Life ain't easy for seals, which are often eaten by great whites and other shark species. But in this one instance, a seal avoided becoming a great white's meal. In this video released by the Atlantic White Shark Conservancy, you can see a shark lunging at and missing a seal as it darts out of the water, just feet from the shore in Cape Cod, Massachusetts.
Dozens of great white sharks have been sighted in the area in recent weeks, leading to many beach closures. On August 14, two beaches were shut down after a great white attacked and then spit out a seal.
The increase in sharks is driven by an explosion in the gray seal population, which by the 1960s had been almost wiped out due to hunting. But the Marine Mammal Protection Act of 1972 protected the animals, and their numbers have bounced back. Some argue that the area has become overpopulated with the seals, and their habit of eating fish has irked local fishermen.
This video can be contrasted with a famous segment from the BBC's series Planet Earth where a white shark nabs a seal before flying out of the water.
