The shark days of summer are upon us, starting with National Geographic’s SharkFest, a five-week programming block dedicated to these toothy and intimidating creatures. (Discovery Channel, showing just a tad more restraint, limits itself to a single Shark Week, which starts August 9.)
Tonight’s SharkFest offering is Raging Bull Shark, which is devoted to one of the more mid-size members of the shark family—the bull shark, which trails the great white shark and tiger shark in size. But bull sharks have the most powerful bite, pound-for-pound, a trait that seems to have only increased among younger bull sharks out of necessity, as they tend to feed in murkier waters (they need to hold on to their struggle prey, you see). In this exclusive clip from tonight’s special, biologist/photographer Zeb Hogan goes looking bull sharks in fresh water and finds more than he hoped for: a whole nursery.
As for the rest of SharkFest, you can look forward to titles like Sharkatraz and Red Sea Jaws and episodes like “Sharkcano,” which is not the name of Ian Ziering’s new movie, but rather, a TV special that explores the connection between sharks and volcanoes—and if you guessed it’s “things humans are better off leaving alone unless they’re scientists with good reason,” you’re not the only one.
Raging Bull Shark airs at 8 p.m. ET on National Geographic.