Great Whites: Diving With the Sharkman

There is no animal that we fear more and understand less than the great white shark. In part because it's so hard to get near to them, studying great whites hasn't been easy. But there is one man who has spent his life getting closer to great whites, more often, than anyone else.

His name is Mike Rutzen and in South Africa, where he lives, he's known simply as "The Sharkman."

What he has discovered about these predators will surprise you: far from being mindless killing machines, Rutzen believes great whites are smart, curious, and not out to kill humans. And as CNN's Anderson Cooper saw when he went to South Africa, Rutzen is willing to risk his life to prove it.

Full Segment: The Sharkman
Web Extra: Anderson Cooper & The Great White Shark
Web Extra: Are People Food to a Great White Shark?
Web Extra: Swimming with a Great White Shark
Web Extra: Great White Shark Takes the Bait

Rutzen and Cooper took a boat ride to look for a great white Rutzen could swim with.

That's right, swim with. Before he gets in the water, he needs to find a great white that is both calm and curious, a shark he refers to as a "player."

Asked what a "player" is, Rutzen told Cooper, "Well, a player is basically the shark that's so relaxed, has a nice personality, woke up on the right side of the reef, and...the animal's willing to interact with us, it's so curious."

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Rutzen says great whites have personalities. They may be the top predator in the sea, but they are, he says, not the man-eating killers of our nightmares.

"Now how can you tell that's a player?" Cooper asked, looking at a nearby shark.

"Look how she's moving. She's checking everything out. Checking how slowly she's gonna do this. See how she looks at everything," Rutzen explained.

In Rutzen's mind, this shark was curious and a "player."

This shark and several others have been attracted to Rutzen's boat by chum, a mixture of bait and fish blood. It's believed great whites can smell a single drop of blood from a hundred yards away.

Now that he's found a player, Rutzen and his cameraman Morne Hardenberg suit up and prepare to do the unthinkable: plunge into bloody water with great white sharks all around.

"There's no universities to teach you what these animals' social dynamics are and social behavior is. And the only way to find that out is by getting into the water," Rutzen explained.

Immediately, a curious great white comes straight at Rutzen; his only protection, his camera. Rutzen has figured out that great whites don't like the feel of metal.

Good visibility is crucial. The sharks are constantly circling, and Rutzen has to continually turn around so they don't sneak up on him.

"They are extremely inquisitive creatures. I like to say they're like little kids in a toy store. And you just tell them, 'Don't touch. Observe.' They all touch," he told Cooper, laughing.

"Problem is when they get curious, they sometimes bite," Cooper pointed out.

"Yes," Rutzen acknowledged. "The animals are not trying to actively kill you. They're trying to outwit you. I mean, there's a difference. And you're trying to outwit them again."

"So there's a mental battle going on or a mental game being played between you and the shark?" Cooper asked.

"I believe so, yes," Rutzen replied.

"That seems like the ultimate test of putting your life on the line," Cooper remarked.

"I would like to think that it's the ultimate trust between the animal and myself," he replied.

Rutzen is not a scientist. He was born on a farm and knew nothing about sharks until 20 years ago, when he began working as a fisherman along the rugged coast near Cape Town. These waters are home to the world's highest concentration of great whites.

"This is the perfect hotspot in the world for great whites," Rutzen explained.

It's a perfect hotspot because it's an ideal feeding ground for great whites. It's not far from the southern tip of Africa, where the Atlantic and Indian Oceans meet. The water is rich in nutrients which attract whales, huge shoals of fish and seals, some 60,000 of them.

Seals are a prime target for great whites. Early one morning, Rutzen takes us to an area called "Shark Alley," a spot the seals pass through searching for food.

Cooper asked, "With all the fish in the sea, why are the great whites so interested in the seals?"

"The reason for that is the blubber. Marine mammals have a blubber layer and their blubber is extremely energy rich," Rutzen explained.

While explaining this, they sighted a very large great white on the hunt.

The sharks leap straight out of the water, stunning the seals, before devouring them. Seals are mammals, they're quick, agile, and smart, but as Rutzen has learned, they are no match for the power, speed, and intelligence of the great whites.

"And they have to outsmart the seal," Cooper remarked.

"If they weren't as smart or smarter than the seal, they wouldn't have eaten them," Rutzen explained.

Watching great whites hunt has become a big business in this part of South Africa. Each year, tens of thousands of tourists flock to the town of Gansbaai, where they are offered a close encounter with great whites from the safety of an underwater cage.

Rutzen started his own dive operation 15 years ago. It began as a business, but has become a mission, an effort to learn about great whites, and dispel the myths surrounding them.

"I think humans like to fear these animals, and not understand these animals," Rutzen said.

Each year as many as 70 million sharks are slaughtered to make shark fin soup, a delicacy in Asia. There's undercover footage that shows how fins are cut off while the sharks are still alive, and their bodies are thrown back into the sea.

"If people can just see these animals for what they really are, I'll be happy because then they'll have a chance of survival," Rutzen said.

By diving without a cage with the sharks himself, Rutzen is trying to show that they are a lot more complex animals than previously thought. After each dive Rutzen spends hours reviewing his material, trying to make sense of how they interact with him.

"The smaller you make your body, the less a threat you are. And then the animals should come closer. The bigger you are, the more threatening you are," Rutzen said, explaining what he does with his body when being approached by a shark.

Rutzen believes that the great white is extremely selective about what it eats and insists he is not on their menu as long as he stays calm and shows the shark that he has no fear.

"The most important thing is don't chase the animals. Don't run away from the animals. Stand your ground and keep eye contact with the animal," he said. "Make eye contact. It's not like a primate. If you're looking at it, it's already lost the element of surprise."

Speaking of the great white's eye, Rutzen told Cooper, "Well, people like to think it's this evil, black eye of the great whites. Their eyes are actually the color of the bluest sea. It's like this turquoise blue, the retina. Beautiful. You like blue eyes blonds? There's a blue eye that you can't match."

"I hope you've never complimented a woman by telling her she had eyes as pretty as a great white shark," Cooper joked.

"No. Not yet," Rutzen replied, laughing.

Great whites have been around for millions of years. But they've never been seen mating or giving birth. Their senses are highly developed, but when it comes to touch, Rutzen believes they often rely on their mouths.

According to Rutzen, the shark uses its mouth to feel him.

"But that ends up being a deadly bite," Cooper remarked.

"Touch is a very important sense for a living animal," said Rutzen. "So why shouldn't they use that sense?"

Rutzen believes most attacks by great whites on humans have been the result of curiosity, not deliberate acts of aggression. Worldwide there are only about five deadly shark attacks each year, a tiny amount considering the millions of people who swim in the ocean.

Rutzen says many of us have likely had a positive encounter with a shark, without even knowing it.

Asked what he means by a "positive encounter," Rutzen told Cooper, "It's where the animal comes to look at you, sees you're not food. It's not really hunting. May be very curious in what you're doing, look at you for a while, and then move off again. You'll never know the animal's there. But the animal knows you're there."

"And that should tell people what?" Cooper asked.

"It will tell the people that these animals are not out to get us. They're not in our oceans to kill humans," he replied.

Rutzen doesn't take tourists diving with sharks without a cage, but Cooper dived together with him before and Rutzen offered to take Cooper for an up close look at great whites, with no cage and no protection. On a perfect calm morning they headed to Shark Alley.

They dropped anchor and the chumming began. It didn't take long for the sharks to arrive.

The fact that they had a paramedic on board and an ambulance waiting on the shore wasn't exactly reassuring to Cooper.

"They have been chumming the water for about half an hour now and already spotted four or five great whites swimming around the boat looking for food, so it's time to go diving," Cooper remarked while preparing to get into water.

"Mike Rutzen says that the most important thing once you're in the water is to remain calm. Easier said than done."

Project confidence - that's what Mike Rutzen recommended, but Cooper was not exactly sure how to do that underwater through a wet suit.

Rutzen and cameraman Hardenberg have been doing this for so long that they seemed relaxed; Cooper's pulse was already high.

"Just remember if I get eaten just keep rolling. Because the only thing more stupid than being eaten, is being eaten and not being videotaped," Cooper joked, looking into the camera.

Rutzen believed the sharks circling the boat are players - curious, and not too aggressive. It was an odd sensation, knowing that you're about to jump into blood-filled, shark infested water.

Rutzen went first, then Cooper took the plunge.

Immediately a 15-foot great white swam straight toward them.

Their size and power was just awesome. They didn't attack, but they wanted to see what we were, and circled us constantly.

Up close, you could see their razor sharp teeth, and the strength of their bodies. It was thrilling to be so close to such a massive predator.

Seeing them in their own environment, not grabbing at bait or lunging at seals gives you a new impression of them - a more complete picture, and that was exactly what Mike Rutzen was hoping for.

The current was getting stronger and the visibility began deteriorating, so we decided it was time to surface.

"It's incredible. Unbelievable," Cooper remarked. "It's terrifying and at the same time exhilarating. It's unlike anything else."

But he also said, "And I am so happy I am back up."

Cooper said he was glad he did it, but he wasn't sure he'd do it again. As for Mike Rutzen, he continues to push the boundaries. He sometimes even hitches rides on the dorsal fins of great whites. It is a stunning interaction but Rutzen insists he is not being reckless.

"The more we work with them, the more careful we are, because of the knowledge. It's not that we're getting complacent because we have done it so many times," he said.

"You're more careful with them now than you were when you started?" Cooper asked.

"Yes, because we are learning small things of what makes them tick. So we are so careful not to do the wrong thing," Rutzen explained.

"You did say before though when we talked that, you know, you expect to die at a young age," Cooper remarked.

"Yeah, but because of my lifestyle - I smoke too much, I drink too much, and I drive my car very fast," he replied laughing.

But he doesn't expect to get killed by a great white. "No, no, no," he told Cooper.

Produced by Michael Gavshon and Paul Bellinger