In case you missed the first clip of "Deep Blue," the 20-plus-foot (6-metre) great white shark from Guadalupe Island that became a web superstar several months ago, we've got another close encounter for you.
Perhaps nobody is more excited by "Part 2" than local researcher Mauricio Hoyos Padilla, who posted the clip on his Facebook page.
"When I first saw Deep Blue, I thought one thing: hope," he says. "A shark of this size is likely 50 years old, and that tells us that conservation efforts are really working. We've seen several pregnant females like [her], but now there is a new challenge: protecting the pups."
Padilla explains that the inshore waters that are full of food and free of predators (perfect for tiny shark pups) are also dangerous in terms of fishing pressures. "Baby sharks are particularly vulnerable to getting stuck in shallow water lines or nets," he says. Not to mention pregnant females are often accidentally targeted by sport fisherman, as they're often the biggest fish around.
Great whites are protected in the area, but that doesn't mean these sharks are out of hot water. Padilla and his team hope to better understand the migration patterns and nursing grounds of these huge animals so enforcement can be placed in the most crucial zones.
The video, which was shot in late 2013, has been viewed over 300,000 times in just a few days, and it seems that people are just as amazed by it as they were with the first one. We can only hope this represents growing public support for these amazing animals, and scientists like Padilla who work so hard to protect them.
Didn't catch the first video of this amazing shark? Check it out below:
Top header image: Brook Ward/Flickr
Sharks
Sharks
Sharks
