--- title: Watch This Video of Two Men Saving a Beached Great White Shark's Life description: “Thirty years ago, they’d want to kill it and now they want to save it.” canonical: https://time.com/3957648/great-white-shark-rescue/ author: Tanya Basu article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2015-07-14T19:01:19.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:43:44.337Z og:title: Watch 2 Men Save a Beached Great White Shark og:description: “Thirty years ago, they’d want to kill it and now they want to save it" og:url: https://time.com/3957648/great-white-shark-rescue/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Watch 2 Men Save a Beached Great White Shark twitter:description: “Thirty years ago, they’d want to kill it and now they want to save it" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production video:duration: 01:31 video:published: 2015-06-22 section: video topics: viral videos, cute animals, cute kids, remixes, spontaneity, social media sharing, Facebook feeds genre: listicle, entertainment clip compilation tones: playful, light, humorous, casual emotions: amusement (medium), delight (medium), curiosity (low) sentiment: positive audience: social media users, general internet audiences, video creators, marketers organizations: TIME products: Facebook transcript_source: publisher captions transcript_reviewed: not applicable --- # Watch 2 Men Save a Beached Great White Shark > Sponsored content. 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Future Proof is TIME's weekly climate and energy newsletter, written by senior correspondent Justin Worland. It connects the energy transition to the decisions reshaping business, technology, policy and markets. #### Where can I follow the energy transition as a business story? Future Proof covers climate and energy as an economic and business story rather than only an environmental one. It publishes every Friday and is free at time.com/newsletters. #### Who writes Future Proof? Justin Worland, a senior correspondent at TIME and an award-winning climate journalist, writes Future Proof. #### Is Future Proof free? Yes. Future Proof is free at time.com/newsletters. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-futureproof-2026q3/newsletters?i=0744482d-b531-4218-aec8-04a0cc6799fb&cr=time-nl-futureproof-2026q3-v1) ## Video: 5 Elements of A Viral Video [Watch (HLS stream): 5 Elements of A Viral Video](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vgQtqA8c.m3u8) (1:31)  _Published 2015-06-22. 5 Elements of A Viral Video_ Description, summary, key points, chapters, key quotes, questions and transcript, where present, were produced automatically from the video or its captions and were not reviewed. ## Summary The video offers a playful guess at what makes a video go viral, presenting a numbered list of elements illustrated with short clips. It covers cute animals, cute kids, remixes, spontaneity, and the combination of cute kids and cute animals. The segments are brief and rely on visual examples and music between points. ## Key points - Cute animals are presented as the first element of a viral video. (00:12) - Cute kids are presented as the second element of a viral video. (00:29) - Remixes are presented as the third element of a viral video. (00:48) - Spontaneity is presented as the fourth element of a viral video. (01:07) - Combining cute kids and cute animals is presented as the fifth element. (01:18) - The video suggests that combining all five elements will likely lead to a video appearing on Facebook feeds. (01:22) ## Chapters - [00:00 to 00:12] Introduction to viral video elements. The video opens by posing the question of what makes a video go viral and introduces the presenter's guess. - [00:12 to 00:29] Cute animals. The first element, cute animals, is introduced and illustrated with a clip of an animal and a child's exclamation. - [00:29 to 00:48] Cute kids. The second element, cute kids, is introduced with a clip of children and accompanying music. - [00:48 to 01:07] Remixes. The third element, remixes, is introduced and illustrated with a remixed clip and an exclamation. - [01:07 to 01:18] Spontaneity. The fourth element, spontaneity, is introduced with a brief clip of unscripted moments. - [01:18 to 01:31] Combining the elements. The fifth element combines cute kids and cute animals, and the video concludes that together they will likely reach Facebook feeds. ## Key quotes - [00:02] narrator: "What makes a video go viral? Here's our guess." - [00:12] narrator: "Number one, cute animals." - [00:29] narrator: "Number two, cute kids." - [00:48] narrator: "Number 3, remixes." - [01:07] narrator: "Number four, spontaneity." - [01:18] narrator: "Number five. Cute kids and cute animals." - [01:22] narrator: "Put this all together and it will certainly end up on your Facebook feed." ## Questions this video answers - What makes a video go viral? [00:02] - Do cute animals contribute to a video going viral? [00:12] - Do cute kids contribute to a video going viral? [00:29] - Do remixes contribute to a video going viral? [00:48] - Does spontaneity contribute to a video going viral? [01:07] - What happens when cute kids and cute animals are combined? [01:18]  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Jul 14, 2015 7:01 PM UTC  by [Tanya Basu](https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/)  ## Tanya Basu Jul 14, 2015 7:01 PM UTC A new video shows the dramatic rescue of a beached great white shark off the coast of Chatham, Mass. on Monday. The video, posted to YouTube, shows the great white gasping for breath, its tail desperately flipping on the beach, as onlookers watch, concerned. The film then cuts to two men—who have been [identified](http://providencejournal.com/article/20150714/NEWS/150719676/SHARED/st%5FrefDomain=t.co%26st%5FrefQuery=/3aZLBkbXgT/?Start=1) as harbormaster Stuart Smith and shark expert Gregory Skomal—who are shown scooping buckets of water and splashing the shark, which at first is unresponsive, then shudders awake to cheers and encouragement. The men then tie a string onto the weakened shark’s tail and connect it to a boat, which pulls the shark into the water. The men gingerly untie the string from the shark’s tail and guide it into the open water by boat. “Thirty years ago, they’d want to kill it and now they want to save it,” Smith remembered Skomal saying at the time. ### Three Shark Photographers You Need to Follow  The water column is a three-dimensional habitat for sharks. Instead of traveling horizontally across the ocean, many species, like blacktip sharks, bounce up and down, repeatedly descending and ascending through the water column, in hopes of picking up any signs of prey. Aliwal Shoal, South Africa. Thomas P. Peschak  A Red Sea Silky Shark. To survive in the vastness of the open ocean, Silky sharks rely on their boldness and curiosity to investigate every opportunity that might yield a meal. Sharks make up for their lack of hands to investigate things, with thousands of tiny pores, called the Ampullae of Lorenzini, which line the shark’s snout. Northern Red Sea. Thomas P. Peschak  The whale shark is the world’s largest fish, born with unique spotted skin patterns, which don’t change significantly as the animal ages. Scientists are using the latest in space technology developed by NASA, for fingerprinting and identifying whale sharks based on their spots. In this image scientists from the conservation NGO Manta Trust are measuring a sub-adult whale shark in Baa Atoll, Maldives. Thomas P. Peschak  Bronze Whaler sharks are the most abundant sharks during the sardine run off South Africa’s east coast every June/July. Hundreds of them patrol the margins of baitballs and charge into the seething mass of fish singly or in small groups to feed. Thomas P. Peschak  Shark fins are the key ingredient of shark fin a soup, a dish frequenlty consumed at weddings and banquets in China. It is primarily served to demonstrate wealth and honor guests. Thomas P. Peschak  Head and gills of Juvenile Scalloped Hammerhead Shark (Sphyrna Lewini), Kane'ohe Bay, Hawaii - Pacific Ocean. Jeff Rotman  Close-up of Spiny Dogfish Shark (Squalus acanthias) born prematurely with egg sac attached. New England, North Atlantic Jeff Rotman  Gills of a Lemon Shark at night. Jeff Rotman  Eye of Whitetip Reef Shark (Triaenodon obesus), Cocos Island, Costa Rica - Pacific Ocean. Jeff Rotman  Caribbean Reef Shark (Carcharhinus perezi). Bahamas, Caribbean Sea. Jeff Rotman  An image of Mike Coots taken by his friend Juan Oliphant as they are swimming surrounded by sharks. ©JuanOliphant/@Juansharks ![Mike Coots “hangs out” with a great white. As he is frequently asked if he is afraid to go back to the water after the attack, Coots has no doubt: “I am positive I was attacked as mistaken identity and the last couple of days \[swimming with the sharks\] really reiterated the point. Humans are not sharks' prey.”](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt45be518944f193a1/6988556755a85964a2a8c966/10693681_566496753497226_1727569935_n.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp) Mike Coots “hangs out” with a great white. As he is frequently asked if he is afraid to go back to the water after the attack, Coots has no doubt: “I am positive I was attacked as mistaken identity and the last couple of days \[swimming with the sharks\] really reiterated the point. Humans are not sharks' prey.” Mike Coots  While babysitting his 6-year-old nephew, the little boy showed the toys to Coots. "It's you uncle Mike," he said. Mike Coots ![Coots has been able to return to surf after the shark attack, wearing a prosthesis for his right leg.
Coots was just a teenager when a tiger shark attacked him in the deep water of Kauai, an area known to be populated by sharks. ](https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltf51ee2563a1a619f/69885568e20a872b9fa8bee1/10616310_705214359563854_135859936_n.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp) Coots has been able to return to surf after the shark attack, wearing a prosthesis for his right leg. Coots was just a teenager when a tiger shark attacked him in the deep water of Kauai, an area known to be populated by sharks. Mike Coots  Coots took this photograph with Hero3, a waterproof camera. He observed the white shark being hesitant before eating its meal. “Incredibly beautiful to watch and I never felt threatened once. Completely serene,” Coots wrote on his Instagram feed. Mike Coots _Read next:_ [_Your Risk for Shark Attack Is Lower Now Than 50 Years Ago_](http://time.com/3953597/california-shark-attacks/?iid=time%5Freadnext) [_Download TIME’s mobile app for iOS to have your world explained wherever you go_](https://itunes.apple.com/us/app/time-mobile/id328218429) ## Transcript [00:00] [ NOISE ] [00:02] What makes a video go viral? Here's our guess. [00:07] Mishka, I love you. [ NOISE ] [00:12] Number one, cute animals. [ LAUGH ] Charlie, Charlie [00:13] bit me. [ MUSIC ] [ FOREIGN ] [ MUSIC ] [ UNKNOWN ], [00:13] we're going to Disneyland. Oh, [00:29] my god. Number two, cute kids. [00:44] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [ MUSIC ] [00:48] Number 3, remixes. [ MUSIC ] Whoa, oh my God, oh [00:52] my God. [00:59] [ LAUGH ] Oh my God. Whoo. Number [01:07] four, spontaneity. Look at all those Number [01:18] five. Cute kids and cute animals. Put [01:22] this all together and it will certainly end up on your [01:24] Facebook feed. [ MUSIC ] ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/3957648/great-white-shark-rescue/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/3957648/great-white-shark-rescue/"},"headline":"Watch 2 Men Save a Beached Great White Shark","datePublished":"2015-07-14T19:01:19.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-04T07:43:44.337Z","description":"“Thirty years ago, they’d want to kill it and now they want to save it\"","url":"https://time.com/3957648/great-white-shark-rescue/","keywords":["Newsfeed","animals","Wildlife","Oceans","shark"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Tanya Basu","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/tanya-basu/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/3957648/great-white-shark-rescue/","name":"Watch 2 Men Save a Beached Great White Shark"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"5 Elements of A Viral Video","description":"5 Elements of A Viral Video","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/vgQtqA8c/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2015-06-22T13:42:30.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/vgQtqA8c.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/3957648/great-white-shark-rescue/","duration":"PT1M31S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/3957648/great-white-shark-rescue/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```