This video of a shark saving a turtle was viewed millions of times ... Only it's fake. Here's what really happened.
Category
🐳
AnimalsTranscript
00:00Oh my God!
00:02Look! A shark is carrying a turtle on the sea.
00:05You might have seen this viral video of a shark saving a turtle.
00:08The shark worked hard to escort the turtle over.
00:11With the assistance of the shark, the turtle struggled to pounce on the steps of the ship.
00:15But that's not really what's happening here.
00:17In May 2023, this video was shared on social media in several languages and viewed millions of times.
00:24Quickly, the boy immediately took out the knife.
00:26Easily cut the first rope after a moment.
00:29The second one was also smoothly cut open.
00:31A large amount of fresh air rushed into the turtle's body in an instant.
00:34In reality, what's happening in this video is not one story, but two completely different stories.
00:40This shark is not helping a turtle strangled by ropes.
00:43It's a montage of two unrelated videos assembled back to back and connected with a fade effect.
00:49There is a particular clue that reveals this.
00:52While the boat is white in the first part of the video, it clearly appears blue in the second part.
00:57So where do the two original videos come from?
01:00The video from the second part was uploaded on August 12, 2016 by the Sea Turtle Biologist YouTube channel and amassed 33 million views.
01:09The scene took place off the coast of Costa Rica.
01:11At the beginning, we see biologists rescuing a turtle.
01:14They noticed that it was entangled in a large fishing net.
01:17This entire scene was cut from the viral video.
01:20After bringing it on board, they cut the net around its neck, disinfect its wounds, and then release it.
01:37The other video, the one from the first part, was originally posted on YouTube four years later and has amassed over 756,000 views.
01:46The scene was filmed more than 700 miles away from the first video, off the coast of the Bahamas.
01:51In the video, we see a group of friends out fishing.
02:07Suddenly, they see this tiger shark chasing a turtle.
02:10Turtles are very much part of a tiger shark's diet.
02:16Eventually, the shark gives up and the friends bring the turtle on board, keep it safe, and then release it.
02:32The sea turtles in these two videos aren't even the same species.
02:36The one with the shark is a loggerhead turtle and the other is an olive ridley turtle.
02:40Both species are classified as vulnerable.
02:43So both videos show a turtle rescue story, but the tiger shark has no role in it.