INTERVIEW: Gibbs Kuguru searches for ‘Camo Sharks’ on new Sharkfest special
Photo: A great white shark breaches the water on Camo Sharks, a new special on Nat Geo’s Sharkfest. Photo courtesy of National Geographic / Fiona Ayerst / Provided by press site with permission.
Gibbs Kuguru, a shark scientist and doctoral candidate, is a featured guest on the new TV special Camo Sharks, part of this year’s Sharkfest on National Geographic, Nat Geo WILD and Disney XD. On the documentary, Kuguru and his mentor, Dr. Ryan Johnson, try to discover if sharks can change color to enhance their predatory abilities, according to press notes. What they find is truly amazing: real-time pigmentation changes, or essentially camouflage.
“It’s been such a great honor to be able to be a part of this thing,” Kuguru said in a recent Zoom interview. “If you asked me when I was 10 years old what I would have liked to have done, or could I ever imagine being in the water with sharks, that would have been an absolute no. I watched Jaws when I was a kid, and I was freaked out by sharks. I didn’t have a particular aptitude for diving or swimming even, so it really came out of nowhere, if I can say, to be quite honest. I was sort of in a place in my life where I was looking for something, and I didn’t know what it was. And then the sharks found me, and I followed that track. I couldn’t have been luckier, honestly.”
When Kuguru started to research sharks, he decided to meld his love for the marine species with his other love: genetics. His DNA research over the years has included everything from great white sharks to hammerheads. His current studies are of a unique skin disorder in blacktip reef sharks in the Maldives.
“So at one point I asked, is it possible to marry two things that I love,” he remembers asking himself. “It just so happened to be that there were labs doing work in this realm, and that’s really what got me to really establish myself within the greater shark research / shark science field.”
For Kuguru, a typical day involves him heading out into the ocean and searching for these sometimes elusive animals. On Camo Sharks, for example, he spent a lot of time staring at the water trying to find the sharks. Once he found them, he needed to capture them and secure them in a safe manner so as not to stress the sharks too much.
“Stress is very important in maintaining the shark’s viability long-term and short-term,” he said. “Once you have it immobilized and secure, you have to take a tiny piece of their skin or their fin or whatever tissue you’re studying, and then safely return the animal to the water. Now you’ve got a sample that is exposed, not attached to the animal. You can keep it in a little test tube that’s full of a fluid that essentially preserves it somehow. Sometimes we have fluids that keep the tissue alive. Sometimes we have fluids that just maintain only the DNA and allow the proteins to dissipate and degrade naturally. Then it’s a matter of rushing these back to the lab somehow, and I’ve done it in all manner of ways. I’ve mailed samples over. I’ve put them in my suitcase. I’ve had these massive coolers that I’m putting on the plane somewhere or a bus or whatever. Oh man, it’s always an adventure doing this type of work, and it’s a problem-solving game most of the time.”
Audience members will be able to see Kuguru conduct this research on Camo Sharks, which is currently airing on Nat Geo and Disney XD, and will premiere on Nat Geo WILD Monday, Aug. 1 at 9 p.m. Streaming options are also available.
“My connection to Sharkfest and the Walt Disney Company actually came through my mentor, Ryan Johnson, who is also the co-host of this show,” Kuguru said. “He found me like a couple years ago just doing research on hammerhead sharks. He just asked me one day randomly, ‘Hey, can I jump on your boat and see what you do?’ I’m like, ‘Yeah, sure, why not.’ So I took him out. We did a couple of shoots, and that really gave me that initial passion for science communication and how I can use my love of science communication to convey a greater story about these animals. And then he was already doing documentaries with Nat Geo before, and he pitched me. The rest is history.”
Kuguru added: “I always like to think of these documentaries not as a thesis. It’s not a scientific thesis that you’re going to get a result and publish, and it’s going to be this big thing. Of course, we are doing real scientific work, but I want people to see what scientists have to go through on a day-to-day basis, specifically shark scientists. You know, we get up, we get at it, we make mistakes, but then we try again, we try different ways. This is exactly what we do. I think the core message is look at our journey into finding solutions and answers in the natural world, thinking outside the box, sometimes feeling a little bit dumb or scared or unsure. This is normal. This is what science is. There’s no answer until you find it.”
By John Soltes / Publisher / John@HollywoodSoapbox.com
Sharkfest continues throughout the summer. Camo Sharks, featuring Gibbs Kuguru, is currently airing on Nat Geo and Disney XD. The special will premiere Monday, Aug. 1 at 9 p.m on Nat Geo WILD. Click here for more information.
