British swimmer Adam Walker from Nottingham was saved by a pod of dolphins after a great white shark was stalking him while he was swimming off the coast of New Zealand.
Adam was completing the 16-mile challenge to swim across the Cook Strait when he spotted the 6-foot apex predator swimming just a few feet below him.
“I happened to look down and saw a shark a few metres underneath me,” Adam said on his YouTube channel. “I tried not to panic as I have an objective to successfully swim across.”
A pod of dolphins happened to be swimming along with him and noticed the cold-blooded beast was stalking him and decided to form a protective ring around Adam as the shark approached, protecting him from a potential attack.
“I’d like to think they were protecting me and guiding me home,” he said, according to the Daily Mail. “This swim will stay with me forever.”
? | Brit swimmer saved by ‘hero’ dolphins scaring off deadly shark about to attack him
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Marine experts say that dolphins stick together in pods as a way of defending themselves from a shark attack. With strength in numbers, they are able to intimidate a shark and drive it away from Adam.
He explained that he’s not 100% sure if the dolphins formed the protective ring around him to protect him from the shark, however, it worked because the shark ended up swimming away.
“I can’t say whether the dolphins came as a pod to my aid as they can’t speak to me, however I can say that after a few minutes the shark disappeared and the dolphins stayed with me for another 50 mins which was an amazing experience,” Adam said.