Violent

Violence is part of life in the Pacific and those that live here must choose whether to avoid conflict or rise to meet it. The Pacific Ocean is a hunter’s paradise. From the skies of Snake Island to the teeming tropics, animals are reinventing the delivery of death on a grand scale. Surrounded by the Ring of Fire, this ocean is the epicenter of natural mayhem.

Violence is part of life in the Pacific and those that live here must choose whether to avoid conflict or rise to meet it. Surrounded by the Ring of Fire, the Pacific Ocean is the epicenter of natural mayhem.

Nature creates her own battles. In the waters around Hawaii, Humpback Whales complete a mass migration from northern feeding grounds; they are gathering to mate. But males outnumber receptive females, and a testosterone-fueled event known as the heat run sees a brawl of gargantuan proportions as the males clash for the right to mate.

Some islands are less than hospitable. In China’s Bohai Sea is a fleck of land called Shedao, also known as Snake Island. This is the home of 20,000 deadly Pit Vipers, and they are all poised to make a meal of the autumnal songbird migrations.

In China, even humans are making the most of the violent power of the Pacific. In Hangzhou Bay, brave surfers wait for the annual return of an ancient sea monster: the silver dragon, a predictable yet potentially destructive wall of water that grows into the world’s largest tidal wave.