Shark Attack Test- Human Blood vs. Fish Blood — Transcript

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1. 0:00- This is a specialized human-shaped shark cage I designed.
2. 0:03And this is me in the middle of a shark feeding frenzy
3. 0:06in that cage, which as it happens,
4. 0:08doesn't actually keep the sharks out.
5. 0:11They're in the freaking cage.
6. 0:13But to understand how I ended up
7. 0:14in the middle of The Bahamas with buckets of blood,
8. 0:17surrounded by a butt ton of sharks,
9. 0:20we've gotta go back exactly one year.
10. 0:22Because that's when I ran a test to see what really happens
11. 0:25if sharks smell a drop of human blood in the water.
12. 0:29For that experiment,
13. 0:29I pumped out 15 drops of human blood per minute for an hour,
14. 0:34pretty close to a bunch of sharks that in the end
15. 0:36just weren't really that interested.
16. 0:38So this busted the myth from the movies
17. 0:40that sharks are these ruthless killers that just go crazy
18. 0:42if they smell a drop of your blood from a mile away.
19. 0:45But those results made me really curious if the sharks
20. 0:48would react differently to fish blood versus human blood.
21. 0:52And if they did go crazy for fish blood,
22. 0:53could I use that to put myself right at the center
23. 0:56of a shark feeding frenzy?
24. 0:57And so to satiate my curiosity,
25. 0:59my friends at Discovery helped me make my way
26. 1:01back to The Bahamas as part of Shark Week this year.
27. 1:03But this time, I wouldn't be alone.
28. 1:06- What up, Robes?
29. 1:07- Oh wow.
30. 1:08Mark's jumping in on this?
31. 1:09- What's up, y'all?
32. 1:10- Look, last Shark Week, shark tried to kill me.
33. 1:13- Hmm?
34. 1:15- I figure we'd have a little bit of science with Rober,
35. 1:18a little bit of fun with Dude Perfect,
36. 1:20and a little bit of me.
37. 1:21All right, y'all ready to do this?
38. 1:23- We were born ready, sir.
39. 1:25- All right. (palms smacking) Chop chop.
40. 1:27Let's get to it, fellas.
41. 1:28- We will not let you down.
42. 1:29Looking forward to it.
43. 1:31See ya later. - See ya.
44. 1:32- Yeah, I've got this idea for a build
45. 1:34to just really get me in close with the sharks.
46. 1:37Last year- - Hey, Rober.
47. 1:39- I was in the water.
48. 1:39- Rober. Rober.
49. 1:40- Hmm?
50. 1:41- That was me saying I'm finished with the call, bro.
51. 1:43- No, of course.
52. 1:45- All right, see you guys later.
53. 1:46Let's get to it.
54. 1:47- Let's do this.
55. 1:48- Looking forward to it.
56. 1:49See ya.
57. 1:49- And so in the direction of Shaq Diesel,
58. 1:51it was time to head to The Bahamas.
59. 1:53All that was left was to swab my nose
60. 1:55to prove to the Bahamian government
61. 1:57that I didn't have coronavirus.
62. 1:58The only problem was my test came back positive.
63. 2:04And this just made me really sad
64. 2:05because not only was I gonna miss out
65. 2:07on this epic adventure,
66. 2:08but as far as I was concerned,
67. 2:09I was basically just waiting to die.
68. 2:11And I had to interact with my family through the glass door
69. 2:14to the backyard using a laser pointer and not even
70. 2:17Fat Gus would get within six feet of me.
71. 2:21Now, I'm happy to say I eventually beat the RONA
72. 2:23and tested negative, but the only problem now
73. 2:25is I missed my chance because they were no longer
74. 2:28accepting any commercial flights from America
75. 2:30'cause we're number one baby.
76. 2:33So I was once again incredibly sad until I found a loophole.
77. 2:37Because while you couldn't go to The Bahamas
78. 2:39on a public commercial flight,
79. 2:41there were no rules against going to The Bahamas
80. 2:44on a private jet.
81. 2:46And since this was the first and last time
82. 2:48I would ever have my own personal G6,
83. 2:51I acted like I'd been here before,
84. 2:52like the true professional I am.
85. 2:54I mean, mostly.
86. 2:55(bright upbeat music)
87. 3:21Put Elon on hold and transfer to Oprah.
88. 3:23(bright upbeat music)
89. 3:35I should mention, flying across country on your own plane
90. 3:37isn't the most ecologically responsible choice.
91. 3:40So while I was in the air,
92. 3:41I utilized this website called teamtrees.org.
93. 3:43You might have heard of it.
94. 3:45To plant enough trees to suck up the carbon
95. 3:47not only for my flight,
96. 3:48but the next 100 flights this plane would take.
97. 3:51(bright upbeat music)
98. 3:54In the end, it's important you guys know
99. 3:56I'm still super grounded
100. 3:58and I didn't let the experience change me one bit.
101. 4:02And so now that I was in The Bahamas,
102. 4:03the first thing I did was check in with my marine biologist,
103. 4:06shark diving expert buddy Luke Tipple,
104. 4:08because we need to figure out
105. 4:09how to somehow get blood out of a fish.
106. 4:12Oh. (giggles)
107. 4:14- [Luke] Just like that.
108. 4:15- This is how we do it?
109. 4:17The first thought is like, (fish thuds)
110. 4:19can you just freaking blend a fish?
111. 4:21- Give it a shot. I'll be over here.
112. 4:22- Dude, you've clearly never seen "Will It Blend?".
113. 4:25There's a whole YouTube channel dedicated to this.
114. 4:27Ready? (blender whirs)
115. 4:28Oh! (both laughing)
116. 4:31(blender whirring)
117. 4:33Okay.
118. 4:34I think if we add a little bit of water.
119. 4:35Yeah.
120. 4:38Oh yeah.
121. 4:39Oh yeah.
122. 4:41(both groans)
123. 4:42This looks like the number 32 from Jamba Juice.
124. 4:45We tried a variety of other techniques
125. 4:47and eventually started hitting our stride
126. 4:49and the bucket started filling up.
127. 4:50(bright upbeat music)
128. 5:09If I couldn't smell this, that looks pretty delicious.
129. 5:13(bright upbeat music)
130. 5:14- The good thing about Mark is it's his stupid idea,
131. 5:16but he is not making other people do it.
132. 5:18- I respect that about me too.
133. 5:19- Yeah.
134. 5:20(bright upbeat music)
135. 5:28I also learned this is what fish gills
136. 5:30look like on the inside.
137. 5:31They're like pages in a book to increase the surface area
138. 5:34which maximizes the oxygen they can pull outta the water.
139. 5:37So we've taken about 20 fish
140. 5:40with a little bit of help from the blender,
141. 5:42turned them into this.
142. 5:44If I'm a shark, I'm like, that's freaking delicious.
143. 5:47Now that we had five gallons
144. 5:48of mouthwatering fish blood smoothie,
145. 5:51it was time to get some answers.
146. 5:52We already know that sharks don't necessarily go nuts
147. 5:54in the presence of a little bit of human blood,
148. 5:57but would they go nuts in the presence
149. 5:59of a little bit of fish blood?
150. 6:00And as a firm believer in the scientific method,
151. 6:02it was time to test our hypothesis by heading out to sea.
152. 6:05Once we were far enough from land,
153. 6:07Luke and I came up with a game plan for the experiment.
154. 6:09Basically we would have two surfboards in the water.
155. 6:12One would have a five gallon bucket
156. 6:13of our fish blood smoothie,
157. 6:15and then another would have five gallons of human blood.
158. 6:18We would also have a third board that just had seawater
159. 6:20as a control to make sure the sharks
160. 6:22weren't just interested in the surfboards.
161. 6:24Then we would pump out the contents
162. 6:25of each of the buckets over the course of an hour
163. 6:28and observe how many sharks approached each board.
164. 6:30Then, once we know which one they prefer after this,
165. 6:32we'll use that tomorrow in the cage,
166. 6:34just to create the most wild feeding frenzy, right?
167. 6:36- Which sounds super fun to me.
168. 6:37- 'Cause you're not in the cage.
169. 6:39(both laughs)
170. 6:40And so with the plan in place,
171. 6:41all that was left to do was put the boards together,
172. 6:43and get them out with the sharks.
173. 6:45(bright upbeat music)
174. 7:09One of the limitations to last year's test
175. 7:11was that the boards might have been too close to the boat.
176. 7:13So it's possible some of the sharks
177. 7:15actually smelled the blood but didn't investigate it
178. 7:18because they were just waiting for a handout from the boat.
179. 7:21So this time we basically placed the boards
180. 7:23in the middle of the fricking ocean
181. 7:25super far away from the boat,
182. 7:27so it wouldn't be a confounding variable.
183. 7:29Oh, and I should also mention we ended up
184. 7:30using cow's blood because it's really hard
185. 7:33to legally find five gallons of human blood.
186. 7:36And after talking with a couple shark scientists
187. 7:37they've shown experimentally that all mammal blood
188. 7:40essentially smells the same to sharks.
189. 7:43So, it wouldn't affect the results to use cow blood
190. 7:45in place of human blood.
191. 7:46So, now that all three boards were in place,
192. 7:48we double checked to ensure each was anchored down
193. 7:51to the ocean floor.
194. 7:53Then I just had to start all three custom-built pumps
195. 7:55using our custom-built remote trigger,
196. 7:57which is the exact moment I realized
197. 7:59it must have got busted while being shipped out here
198. 8:02because it wasn't sending a signal.
199. 8:04Which sucks because there's absolutely no way
200. 8:07to run the pumps manually.
201. 8:09Luckily, a trick I learned while working at NASA
202. 8:11is you always build redundancy into your systems
203. 8:15just in case.
204. 8:15So we have it in the code that if no remote start signal
205. 8:18is received after an hour, each of the pumps
206. 8:21will just automatically start up on their own.
207. 8:24It's just a feature we never had time to test,
208. 8:27so we just had to firmly cross our fingers
209. 8:30and hope for the best.
210. 8:31I'm hopeful.
211. 8:32We've had to overcome a lot to get here for this video.
212. 8:34What's one more little challenge.
213. 8:36And at exactly one hour,
214. 8:40right on cue, the backup code kicked in
215. 8:43and saved our whole experiment.
216. 8:45With blood now officially in the water,
217. 8:47we put the drone into the air and started our observations.
218. 8:51(bright upbeat music)
219. 8:53And things were pretty quiet for about the first 20 minutes,
220. 8:56but then we had our first hit on the mammal blood board.
221. 8:59Shark? - Yeah.
222. 9:00- Shark, baby!
223. 9:01We got a shark! - It's a shark?
224. 9:02Oh yeah, yeah.
225. 9:02- But pretty soon thereafter, things started heating up
226. 9:05for the fish blood smoothie board.
227. 9:07Oh my gosh.
228. 9:09There's 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11 sharks
229. 9:14around the fish smoothie board.
230. 9:15And then 10 minutes later, things were only more intense.
231. 9:20Here you can see the difference in activity
232. 9:22between the three boards.
233. 9:24And while you're running an experiment
234. 9:25and still collecting data,
235. 9:26you really need to keep an open mind.
236. 9:28But given what we were seeing,
237. 9:30it was getting pretty difficult to remain objective.
238. 9:33And so after an hour, we called the experiment
239. 9:36and went inside to officially tally up the results
240. 9:39using the drone footage.
241. 9:40And it turns out the mammal blood board
242. 9:42was approached eight times.
243. 9:44The seawater control board was at zero.
244. 9:47And the fish blood board
245. 9:49had a whopping 134 approaches from a shark.
246. 9:53Definitely seems like the fish smoothie
247. 9:55is where it's at, right?
248. 9:56- It was pretty obvious.
249. 9:56- Massive blob of sharks. No sharks.
250. 9:58- I think that's the go for tomorrow
251. 10:00for maximum feeding frenzy.
252. 10:02Now that we had a game plan
253. 10:03for my feeding frenzy cage the next day,
254. 10:05we headed back to shore and to our hotel
255. 10:07to get some rest for what was to come.
256. 10:09Oh and fun side note, if the only way
257. 10:12to get to a vacation destination is by private jet,
258. 10:14it really cuts down on the crowds.
259. 10:17(bright upbeat music)
260. 10:19We literally had this whole resort to ourselves.
261. 10:24Well, almost to ourselves.
262. 10:25There were like 40 cats
263. 10:27who apparently must also fly private.
264. 10:29We woke up bright and early the next morning,
265. 10:31feeling refreshed and headed right back out to sea
266. 10:34where Luke and I prepared some massive bags
267. 10:37of fish blood smoothie
268. 10:38for me to burst open once I went down.
269. 10:42It just seemed like a cool idea to make a cage
270. 10:44to get in the middle of a feeding frenzy,
271. 10:45until this moment. (laughs dryly)
272. 10:47Now that they're making me put on freaking chainmail,
273. 10:50makes me reconsider my life choices.
274. 10:52If something terrible happens,
275. 10:53Shaq you gotta take care of my family
276. 10:55because this is all your fault.
277. 10:57- Yeah. Let's go.
278. 11:04- And after several months of prep,
279. 11:06unfortunately, it was time for me to get in.
280. 11:09It also just so happens,
281. 11:10I might have forgot to mention this part to my wife.
282. 11:13I'm not looking under the water yet on purpose.
283. 11:18She might have been under the impression
284. 11:19I was just doing another experiment
285. 11:21with surfboards and pumps.
286. 11:24Sorry, sweetie.
287. 11:26Not only was I wearing 10 pounds
288. 11:28of steel chainmail for protection,
289. 11:30but my vest is also filled with 20 pounds of lead weights.
290. 11:34That means I sank pretty fast.
291. 11:37But also that the buoyancy to weight ratios were perfect
292. 11:40for giving me practice for walking on the moon.
293. 11:42That's one small step for man.
294. 11:45Because like many of you,
295. 11:46I will definitely go to space in my lifetime.
296. 11:49Again, just haven't mentioned that to the wife yet.
297. 11:52Super Mario jump, here we go.
298. 11:54(water sloshing)
299. 11:59Let's do this baby!
300. 12:00- [Luke] All right, you ready for the top?
301. 12:02(gentle upbeat music)
302. 12:06Okay Mark, the bait is coming behind you right now.
303. 12:09(gentle upbeat music)
304. 12:12(water sloshing)
305. 12:15- Now that I have the fish smoothie bags
306. 12:17and everyone was back at a safe distance,
307. 12:19I decide to pop these stupid things.
308. 12:22Okay.
309. 12:23Here I go.
310. 12:25Oh, this is crazy. What am I doing?
311. 12:29(suspenseful music)
312. 12:33Okay, the bait is deployed.
313. 12:37Ah!
314. 12:39I got to get this stuff outta here.
315. 12:44Here they come.
316. 12:46(Mark screams)
317. 12:47Oh.
318. 12:50Oh my God.
319. 12:55Oh God, they're bumping the cage.
320. 12:59(suspenseful music intensifies)
321. 13:01Look at those teeth!
322. 13:04That could have been my hand
323. 13:05if I wasn't doing the T-Rex maneuver.
324. 13:09They want to eat me real bad.
325. 13:12Oh, now they're literally like moving circles around me.
326. 13:16Oh gosh.
327. 13:18Oh! His head's in the cage!
328. 13:20What the crap!
329. 13:22This is certifiably insane!
330. 13:25Oh!
331. 13:27The sharks were literally trying to eat me
332. 13:28through the bottom of the cage.
333. 13:30So, they left me no choice but to defend my honor.
334. 13:33Yeah, get outta my cage!
335. 13:35Get outta my cage!
336. 13:37I'm gonna kill you Shaq!
337. 13:40Get the heck out!
338. 13:43Ayyyy.
339. 13:44Awwww.
340. 13:47Yo bro, get outta my cage, all right?
341. 13:50They loved our blended concoction.
342. 13:54We knew all along that the most dangerous part
343. 13:56would be when I exited the cage
344. 13:58because they'd still be agitated
345. 13:59and they'd be stoked to finally have access
346. 14:02to the soft chewy center.
347. 14:04Okay, the blood kinda dissipated.
348. 14:07The sharks have gone a little bit.
349. 14:09- [Luke] Okay, we're pulling the bait away, mate.
350. 14:11- [Mark] So the plan was for one of the other divers
351. 14:12to distract them way off to the side with a bait box,
352. 14:15and then I would get out as silently as possible
353. 14:18so they wouldn't notice me.
354. 14:22Dude, that was insane.
355. 14:27Yeah, you're not so tough now, are you sharks?
356. 14:30- [Luke] Okay Mark, go ahead, open the door.
357. 14:33- Okay.
358. 14:34(breathing noises)
359. 14:49Oh crap.
360. 14:51(contraption thuds loudly)
361. 14:53That was loud.
362. 14:55(water sloshing)
363. 14:56Dude. Luke!
364. 15:00Holy crap.
365. 15:01I've gotta close this back up.
366. 15:06(suspenseful music)
367. 15:07Oh geez.
368. 15:08Luke, I need help, man.
369. 15:10Holy crap.
370. 15:12Geez.
371. 15:13- [Luke] Keep your arms in mate.
372. 15:15These sharks aren't going away.
373. 15:16I'm going to get you back to the surface.
374. 15:19- [Mark] Okay.
375. 15:21(screams)
376. 15:25Oh my gosh.
377. 15:26(water sloshing)
378. 15:30- [Luke] Top side, top side.
379. 15:31We're on our way out.
380. 15:32- [Mark] I think somewhere to tell Shaq
381. 15:33he can do his own stunts from now on.
382. 15:36Hey! I'm alive!
383. 15:38The main takeaway for me for this experience
384. 15:40is that sharks have been on this planet
385. 15:42longer than the dinosaurs or even trees have.
386. 15:45So, they've had 400 million years of evolution
387. 15:48to develop these instincts that are rewarded
388. 15:50for smelling fish blood.
389. 15:52Humans and cows will be an extremely rare delicacy.
390. 15:54So it makes sense that it's not just hardwired
391. 15:56into their brains.
392. 15:57And so with all my limbs intact
393. 15:59and with my curiosity fully satiated,
394. 16:01I will leave you with these profound words
395. 16:03that in my defense might have been the drama in me speaking.
396. 16:06As humans we're always the predator
397. 16:08and not really ever the prey.
398. 16:09But this gave me a sense
399. 16:11of what it's like to be a tuna fish.
400. 16:13(heavy drum beat)
401. 16:15(playful upbeat music)