06x05 - Hunting for Megalodon Shark Teeth + An Underwater Coral Farm in the Caribbean

[bunniefuu]

[gentle music]

- [Announcer] Today on "Blue World,"

Jonathan works on an
underwater coral farm.

But first, he goes hunting
for megalodon shark teeth.

[cheerful music]

Meet Jonathan Bird,

one of the world's top underwater
nature cinematographers.

- [Diver] Whoo-hoo!

- [Announcer] Traveling
the world on assignment

for all the major networks,

he is an Emmy Award-winning authority

on the underwater world.

In freshwater or salt,
reefs, wrecks, or caves,

Jonathan documents the
world beneath the waves.

Welcome to the blue world.

- [Jonathan] The great white shark is one

of the most fearsome predators in the sea.

Reaching the size of a large car,

the great white is a formidable shark.

But a few million years ago,
there was a much larger,

much more powerful shark roaming

the world's oceans, the megalodon.

[suspenseful music]

A present-day great white shark
reaches 21 feet in length.

That's about seven meters.

It dwarfs a human,

but the megalodon would
dwarf a great white.

Experts think they reached 20 meters,

which would make them the
largest sharks of all time.

In the distant past,

when the earth was
hotter than it is today,

and the sea levels were higher,

megalodon roamed the
oceans feeding on whales.

Like modern sharks, they had a
never ending supply of teeth.

[teeth chomp]

When they chomped a whale,
teeth would break off

and sink down to the mud in the sea floor.

Buried in mud under pressure,

the teeth slowly turned into fossils

as minerals impregnated them.

As the planet cooled
down, sea levels fell.

Megalodon went extinct.

As the oceans receded, untold millions

of fossilized shark teeth

in the sediment washed into rivers.

This particular river, the
Cooper River in South Carolina,

is one of the world's most famous places

to find megalodon teeth.

Cameraman Tim, field producer Al Bozza

and I fly to Charleston,

where the Cooper River
empties into the ocean.

We're here to meet Alan Devier,

a world authority on finding
fossilized shark teeth.

Just after sunrise,

Alan is putting his boat in the water

at the local boat ramp.

We're on a double mission

to make a segment about
finding fossil megalodon teeth,

but hopefully also to
find some of our own.

The boat is a little
cramped with all our camera

and scuba gear, but we'll make it work.

We have a 30-minute run to the dive site,

so I use the opportunity

to ask Alan about shark tooth diving.

Why do people collect these things?

- 'Cause something about
a giant shark, I think,

and being able just to hold
that tooth in your hand,

you can figure 10 foot of
shark for every inch or two.

So a six-inch tooth would've been

a shark the size of a school bus.

That's almost hard to
wrap your head around.

- [Jonathan] As we head upstream

and the river gets narrower,
I'm noticing not just the color

of the water, but the speed of the water.

[gentle music]

Alan throws the anchor,

and we're ready for some river diving.

With a few last-minute pointers,

our team is ready to suit
up and hit the water.

I have to admit, I'm
feeling pretty nervous.

This might be the murkiest
water I've ever been diving in.

[suspenseful music]

Gonna go right straight to the bottom,

like a brick. [groans]

Oh.

Woo!

I got my light for
hands-free fossil hunting.

And then I've got this
implement, kind of a rake thing,

not only for raking,
but also for holding on.

It's my anchor.

Whoo!

It's like pea soup.

I literally can't see my feet. [laughs]

I pull myself down the anchor
line against the current.

It's really hard work.

The water is brownish yellow,

and it gets darker with
every pull on the rope.

I can't see the surface or the bottom.

The rope is my only reference.

[suspenseful music]

It doesn't take long to reach the anchor.

Down here, it's pitch black.

If I turn my light off,
I can't see anything.

I'm waiting here for cameraman Tim.

Tim arrives shortly,

and we set off upstream
to find the gravel bed

where the shark teeth are supposed to be.

We can barely see each other.

We're using old screwdrivers

to anchor ourselves into the bottom,

and crawl against the flow of the river.

We finally reach the gravel bed
and start looking for teeth.

I see lots of rocks and some shells,

but so far no shark's teeth.

But I'm not really sure what to look for.

Tim and I need to stay within
an arm's reach distance,

or we will lose each other in the murk.

The diving is really spooky.

When I see my first tooth,

I realize that they're pretty obvious.

There it is, half a tooth
sitting right on the bottom.

I put it in my bag, and continue on.

Bolstered by my newfound success,
I decide to try the rake,

but it doesn't really help at all.

The nice thing about
the current is the fact

that it will take away any mess I make.

So I try waving the top
layer away with my hand.

It works much better than the rake.

Soon I find another tooth fragment.

It's half a tooth split
right down the middle.

After an hour of searching
for teeth, Tim and I surface.

Neither of us found
anything really spectacular,

but we got a feel for the process.

And I got used to working in the current

and limited visibility.

It's so nice to see the
sun when we surface.

So this is kind of an
unusual style of diving.

First of all, the current is ripping.

We're in a river, and so
the water's really moving.

So right now, I have to hold this rope

just to stay by the side of the boat.

If I let go, I'll go sailing away.

Then the next thing

is that the water's kind
of like chocolate milk.

You can't, here's my fin.

Here's my fin.

And as I put it under water, [laughs]

you'll notice that it very
quickly goes out of sight.

And the fact is that I can't
even see my foot under water.

So I would say the vis is
about, I let put my hand out.

I could just see my hand that far away.

It's really murky. [laughs]

So when you're looking for fossils,

this light is really important,

'cause it's right focused on the bottom,

and you have to look at the bottom

from like less than a foot away.

You just have your face jammed right up

on the bottom looking
for the fossils. [sighs]

It's challenging, but it's rewarding.

We're off to another spot
in the river in our search

for megalodon teeth.

Everywhere we look, it's beautiful.

Next, we suit up for another dive.

And ready?

All right, here we go.

Yeah! [laughs]

- [Alan] Yeah.

There you go, brother.

- Okay.

It's time to descend back
down into the darkness,

and get serious about
finding some shark teeth.

[Jonathan speaks indistinctly]

It's hard to believe that the
visibility could be any worse

than it was at the last spot,
but it's much worse here.

The visibility is measured in inches.

Tim and I try to communicate by talking,

because we can't see each
other's hand signals.

[Tim speaks indistinctly]

Talking isn't working either.

The good news is that Alan put us right

on an excellent gravel bed,

and this spot looks very
promising for fossils.

[mysterious music]

I immediately find a
small but complete tooth,

and then another.

They're not buried, but
sitting right on top.

[Jonathan speaks indistinctly]

As the current moves silt downstream,

new fossils are always being uncovered.

I am using Alan's lucky pink catch bag

with the Velcro closure, so I
won't lose my precious stash.

I find another half tooth.
It has perfect serrations.

I have to wonder,

did this tooth break like
this when the shark lost it?

Or did it break later, and
the fossil formed like this,

or did the fossil form
and then break in half?

We will never know.

In the bag it goes.

As I wave some silt away,
I find a perfect specimen.

It's not huge and it has marine
growth that I can clean off,

but this is a great tooth.

In the bag.

Fossil hunting requires patience,

but it's actually really peaceful

and relaxing to just work my way slowly

and methodically over the gravel bed.

The best technique is
to work a grid pattern

so you cover every bit of the bed,

and my patience pays off

with a really big tooth
in perfect condition.

This one is at least four,
maybe even five inches,

nowhere near the size

of the biggest one Alan has ever found,

which was six and three-quarters inches.

[mysterious music continues]

When I put this tooth in
the bag, I double checked

to make sure that Velcro is closed.

I would cry if I lost this tooth.

Woo!

Alan, this was a great spot.

I finally got something.

- [Alan] Awesome.

[Jonathan laughs]

Some weight to it.

- [Jonathan] Yeah.

- [Alan] Oh, wow.

Oh!

Oh, nice!

- [Jonathan] We find more
than just megalodon teeth.

In fact, there are shark
teeth even older than that.

So Alan, this is,

what did you say this
species of shark was?

- [Alan] Angustiden.

- [Jonathan] And that's pre-megalodon.

- Two generations. Yeah.

There's a chub,

which is one generation,
like the father to the meg.

- [Jonathan] Yep.

- [Alan] And then angustiden is sort of,

would be the grandfather to the meg.

- [Jonathan] And you can tell
that because of these little.

- [Alan] Because of those cusps.

- [Jonathan] These cusps on the side.

- [Alan] Wow.

- [Jonathan] So that puts this at,

how old are we talking on this tooth?

- [Alan] Probably 20 million plus.

- 20 million years old.


And the serrations are still sharp.

- [Alan] Yeah, that's what's amazing.

- Wow. That's awesome.

Nice find, Al.

- [Alan] Thank you.

- Yeah, nice.

- That's cool.
- And the three of these

were clumped together on the bottom.

- So were these three.

- [Tim] Yeah.

- You know, I found the first one,

and I said, oh, you know,

maybe there's some more around here.

And so I just looked.

- [Alan] It shows you this area

hadn't been picked over for 'em, where you

find clusters like that.
- To be fossilized.

Yeah, yep.

This one's still got a little
bit of serration on it.

It's a pretty tooth.

- [Alan] I like that too.

- [Jonathan] Underwater,
I focused on digging,

but back on the boat, I
can really take some time

to check out all teeth I found.

And it's really exciting,
like finding them again.

- [Alan] This one's over four inches.

You see the measurements on the bag?

- [Jonathan] Yep. Oh.

Oh, so that's how you measure.

- [Tim] We lost the sun.

- [Alan] Well, that'll
give you a ballpark.

You know it's not perfect
'cause it's a stretchy bag.

- [Jonathan] It's a stretchy
bag. It's over four.

- [Alan] Yep.

- [Jonathan] Haha. Got one over four.

This one's almost four.

- [Alan] Well, I mean, if you-

- [Jonathan] If you measure
the other side, it's over four.

There we go.

- You measure

the longest side.
[Jonathan laughs]

- [Jonathan And Alan] Always
measure the longest side.

- [Alan] Yep.

- Wait a minute. Wait, wait.

- [Tim] Wanna borrow this bag again?

- And that's four.
- This one's over four.

I got three of them over four.

- [Tim] On one dive.

- That's pretty cool.
- Yeah.

It's pretty impressive.

- [Jonathan] In two days of diving

with Alan on the Cooper
River, I find dozens of teeth,

including three that are
larger than four inches,

and one that is larger than five.

Not too bad for my first
time fossil hunting.

The Cooper River has been
an awesome experience.

Okay, ready?

[gentle music]

The diving is challenging.
The visibility is bad.

The current is a constant concern,

but when you get on a prime gravel bed

and you start finding
teeth, none of that matters.

The hunt for the next tooth is addictive.

Sometimes the blue world
isn't very blue at all,

but I can't wait to come
back and do it again.

- [Announcer] Coming up,
the Bird family volunteers

to work on a farm, an underwater farm.

- A few years ago, we visited Ken Nedimyer

and the Coral Restoration
Foundation in the Florida Keys,

where they're farming coral
to replenish damaged reefs.

[gentle music]

Turns out the operation is so successful,

they decided to open
another one here on Bonaire.

Bonaire is a territory

of the Netherlands located in
the southern Caribbean Sea,

just off the coast of Venezuela.

It's a warm, tropical place surrounded

by beautiful blue water, known as one

of the best scuba diving
destinations in the Caribbean.

But like much of the Caribbean,

the population of some species

of shallow water corals here
on Bonaire has been damaged

in the past.

The Coral Restoration
Foundation established

an operation here on Bonaire,

headquartered at Buddy Dive Resort,

with a coral farm just offshore.

I drop in to meet the
director, Francesca Virdis,

who explains why they built
a coral farm here on Bonaire.

- Because even if Bonaire is
famous to have probably one

of the best and most pristine
reefs in the Caribbean,

our corals are suffering as well,

in particular, two species of coral.

They are endangered,

so they're protected
at international level,

and they are staggered and anchored coral.

And that's why we farm them,

because there is the need
to restore their population.

- [Jonathan] Since the operation
always needs volunteers

to help out, my family and
I are volunteering our day

to do some work on the underwater farm.

- We clean from the
algae, top, bottom, front,

and back, and then we
have the trunk, all that.

So, and you might have
some tags and labels.

It's good to clean them as well,

so we are always able to read it.

- [Jonathan] Christine
heads to the dive shop

for some tanks, because today's
work will be underwater.

Next, we load our gear on the boat,

and meet Captain Augusto.

- Looking good!

[crew laughs]

- [Jonathan] Fortunately,
Elise remembers the camera.

[gentle music]

We get some last-minute instructions,

then we're off.

Along the way, we assemble our gear.

- We're good.

- [Crew Member] Okay.

- Elise,

Liam,

Christine,

and I hit the water, and we're ready

to be a professional
underwater farm hand team.

[mysterious music]

Francesca takes us down to
the far end of the farm,

which consists of plastic trees

holding small living pieces of coral.

The trees are anchored into the sea floor

and held up by floats.

The coral is just tied with fishing line.

Eventually the coral grows over the knot.

Each tree is labeled and recorded,

so the exact age and growth
rates can be tracked.

But it's a constant battle with algae,

which grows readily on the plastic trees,

and then works its way
down the fishing line,

trying to smother the coral.

Soon the kids are scrubbing
the coral trees clean of algae.

If you have to work on a farm,

doing it underwater
certainly adds some fun.

Christine's trying to
keep up with the kids,

and even the fish join in.

Tangs are a kind of fish that
survive by foraging for algae.

They're critical to protecting the reef

from algae on the coral.

And so here on the farm,
they're a welcome guest.

If only the kids would
put this much effort

into their chores.

Liam is exhibiting
perfect buoyancy control

as he focuses on the job.

And after an hour of solid work,

we finish when our scuba
tanks are getting low,

and head back to the boat.

With a fresh set of scuba
tanks, Francesca takes us over

to see a section of reef
that has been replanted.

All of this healthy staghorn coral

was planted only three years ago.

Already it has grown a meter tall.

Individual stands of coral
are tracked with little tags,

so this coral can be
traced all the way back

to the individual tree
on which it was grown.

After our tour, it's time
to head back to the boat.

That coral just looks incredibly happy.

It's taken over down there.

Back at the classroom,

a local school group is
visiting on a field trip

to learn about coral reefs,
and how the coral farm works.

Then they grab some snorkel
gear to get a tour of one

of the close transplant sites.

- [Child] Mama, come here.

- [Jonathan] It's shallow enough

that they can see it from the surface,

and they also get to see some
of the local marine life.

[gentle music]

Coral reefs are an essential part

of the tropical ocean ecosystem.

Coral farming provides a
new way to help repair reefs

that have been damaged by
storms or human impact.

As the technology develops,
perhaps other kinds

of coral could be farmed as well.

And these developments are
made possible by people

who study the life in the
ocean and seek to protect it.

It's a great story of
success in the blue world.

[upbeat music]

[dramatic music]