National Geographic Kids Chapters: Diving With Sharks!: And More True Stories of Extreme Adventures!. Margaret Gurevich

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      (Photo Credit p1.2.2)

      Think you have what it takes to be a diver like David and Jennifer? You can start by watching the animals you want to study. Learn about their habits from the Internet, books, or visiting them in an aquarium. Learn to swim or snorkel. Then bring your camera and practice taking pictures of animals from a safe distance away. Don’t be afraid to ask an expert’s advice. And be patient. David and Jennifer sometimes wait for hours to get that perfect shot.

      Finally, the mother resurfaced. She grunted as she swam toward her pup. She inspected her pup. She nudged him through the water with her head and flippers.

      When the mother was sure her pup wasn’t hurt, she swam to Jennifer. This surprised Jennifer. She couldn’t believe the mother seal seemed to care about her, too. “She began to nudge me like she did her pup, until I was next to him,” said Jennifer.

      Then the mother began to move the pair through the water, away from the male seals below them. There was a small gap in the ice. The mother and pup slipped into the gap and disappeared. Jennifer watched them go.

      Jennifer swam to the edge of the ice and began taking off her weight belt and camera. But before she could finish, she felt a sharp pain on her leg. The male harp seal had returned.

      He bit Jennifer again on her thigh. The bite was deep. She knew she had to make it out of the water and onto the ice. If she didn’t, the results could be deadly. “He could have pulled me underneath the sheet of ice that went on for hundreds and hundreds of feet,” said Jennifer. “I would have been stuck under the ice.”

      Jennifer jumped onto the ice floe. She could stand on the ice, but it hurt to walk far. Her right leg felt weak, and there were puncture wounds in her dry suit, but there was no gushing blood. “I thought it might not be so bad,” she said. But she needed to be sure. Back on her boat, she inspected her leg. The bite was long but not bleeding too badly. It hurt, but it wasn’t a life-and-death situation (sounds like sit-yoo-A-shun).

      More than two years later, Jennifer still has the scars and the memories. “The suit saved my life,” she said. If the suit hadn’t been made of tough Kevlar, the seal might have broken through it. Her injuries could have been much worse.

      But that frightening moment is not what she focuses on. Instead, she’s in awe of the mother seal and how she protected Jennifer. “Had someone else told this story to me, I wouldn’t have believed them. I’m less of a skeptic now. Animals do amazing things, and there’s no answer why,” she said.