The shocking video recording showing a large raptor flying over Myrtle Beach, SC, grabbing what looks like a shark in its claws, has the uproar on the Internet.
“Sharknado Now Real Life as a Bird Carries a Shark in a New Viral Video,” a headline yelled this week. “The bird plucks an alarmed shark from the ocean,” said another.
The video was captured by Tennessee resident Ashley White, using an iPhone from the 17th floor of an apartment building.
It went viral after being tweeted by Tracking Sharks on June 30, under the headline: “Does anyone know what kind of bird this is and is holding a shark?” (Video posted above).
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As of Friday morning, the video had been viewed more than 17 million times.
But the audience on social media is not always naive. The broad consensus was that the bird was an osprey. They prey almost exclusively on fish and are commonly seen flying with fish in their claws, upside down, as is the case in White’s video.
But while some were convinced that the osprey had caught a shark, many noticed the V-shape of the tail and guessed that it might have been a mackerel.
For The Win Outdoors, he asked Chris Lowe, director of the Shark Lab at California State University – Long Beach, and he replied: “It also seems to me like a mackerel. He kept saying ‘holy mackerel’, but apparently nobody understood. “
Michael Domeier, president and CEO of the Marine Conservation Science Institute, was more direct: “It is definitely not a shark.”
Since the original Tracking Sharks post, followers have been tweeting videos of Ospreys grabbing big fish in their claws. It is what they do; they sit for hours consuming their meals from a high perch.
One of the videos, shared Thursday by Dylan Mellor and attached to the original video (posted above), shows a close-up of what looks like the same bird with the same fish in a shorter post lower to the ground.
“I spent about 45 minutes filming,” wrote Mellor. “It flew away in a moment and I ran a half mile down the beach to find him and film him again.”
–Image courtesy of Ashley White
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