But how do gators like
Stumpy, with a burst speed
of just 20 miles per hour,

catch faster and
more agile sharks?

Footage captured by a
member of the public
in South Carolina,

provides an important clue.

FEMALE: He is not playing.

MIKE: So, this victim
is a Bonnethead shark,

you can tell right away
from the shape of the head,

and they are a member
of the Hammerhead family

and, you know, from
the size of it,

you could say that's
probably a three and a half

or four foot long shark,
so that's an adult.

Bonnetheads are one of
the species that we
would expect to run

into alligators
fairly often.

They live in shallow water,
sometimes close to mangroves

and also where it's
really murky.

But they're not an
easy meal for a gator,

having that head helps them
be super maneuverable, they
can turn on a dime.

An alligator is not gonna
be able to chase down
and catch a Bonnethead,

but if that gator is lying
motionless on the bottom
and the shark swims along,

a lightning-fast strike
and the gator gets a meal.

NARRATOR: Most of the
victims photographed
by the public

were struck from
below on the abdomen,
they were ambushed.

MIKE: You could see that
these gators are able

to catch sharks that
are three and a half,
four feet long

or even a bit bigger, I
mean, look at the size
of that nurse shark,

relative to that alligator.

These are smash and grab
killers and evolution

has honed those techniques
over millions of years.

But what happens when they
run into a much bigger shark?
Who comes out on top?

REPORTER: Alligators had
people scurrying for sand
today in Collier County.

FWC officers told people,
"Get out of the water."

NARRATOR: In recent years,
there have been growing
reports of America's

gators entering the ocean.

One was even spotted circling
an offshore oil platform,

some 40 miles from the
Louisiana mainland.

Like most crocodilians,
alligators are
freshwater creatures,

if they spend too
much time in salt water
they dehydrate and die.

So why are they
heading out to sea and
how are they doing it?

MIKE: The good news for
most alligators is that
they're fairly big,

so they can go out to
the ocean, slowly take
salt into their body,

it's a bit stressful,
but then they can move
back up to freshwater

and kind of flush their
bodies out and reset.

So, some of the alligators
we watch are commuters,
they'll go out to the ocean,

then they'll come back.

Now if you're an
alligator why would you
go to all that stress?

It's pretty simple, food.

When you look at these
coastal systems, there's
just a ton of life,

here in South Florida
that's especially true.

The further downstream
you move and out into
those coastal oceans,

there's a lot more food
than up at the rivers.

NARRATOR: But out at sea,
it's not just dehydration the
gators need to worry about.

The coast around Florida
is home to some of the
biggest sharks on Earth.

Bulls, Hammerheads, Tigers
and even White sharks all
patrol this rich coastline.

So, what happens when a big
gator and a big shark clash?

The discovery of a severed
croc head in South Africa
could hold the answer.

Saint Lucia beach,
South Africa, 2013.

As Neale and Brigitte
Cary-Smith take their
daily walk along the beach,

they spot a strange
shape on the shoreline.

NEALE: At first, we
thought it was a log
because a lot of

debris floats down
the estuary which
runs into the sea.

But about 30 meters
away, I realized that
it was a crocodile head.

NARRATOR: Turning
their camera on, they
carefully approach.

NEALE: Look how
big that thing is.

As we got closer, we
realized just how big
this head was.

It was absolutely enormous.

BRIGITTE: Just come stand
closer, my darling, just
so people can see the size.

Put your hand on its head.

It's estimated to be in
the region of about a
120, uh, pounds or so.

So, if that was the size of
the head, imagine what the
size of the crocodile was.

It was just very exciting,
and we just realized

we had come across
something quite special.

NARRATOR: Like their alligator
cousin, Nile crocodiles
are freshwater predators.

More at home ambushing
wildebeest, than moving
through the waves.

So, what was this croc
doing out in the ocean?
And what killed it?

NEALE: The more I inspected
the head, the more I saw

that there were teeth
marks on the side of it.

BRIGITTE: And being a
deep-sea fisherman,

he's sorts of quite
knowledgeable about
that kind of thing

and he said to me, "That's
definitely a shark cut."

Something must have
happened, some drama
unfolded here.

NEALE: You can see
where the shark's
actually bitten it.

There's no doubt in my
mind whatsoever that
that was a shark

that had bitten that
crocodile, none whatsoever.

NARRATOR: The wild waters
of South Africa are
world famous for sharks.

Tigers, Bulls, Bronze Whalers
and White sharks all patrol
Saint Lucia's shoreline.

But could one of them
really have taken on
the huge Nile crocodile?

Mike Heithaus is a
world leading expert in
marine predators.

He's convinced sharks,
crocs and gators

could be clashing far
more regularly than
we ever realized.

MIKE: Looking from the
size of this head,

this was a big croc, I mean
probably over 10 feet long

and it raises a lot
of mysteries like what
was it doing out at sea?

And how did it end
up a head on a beach?

This is a map showing where
that severed head was found,
and when we zoom in here,

what you can is that it
wasn't too far away from two
really major river systems.

So, it's possible that
the crocodile died

in the river system and
the head floated out

or it could have come
into these coastal
waters to feed

because those are
really rich waters.

Now, there are White sharks
in this part of the world,

but White sharks don't
tend to be in those super
shallow turbid waters

where you might
find crocs and gators,

but it could also be a
really big Tiger shark
or a Bull shark.

And the Bull sharks in
this part of the world do
get really, really big.

They're one of the few
species of sharks that will

tangle with animals close
to their own body size.

So yeah, if any
shark's gonna go after
a bigger crocodile,

Bull sharks are
definitely on that list

and those big Bull
sharks do go up into
these river systems.

NARRATOR: Just as at
home in freshwater
as salt water,

Bull sharks have a
unique adaptation

in their kidneys and livers
which allow them to thrive
in both environments.

MIKE: They're famous
for being in turbid
murky waters

and that suite of sensory
systems they have

helps them zero
in on their prey.

NARRATOR: But could
they really take down a
huge Nile croc?

MIKE: Bull sharks when they
get really big do have the
teeth to get through it,

but it might be a pretty
big effort, you know,

and that's one thing when
you look at that head,

if a Bull shark had
done that and the
croc was struggling,

I would have expected a lot
more slashes and cuts,

it wouldn't be a
clean bite through,

they would not be able
to get through that
skin just in one bite.

Tiger sharks are really
different predators, their
teeth are curved and serrated,

they are built for cutting.

One of their favorite
foods is sea turtles

and they can cut
straight through the
shell of a turtle.

You know, they've got
this reputation of being
the garbage cans

of the sea and I guess
it's fairly well earned,

I mean, you know, they are
the consummate scavenger,

but in the areas where
there's lots of prey,

they can also be
impressive predators.

They can eat big prey,
they can cut through

something tough like the
hide of an alligator,

so could a Tiger shark eat
an alligator or crocodile?

If they ran into
one, yes, they could.

But, without that severed
head here in front of me, it's
impossible to say if sharks

removed the head
from that crocodile.

Was it poached?

Did this croc die and
then something eat it?

Big boat propellor, there
are lots of things that
could have happened here.

This raises a lot more
questions than answers.

NARRATOR: Four years later,
Saint Lucia estuary

provides the backdrop
for another even more

dramatic shark
croc confrontation.

CASPER: The shark is just
in front of the crocodile.

Did you see that?

NARRATOR: Wildlife guide,
Casper Badenhorst,

is birdwatching along
South Africa's St.
Lucia river mouth

when he spots
something strange
in the water.

CASPER: It was a
perfect day, it was no
wind, it was quiet,

the water was flat and
that's when I noticed
something different.

I start seeing this shark
fin and getting bigger

and coming out of the
water and eventually

the tail of the shark
and I knew this can be
nothing else than a shark.

NARRATOR: Grabbing
his camera, Casper
begins filming.

CASPER: And as I
videoed the shark, from
the corner of my eye,

I was starting to see
a crocodile swimming
towards the shark.

A crocodile. A crocodile
is going to the shark.

The crocodile was twice
the length of the shark.

You could see his aim
was to get the shark
and to take it down.

(inaudible)

The crocodile was
edging closer.

The shark is just in
front of the crocodile.

There was a big splash
and for a few seconds
we couldn't see,

you know, what happened.
The shark went under.

But then a few seconds
later, the shark emerged
and just keep on swimming.

This crocodile was clearly
going for the shark,

going to have as his next
meal and so the shark was
lucky to get away.

MIKE: Oh man, this
is incredible,

I mean, you just don't
see footage like this.

You can see by the way
the crocodile is
shifting its body,

it's aware of that shark
from pretty far away,

and even though
it's aware of it,

it's not really
starting to chase it,

it's just slowly kind
of turning its body

and moving to be on an
interception course.

Then it waits until
it's really close and
it makes that last

super powered kind of
lunge swim to try to
get the shark.

That's a predator
trying to get a meal.

The shark doesn't look
that much smaller than
the crocodile

and so you'd think
they'd be fairly

evenly matched, but the
crocodile just doesn't
care at all and, I mean,

if you think about crocodiles,
they are really good at
getting big prey, I mean,

zebra, wildebeest,
they don't care that
it's a shark.

So, you know, this starts
to ask that question,

what happens when they're
more evenly matched?

If the crocodile is
in position, it's
gonna have a shot.

NARRATOR: Back in
the Everglades, the
investigation

into the suspected
shark gator
battleground heats up.

MIKE: Clear!

NARRATOR: With the camera
tag successfully deployed

on a big adult male
gator called Stumpy,

MIKE: Yes! Yes!

NARRATOR: the team's
attention now turns to sharks.

Setting a series of baited
lines across the bay,

it's not long before they
get their first bite.

MIKE: Hey shark.

That is bite size
for a big gator.

NARRATOR: It's a Bull
shark and at four feet
long, a juvenile.

A miniature camera tag
prepped, within minutes the

shark is released back
into the battle zone.

MIKE: Yes!
MAN: Woo!

MIKE: Good job.
MAN: Good work.

MIKE: I mean that was
amazing, you know,

for a shark in the trip and
it was the perfect size

for the camera and that's
a really cool size

of Bull shark in this area
because it's small enough

that it could get eaten
by a really big gator,

but it's big enough that
baby gators could be on the
menu for that.

Oh, aren't they cute?

NARRATOR: Over the
next few hours, five
more Bulls are caught,

and tiny acoustic transmitters
inserted inside their bodies.

The data they collect could
change our understanding of
how these sharks survive

in such dangerous waters.

KRISTINE: So that tag has a
Pinger essentially that sets
off at a certain frequency,

roughly every 90 seconds,
and all across the bay we
have acoustic receivers

which are just these
listening devices that
will pick up those pings,

so that we can
essentially track the
Bull shark's movements

throughout the bay as
it's passing each of
those receivers.

NARRATOR: Will their
movements overlap with
Stumpy, the alligator?

And will the camera tags
capture the first underwater
footage of a clash?

If it does, it will
be a world first.

MIKE: If you go that way,
there are alligators,

that way, there are
alligators and here we
are with Bull sharks

all over the place.

So, it really shows this
is the collision zone for
these two big predators.

NARRATOR: As the team
waits for their camera
tags to pop off,

the investigation
heads to Maryland,

where new research suggests
shark gator conflicts have
been taking place here

for millions of years.

And the sharks sometimes
come out on top.

STEPHEN: A professional
collector came to visit me,

his name is Dougie
Douglas and he's well
known in the area

for collecting fossils
from along Calvert Cliffs.

And he came to my office
with this coprolite.

Now a coprolite is the
technical term that we give

to fossilized feces and
we think that this

kind of coprolite came
originally from a crocodile.

But when he first
showed it to me,

I just could not
believe what my eyes
were seeing because

there are tooth impressions
along both surfaces, deep
ones on this flattened side,

but more shallow ones
on this convex side and
it's really clear that

these tooth impressions
were actually made by a
shark.

NARRATOR: 23 million
years ago, ancient sharks

and crocodiles roamed
this coastline hunting
for prey like turtles.

But did they also
prey on each other?

Stephen is convinced this
fossil holds the answer.

STEPHEN: I thought to myself,
"If I take a liquid molding,
I'll be able to see hopefully

the shape of the teeth
that penetrated into
the coprolite."

Now, one of the amazing
things about sharks

is that you can almost
always identify the
species of shark

by the shape of
the tooth.

And by looking at
the natural cast,

I was able to determine that
these teeth came from

one of the extinct kinds of
Tiger sharks that we find
along Calvert Cliffs.

NARRATOR: The culprit
is identified.

But one mystery
remains. How were the
teeth marks made?

STEPHEN: So, when I
noticed that the shark
tooth impressions

did not equally penetrate
into the coprolite,

I wondered why that was?

Because if the shark had
bitten the feces and they had
been floating in the water,

I would have expected
the teeth in the upper
and lower jaws

to have equally penetrated
into the fresh feces.

I realized that maybe
the feces were not outside
the body of the crocodile,

but still within the
abdominal cavity and
that's why the teeth

had not equally penetrated
both sides of the coprolite.

That when the shark
ploughed into the abdomen,

its teeth penetrated one
side further than the other,

this then came detached
from the rest of the
crocodile's body,

sank to the bottom of
the ocean, was entombed
by sediments

and 15 million years later
was found by Dougie Douglas.

Clearly, crocodilians,
which are apex predators,

and sharks, which are
also apex predators,

have been clashing
for millions of years.

NARRATOR: Could modern
day sharks take down a
crocodile?

MIKE: I mean, this
is really incredible.

NARRATOR: The investigation
heads down under,
in search of answers.

The Northern
Territory, Australia.

Home to the biggest
crocodilians on Earth,
saltwater crocs.

In the rivers here,
salties rule supreme.

Bulls, Sawfish, and
Spear tooth sharks all
patrol these waterways.

But they're no match for
the salties, which can
reach 20 feet in length.

In recent years,
clash after clash has been
recorded along these rivers.

With crocs coming out on
top every single time.

Ten percent of the
river sharks have
scars from attacks.

Hunted to near
extinction in the 1960s,

in recent years
salty numbers have
been exploding.

Now, up to 200,000 live
in Northern Australian.

And running out of space
in the rivers, they're
heading out to sea.

MIKE: Saltwater crocodiles
are the champions of the
crocodile world

when it comes to spending
time in the ocean,

and it's because they can get
rid of the salt so well,

they have salt glands on their
tongue, they keep pumping
that salt out of there.

You know, it's not uncommon
for them to make movements

of more than 100
kilometers out to sea

and that's one of the
reasons that they've spread
over such a big area.

NARRATOR: But despite their
ability to spend several
weeks in salt water,

growing evidence suggests
they might not be as dominant
over sharks here in the ocean.

Alan Withers lives and
works in one of Australia's

most remote areas, the
Cobourg Peninsula.

ALAN: We can go for two,
three months without
seeing other people,

we're cut off around
four months a year,

during the wet
season, by rivers
which are impassable.

NARRATOR: While people
are thin on the ground,
turtles are not.

Throughout the year, they
head to the peninsula's

isolated beaches to
lay their eggs.

And the coastal crocodiles
take full advantage.

ALAN: The crocodiles
troll the beaches,

just waiting for a turtle
to come up and nest,

and bang, gotcha.

NARRATOR: In 2016, Alan
captured something
extraordinary.

ALAN: We'd seen a crocodile
a fair way offshore

heading towards the
beach with the turtle
in its mouth.

So, I put the drone
up and sent it out.

NARRATOR: His
footage was a first.

The croc was being tailed
by a pack of sharks.

ALAN: They were pretty
much onto it straightaway,
they come in like bullets.

NARRATOR: As the croc
tries to flee with the
turtle in its mouth,

more and more sharks
arrive including a
large Tawny Nurse shark.

ALAN: And the big Tawny
sharks and the Blacktips

were actually swimming
up beside him and

nipping chunks off it
while it was in the
crocodile's mouth.

By the time the crocodile
got to the beach,

all it had left was
literally an empty shell.

The sharks had
stolen the lot.

NARRATOR: Incredibly
this clash between
packs of sharks

and huge saltwater
crocodiles is not a one off.

ALAN: It's a regular
event, whenever a large
crocodile catches a turtle,

there's certainly a
percentage of body fluid

and blood in the water
which attracts the sharks

and, indeed, pretty much most
times that we've seen large
crocodiles with turtles,

the sharks, they're present
for an easy meal, ripping
bits off as it goes.

MIKE: So, yeah, this footage
shows just how complex

the relationship between
sharks and crocs can be.

It's not just about
who eats who,

this shows that sharks
might actually take
advantage of crocodiles,

none of those sharks
on their own,

could really match up one
on one with that crocodile.

But with those numbers, you
know, in that ocean realm,

where they've got
lots of space to maneuver,

the croc's got
no chance if it wants
to try to keep its meal,

'cause as soon as it, you
know, looks at one shark,
another one comes in.

But while this footage is
unique, and I would bet that
this kind of interaction

is happening a lot
more often than we
think because

sharks are kind of the
ultimate opportunists,

and a free meal is not
something they'll pass up.

NARRATOR: Across the
mangroves and
twisted waterways

of Rookery Bay in the
Everglades,

a unique experiment
is coming to an end.

For the past 24 hours,
camera tags record
every move

alligators and
Bull sharks make

in the suspected shark
gator battleground.

KRISTINE: Alright, it's like
a lot louder over there.

NARRATOR: Now released,
they're emitting a weak
VHF signal

the team is using to zero
in on their location.

KRISTINE: Woo! We did it.

NARRATOR: And the data
inside shows Stumpy
striking to kill.

MIKE: Oh man.

NARRATOR: Back at
base, Mike analyses
Stumpy's data.

MIKE: This is super
cool, I mean, this
is the first time

we've been able to put a
camera on an alligator
in these coastal

Everglades waters, you
know, there's just so
much we're gonna

be able to learn by
getting this window
into their world.

NARRATOR: Stumpy spends
most of the night hugging
the edge of the mangroves

and resting at the surface.

MIKE: But then at about
2:45 in the morning,

things change, and he
goes into hunting mode.

You see him a couple of
times make these big lunges
to try to catch something.

You can also see
in one of these,

a fish swim into the frame
and then as it swims out,

Stumpy makes a big
lunge to try to catch it
as it's swimming away.

And alligators have these
sensors called dome pressure
sensors on their snout,

and those sense
vibrations in the water.

So that fish swimming by
would have triggered those

and he just lunged
to try to catch it.

You can see from that
speed, if a little Bull
shark got too close,

Stumpy could catch it.

NARRATOR: GPS coordinates
from Stumpy's tag

reveal exactly where and
when he was hunting.

At two in the morning,
he moves out into the canal

and his movements become
a lot more purposeful

as he moves upstream
looking for prey.

MIKE: You know, why
did that change
happen? We don't know.

I mean, maybe that's
it's favorite hunting
time and hunting ground.

But then, you know, as
we get onto six thirty
in the morning,

unfortunately something
else happened.

The camera and the
GPS stopped working,

but luckily the
depth sensor and the
accelerometer

kept on going and the
data we got from those
is really intriguing.

So, this graph is showing
us the depth where
Stumpy is spending time,

and the yellow shows us
how fast it's moving.

Things change when
the sun comes up,
Stumpy's going down

to the bottom and
just being completely

motionless for long
periods of time, maybe 20
minutes or more.

And then you have
these quick bursts up,

where he changes
the depth and you
see that kind of

explosive speed,
which could be him
lunging at prey

and that's kind of what
we'd expect for a sit
and wait predator,

especially during the day.

NARRATOR: It's a unique
insight into how gators
ambush their prey

and are able to bring down
faster and more agile sharks.

MIKE: So, here's what
we think is going on, those
alligators are lying in wait,

their dark skin probably
blends in with the
habitat around them.

And then when something
like a shark swims over
the top, they detect it,

they can burst up
from the bottom with
that powerful tail

and grab that shark on
the soft underbelly

before it even knows
the alligator is there.

And, you know, that's
really the only way
these gators

are gonna be able
to catch sharks

that are faster and more
agile than they are.

NARRATOR: Footage from
sharkcam reveals just
how hard it is

for sharks to spot
the gators in these
murky waters.

MIKE: You can see that the
visibility is terrible,

and this is really
typical of the waters

that these Bull
sharks are inhabiting.

Virtually zero visibility,
so they can't rely on

their eyes to find a
meal or avoid predators

which can include
big alligators.

NARRATOR: Despite the
dangers, evidence from
the acoustic tags

fitted inside the sharks,

shows just how close
they come to gators on
a daily basis.

MIKE: The baby Bull
sharks are spending the
majority of their time

in the mouth of
the river here,

they're in these
very shallow bays.

Occasionally though,
they are going
upstream and, in fact,

when we look at the
monitors here,

there's a shark that
hits them all pretty
much every day,

and we know that
alligators go

further down than
Stumpy did, we've seen
them right here

at the very base
of the habitat,

where all of these sharks
are spending a lot of time.

NARRATOR: The team
may not have captured
a clash on camera,

but it's groundbreaking
evidence

that the Everglades is a
shark croc battleground.

MIKE: Yeah look, when you
see these tracks and you look
at the data we've collected,

there's no question
that Bull sharks

and alligators overlap a
ton and that's why we're

starting to see more
and more pictures

and videos come in
from around the world
of crocodiles

and alligators that
have eaten sharks.

NARRATOR: But do meetings
always end in confrontation?

Back in Australia,
the death of a whale
brings a ten-foot

shark and a 13-foot
croc face to face.

Around the world, evidence
of crocs and gators clashing
with sharks is on the rise.

In Florida, research shows
their territories overlap

and sharks sometimes end
up on the gator menu.

In South Africa, Nile
crocodiles attack Bull sharks

and mysterious severed
heads wash up on beaches.

And off the coast of
Australia, sharks
use their strength

in numbers to mock crocs
and steal their food.

Now, remarkable new
evidence suggests shark
croc encounters

might not always end
in confrontation.

The Kimberley Coast,
Western Australia.

Jeremy Tucker is skippering
a whale spotting cruise

when he comes across
the body of a huge

50 foot Humpback floating
four miles from the coast.

JEREMY: We realized
that it was upside down
and just floating,

so we went over
to the whale,

and we realized that
there was a few sharks
feeding on it.

And as we got closer,
we realized that they
were Tiger sharks

and there was a couple
of really big ones.

NARRATOR: Around the world,
the death of the whale

often triggers a
shark feeding frenzy.

Whale blubber is one of
the most energy rich
foods in the ocean.

Every pound contains
over 3000 calories.

A single whale can
attract over 200 sharks.

But today, the
sharks have company.

JEREMY: I decided to
put the drone up,

and there was a lot of bite
marks out of the whale.

As we got closer, we realized
that there was a croc
there feeding on the whale.

It was really unique,
and we all realized that.

He was probably about
three meters long

and he wasn't fussed
about the sharks around,

he just did his own thing,
and he was sort of trying

to sit on the pectoral
fin and, and get a feed.

The bigger Tiger
shark actually went
underneath the whale

and sort of stayed
in the shadows.

They didn't seem to be too
worried about each other,
I think the food was there

and they had plenty to
eat, so they were happy.

NARRATOR: For 45 minutes
this unique footage shows

the two predators feeding
on the huge whale carcass.

JEREMY: I think they
were pretty full.

We noticed the Tiger
shark swimming around
and just having a bite,

and a little bit of a shake
and then swimming off.

But there was no
aggressiveness or
there was no feeding

frenzy or anything
like that.

So obviously they had
been feeding on that
whale for a while.

NARRATOR: As Jeremy is
about to leave, something
extraordinary happens.

The croc and the shark
begin feeding within
inches of each other.

JEREMY: And when we first
saw it, we seriously thought
it was quite unique, I mean,

you just don't see that.

MIKE: I mean, this is
incredible, I mean,

you know, sharks feeding
from a whale carcass,

that's something you're
used to seeing, but a
crocodile?

Yeah, I've never seen that.

We usually think of
crocs, gators and sharks

as the consummate
predators, you know,

chasing or ambushing their
prey, but they are not
gonna pass up a free meal,

and they are amazing
scavengers, and when you
find a bonanza like a whale,

these animals can fill
their stomachs up

and go many months without
having to eat again.

So, this is a real
windfall for them.

And when you've got this
much food around,

you wouldn't expect
there to be any
aggressive interactions,

the predatory instincts
are put aside

and it's all about just
having a free meal.

But if you took that
food source away, things
could be very different.

Crocs and sharks are two
amazing predator groups

that have been interacting
for millions of years.

But in the 20th century their
populations have plummeted.

Now they're just
starting to rebound

and we're seeing
the interactions
happen more often,

and there are more
people out there filming
and photographing it.

When you go up into the
rivers and estuaries,

it looks like the crocs
and gators reign supreme.

They've got the size,
they've got the burst speed,

you know, small sharks
that live there, they
can be on the menu.

But as you move out to
the ocean, that is the
shark's ground

and the sharks those
gators and crocs run into

are gonna probably
be a lot bigger.

So, if I were a croc or
a gator in the ocean,

I'd watch my back
a bit more.

Captioned by
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