The large whale carcass floated in the ocean, serving as a macabre feast that attracted a swarm of hungry predators, including great white sharks and tiger sharks. The sharks systematically devoured the whale, eventually leaving only two flippers and a lump of white blubber.
One underwater shot from the footage depicts a shark lurking around the whale’s belly and tail, while another image, taken above the water, shows a shark darting towards its meal with focused intent.
Biologists initially spotted the dead whale on February 24, approximately 26 miles east of Cumberland Island, off the coast of Georgia’s southeast. On the same day, they attached a satellite tracking buoy to the carcass to monitor its drift and, potentially, to tow it ashore for a necropsy.
Photographs of the whale confirmed that it was the same one-year-old whale that had been observed throughout the winter in a “skinny and sickly condition.” It had last been seen swimming in the water just four days before its death.
A day after the carcass was discovered, it was observed with oil and blood streaming from its body, with more than ten sharks, including a 12-foot-long great white, feasting on it. The following day, biologists ventured out to the carcass to investigate the cause of death, but the extensive damage inflicted by the sharks made it impossible to determine how the whale had died.
Upon arrival, they encountered two sharks feeding on the body, one of which was a great white approximately nine to ten feet long, along with a lurking tiger shark. By February 28, only two flippers and some white blubbery tissue remained, still being scavenged by the sharks. On March 1, the satellite tracking ceased, presumably because the remains had sunk.
In less than five days, the sharks had reduced the massive whale to mere scraps, illustrating the power and efficiency of nature’s cleanup crew.
The video documenting this humpback whale’s ordeal was produced by the Georgia Department of Natural Resources in collaboration with the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, Sea to Shore Alliance, and the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.
