Scientists dropped a cow into the ocean—what showed up left them stunned
An unusual deep-sea experiment in the South China Sea revealed predators no one expected—and raised new questions about climate change and marine life.
Only 5% of the ocean floor has ever been explored. The vast majority remains a mystery, hidden by crushing pressure, freezing temperatures, and the absence of light. For marine biologists, discovering how life thrives in these extreme conditions is one of science’s greatest challenges.
A very unusual bait
In a bold experiment, Chinese scientists dropped the carcass of a cow more than 4,900 feet (1,500 meters) deep into the South China Sea. Their goal: to use the animal as bait to uncover which predators lurk in the depths.
Originally, the researchers wanted to use a whale—far more common in marine environments and typically more attractive to scavengers. But the logistics of sourcing and transporting a whale proved impossible. The cow became the unexpected substitute, fitted with underwater cameras before being lowered to a continental slope near Hainan Island.
What those cameras captured left the scientists astonished.
The elusive sleeper shark
Eight Pacific sleeper sharks—a species rarely spotted in the wild—appeared on camera. Although sleeper sharks are not uncommon, they are notoriously difficult to observe, and until now, they had never been seen in this part of the ocean.
The footage shows the sharks circling cautiously, lining up to take turns at the carcass. “This behavior suggests that feeding priority is determined by competition intensity, even in deep-sea environments,” explained Tian, the lead researcher.
Why were they there?
The mere presence of these sharks at such depths hints at a bigger mystery: there must be large prey living in the area to sustain them.
The video also revealed parasites resembling copepods attached to the sharks, though they could not be precisely identified. Typically, Pacific sleeper sharks prefer colder waters and have been recorded as far south as the Solomon Islands and Palau—considered their southernmost range.
This new discovery raises a critical question: have sleeper sharks always been present in the southern reaches of the South China Sea, or are shifting ocean temperatures due to climate change altering their habitat?
Rethinking what we know about the deep sea
The finding challenges long-held assumptions about sleeper sharks and deep-sea biodiversity. While these sharks have also been spotted in the North Pacific, their repeated appearance in new areas suggests that scientists still have much to learn about their distribution and behavior.
For marine researchers, the cow experiment was more than just a curiosity. It provided a rare glimpse into one of Earth’s least understood ecosystems—and reminded us how much of the ocean remains unknown.
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