Last Sunday’s Nature program on our PBS station interested me for two reasons:

1. It was entitled Sharkland and was going to expand my recent inexplicable fascination with basking sharks; and
2. It was filmed in the oceans around the tip of South Africa, which still occupies a good portion of my heart. (We lived in Cape Town for 18 months, Johannesburg for 10 years).

With 400 species of sharks in the world (who knew?), the basking shark received only honorable mention on the program. My guess is he’s too tame – toothless and a harmless predator, unless you happen to be plankton.

Food Chain of the Sea

The program wasn’t limited to sharks. It also filmed Cape gannets eating so many fish they couldn’t fly, which allowed them to be swallowed by fur seals, some of whom have learned that the bird comes garnished with a stomach full of fish. The seals are then hunted down by the great white shark, the top of that particular food chain.

Surprising Predator

You’ve heard of the sting-y Portuguese man-of-war, right?  It looks like a jelly fish, but even washed dead upon the beach, its long tentacles can deliver poison that can cause your skin to sting, burn and turn red at the very least, and for those susceptible to it, cause difficulty with breathing and even cardiac arrest.

But do you know who can crawl right up to this man-of-war and devour it without hesitation?

A snail! That’s right – a snail!

Sometimes it’s called a plough snail, because

1. It burrows into the sand to avoid being either washed out to sea or stranded on higher ground and
2. It lives in Southern Africa and that’s the way they spell plow.

They also call it a “surfing snail” because it uses its large fleshy foot to surf up the beach to find its prey stranded or washed up on the shore. I did find this video (filmed in South Africa) that shows the little suckers in action. BE WARNED: Although they’re cute at first, watching them dine is not for the squeamish.

NOTE to Professional Bloggers:

I know, I know. This is not exactly in my “niche,” but I am making it so. That’s why my web address includes not only the word aging but also wonder, as in discovery, as in being in awe of the world and of the people in it. We live on an amazing planet.

I do not praise evolution for our planet’s wondrous existence. The theory of evolution is just too serious for this level of humor.