Members of the Our Planet II crew had a terrifying brush with danger with some "incredibly hungry" 15-foot-long tiger sharks whilst working on the David Attenborough-narrated documentary for Netflix.
Speaking to the Radio Times, Our Planet II producer and director Toby Nowlan revealed that the encounter came during filming on the first episode of the series which is all about unraveling the mysteries of animal migration patterns. They were filming the predators in a remote location in the seas of Laysan, one of the Northwestern Hawaiian islands.
There, tiger sharks travel as far as 2,000 miles to feed on unlucky albatross chicks who are still waiting to be fed by their parents. Nowlan revealed that the hungry sharks attacked the inflatable boats that the crew had set out in.
"This 'v' of water came streaming towards us and this tiger shark leapt at the boat and bit huge holes in it", he said. "The whole boat exploded. We were trying to get it away and it wasn't having any of it. It was horrific. That was the second shark that day to attack us."
The director went on to explain that the attack was "extremely unusual". "They were incredibly hungry", Nowlan said, "so there might not have been enough natural food and they were just trying anything they came across in the water".
As the crew wasn't far from land, they were able to get their inflatable dinghy onto the beach. The crew's trouble didn't even end there, as the small dinghy they sent out after patching the boat up was subsequently attacked by some giant trevallies that knocked out the boat's motor!
Series producer Huw Cordey described the shark attacks as "like something out of Jaws" when discussing the series with Forbes. He revealed that there were originally plans to do an underwater shoot watching the underwater sharks as they waited in the shallows, but plans changed after the crew made their emergency landing.
Our Planet II is now available to stream on Netflix. And if you're looking for more factual entertainment to enjoy, check out our recommendations for the best Netflix documentaries you should be streaming right now.
