Shark Tonic
There was a time when I was impressed by cage diving with sharks. Then I was impressed by shark riding. Now it is all about putting a shark into a catatonic state as this video (longer version here) shows:
That might be the most amazing piece of shark footage I have ever seen. Who knew that you could do that to a Caribbean reef shark?
This is from the show Sharkman, part of Discovery Channel's 20th Anniversary Shark Week (20 years!?! Man, I feel old).
The Sharkman was also able to put a large tiger shark into tonic, which was astonishing. He was in the water with multiple man eating tiger sharks, a few that appeared to be over 10 feet long and weigh over 500 lbs, with just standard scuba gear (no cage, no protective chain armor). He grabbed on to one, put it into tonic, and held on to it as it peacefully drifted down 50 feet.
He tried with great whites and got close, but never pulled it off completely. For the climax to the show he held on to the dorsal fin of a great white and rode it for something like 500 feet. The announcer said that was even better than tonic, but that is total BS for we all know that shark riding is now passe and putting sharks into tonic is the new hotness. I am crossing my fingers that he actually was able to make it happen with the great white, but they held on to the footage to make a sequel for next year's Shark Week to be called "G. White and the Tonic".
Move over Chris Fallows, Michael Rutzen you are my new hero.
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11 comments:
Shark week was the best I have ever seen in years. I'm a Florida surfer and it never fails Shark week and there are waves! The Tonic episode was the best... be it he only achieved tonic on the G white for a brief moment who cares - that crazy dude had a dorsal fine ride for how ever long. Quite an accomplishment. Now if we could only communicate or somehow avoid the accidental consumptions in Northern Cal
anon,
I agree with you that The Tonic episode was the best and what he did was totally amazing. I still can't wait to see someone put a great white into tonic like he did with the Caribbean reef shark.
I like how you put it: "accidental consumptions". Yes, we do need a way to fix that. I keep thinking that they should be able to send out sound waves and scare the sharks away from beaches. Or maybe a strange electromagnetic pulse of some type.
I live in Utah and watched shark week. I was amazed when I saw the tonic episodes!
But,what I really want to know is if it's possible to do this exercise with other animals such as dogs,if yes would they react the same way as the sharks?
Also on every shark he attempted tonic on he rubbed it on or near the nose. If someone were to attempt tonic on a dog where would they rub the dog?
anon,
I don't know about putting your dog into tonic. Would be cool if you could.
I believe with the sharks it has to do with the Ampullae of Lorenzini, which dogs do not have. This article in Wikipedia says tonic immobility has been tried with rabbits, but I don't know how much I would trust that. I was watching Dirty Jobs last night, and there were goats that just froze up when they got scared or excited. So, while I don't think it is likely that it can be done with a dog, I can't rule it out.
If you are able to do it, please let me know. :)
Sounds like good David Blaine trick to try. Blaine could train his rudimentary low-frequency Vulcan Mind-Link for 4 months to completely activate, and then - with cameras rolling - bait himself on deep-dive in San Francisco Bay with raw liver, and then do the forbidden dance with the G-White. I'm the paparazzi selling this one to the tabloids.
anon,
I like the way you think.
Hello,
i absolutely love Shark Week, and i'm lucky enough to see it broadcasted on French television.
I saw the one with Mark Rutzen putting a tiger shark into tonic, and I'm desperately looking for that vid somewhere on the internet.. Could somebody help me out with a link?
Thanks, merci
Flore
Hi Flore,
I believe it is in this Shark Week: Ocean of Fear DVD. The actual program is the Sharkman one.
Hi FK,
Thanks ever so much !
great blog you got there
i'll be coming back here for any questions,
also i noticed i had written Mark instead of Mike...Mike + Shark, unfortunate shortcut hehe
bye
Flore
Is there a way this can be fake? I mean, seriously? Why isn't this guy's techniques being deployed all over the world...? Why isn't it taught to divers, military, etc..? It was unbelievable to see !!! I'm stuck between disbelief and joy.
It is taught, watch the video again, it is taught by Cristina Zenato in the Bahamas...There is a full shark course to teach tonic and MIchael took the course. And it's not something you can do all the time, to all the sharks. There are different species that react well to tonic, there are different kind of tonic. There are different sharks on a day to day basis that will elect to be reached, touched and put into the state and wake up all the same.
Michael achieved great work, but look at the show again and watch how he learned it from other people who are out there doing it every day. Shark tonic has been done in the Bahamas for the last 15 years!
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