As summer approaches, gannets face a perilous challenge: their primary food source, sardines, migrate far out to sea off the coast of South Africa.
When dolphins hunt sardines, their herding drives the fish toward the surface, creating a reachable target for gannets. The birds dive from above, taking advantage of the sardines trapped near the top of the water.
The birds have flown hundreds of miles in search of a meal. Once they’ve sited their target, they plunge from heights of 30m striking the water at 100km/h. Every dive subjects them to enormous forces where the slightest miscalculation could be fatal.
Watch the breathtaking BBC Earth footage
Sadly, as one gannet makes an error of judgement, it breaks its neck and sinks slowly down into a watery grave. Its chick, back on the colony, will most likely starve.
This footage was originally filmed for BBC's Nature's Great Events, a six-part series that looked at the sardine run off the coast of South Africa.
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Main image: Cape gannets dive into a sardine baitball. Credit: Getty Images
