A world-renowned Canadian photographer, Paul Nicklen, got here nose to nose with an ocean predator, and he might have died. In truth, it appears for a second he thought he would.
“This was most likely the closest our co-founder Paul Nicklen Photography has ever come to dying within the wild,” wrote SeaLegacy, a nonprofit environmental conservation group, on Fb. “Over a long time of filming a few of the planet’s strongest animals, he’s constructed his profession on being calm, affected person, and respectful. Let the animal lead the interplay. That mutual belief has opened doorways to once-in-a-lifetime encounters—and stored him secure via (virtually) all of them.”
SeaLegacy then went on to share an incident from 2008 in Antarctica, when Nicklen was making an attempt to be the primary individual to movie a breeding male elephant seal underwater. (Keep in mind, male elephant seals can weigh over 7,000 kilos and attain 20 toes lengthy). Seems, these large animals don’t like being spied on whereas within the act.
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“As quickly as Paul entered the water, the bull noticed him and charged,” SeaLegacy explains. “Mistaking him for a rival, the seal tried to crush him repeatedly. Paul thought, ‘So that is the way it’s going to finish.’”
Fortunately, Nicklen survived the terrifying encounter, and SeaLegacy doesn’t say whether or not or not he sustained any accidents.
See the second this proficient photographer practically died by a large elephant seal:
Header inventory picture by David Merron Pictures/Getty Pictures