Famend Wildlife Photographer Virtually Died Filming This Animal

A world-renowned Canadian photographer, Paul Nicklen, got here head to head with an ocean predator, and he may have died. In truth, it appears for a second he thought he would.

“This was probably the closest our co-founder Paul Nicklen Photography has ever come to dying in the wild,” wrote SeaLegacy, a nonprofit environmental conservation group, on Facebook. “Over decades of filming some of the planet’s most powerful animals, he’s built his career on being calm, patient, and respectful. Let the animal lead the interaction. That mutual trust has opened doors to once-in-a-lifetime encounters—and kept him safe through (almost) 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 particular person to movie a breeding male elephant seal underwater. (Remember, male elephant seals can weigh over 7,000 kilos and attain 20 ft lengthy). Turns out, these large animals don’t like being spied on whereas within the act.

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“As soon as Paul entered the water, the bull spotted him and charged,” SeaLegacy explains. “Mistaking him for a rival, the seal tried to crush him again and again. Paul thought, ‘So this is how it’s going to end.’”

Thankfully, 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 an enormous elephant seal:

Header inventory picture by David Merron Photography/Getty Images