Man Snaps '1-in-a-Trillion' Shot of Hawk Carrying Shark That's Carrying Fish
You’re a wildlife photographer. You’ve gotten some awesome shots before.
Perhaps you’ve seen a mother bird feeding her young. Or maybe you’ve caught a bobcat fighting a rattlesnake. Maybe you’ve even gotten a picture of a rare white elk, grazing among Swedish fields on a misty April morn.
But have you ever gotten a picture of an osprey carrying a small shark that was itself carrying a small fish? No, of course you haven’t.
You aren’t that awesome — unless you’re Doc Jon.
According to WTVT, Jon is a wildlife photographer who was taking pictures of the birds out at Hubbard’s Marina in Madeira Beach, Florida earlier this month.
He spotted what he assumed was an osprey with a very large fish in its talons. This isn’t unusual; after all, being one of the more awesome members of the hawk family, the osprey is known to catch some big ones. In this case, the “fish” was a foot long.
It wasn’t until he got home that he realized just what he had.
“It was very far away so I couldn’t see it through my viewer but when I got home and zoomed in on the photo I saw the catch was a shark!” Jon said.
But that wasn’t all — the shark itself had something in its mouth, too.
“When i looked on my computer i saw the fishs tail was that of a shark. then zooming and cleaning up the photo noticed THE SHARK IS EATING A FISH!” Jon said in an April 13 Facebook post, along with a lot more exclamation points, a few emojis and a disclaimer that none of this was photoshopped.
“This is a one-in-a-trillion photograph,” Jon told WTVT.
It’s also a brilliant illustration of the food chain.
Little fish are eaten by bigger fish — in this case, the cartilaginous shark, considered to be one of the apex predators of the ocean.
However, even though this small shark may be fearsome to fish in the ocean, it’s no match for an osprey with keen eyesight and sharp talons.
It’s so savagely beautiful you almost want narration over it. Where’s Richard Attenborough when you need him?
Truth and Accuracy
We are committed to truth and accuracy in all of our journalism. Read our editorial standards.
