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. Continue reading →