Remember the Farquhar bird fly video from a couple of years back?
Well, now courtesy of the filmmakers of Blue Planet II there is video proof that GTs take birds from the air.
Sixteen years after the original The Blue Planet aired, the series returns this month with scientific discoveries and filming firsts that reveal the surprising intelligence and complex social lives of creatures beneath the waves.
Among the most astonishing discoveries was one made in the Seychelles, where filmmakers found that a predatory fish, the giant trevally, leaps into the air to grab sooty terns on the wing.
“A fish that launches itself, missile-like, to take birds from the air, sounded too extraordinary to be true,” said Miles Barton, producer for the Coasts episode. “Despite it being a fishermen’s tale, there was no photographic evidence to back it up. So I was skeptical, to say the least. We arrived and got very excited because, yes, there were splashes everywhere, the fish were leaping out of the water and they did seem to be grabbing birds. They’re amazing shots. A genuine bird-eating fish.”
The footage proved for the first time that the fish can spot moving birds in the air from underwater and calculate the light shift so they can catch their moving target.
LINK (via: Times Live)
Blue Planet II is due for broadcast starting October 29th.
Set your DVR, episode 6 Coasts, is the one featuring the bird eating Trevally.
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