PLANET CARNIVORE

In South Africa's False Bay, mornings are action-packed - and bloody. That's when Haai, a huge, female great white shark, hunts for Cape fur seals. The seals themselves leave their rocky island to fish in what locals think of as "The Gauntlet." Closer to shore, a family of African penguins is raising their chicks - and timing their fishing to when the fur seals are absent. Unfortunately, lately Haai has been having trouble catching the seals. Despite her superb senses and incredible weaponry, she's gotten so big that she can't maneuver as well as she used to. Great whites tend to target specific animals as their prey - then they concentrate all two tons and twenty feet of power on catching, killing, and eating the individual seal. Haai has chosen a young fur seal, for her next meal -- we'll call him "Rob," the Afrikaans word for seal. But Rob is elusive - and disinclined to play along with the usual routine - and the two intelligent, determined creatures enter into a daily contest of wits and abilities. Meantime, the entire neighborhood is about to be hit with a mighty blow. Something in the open ocean is growing bigger - and it is headed for Haai's neighborhood. It will be a huge benefit for many - but it will also be the ultimate problem for the white shark -- and for Rob, her seal prey. Once a year, the new crop of sardines begins a migration back to their birthplace - and they have to pass False Bay in order to get there. Sardines follow the coldest currents, and in the Gauntlet, the cold seawater ribbon gets narrow and close to shore. It's an open invitation to every predator on the South African sea coast - and they all arrive, feasting on the confused sardines. Tiger sharks, bottlenose dolphins, gannets and other marine predators all follow the sardines for the week or so that it takes the little fish to realize they've made a big mistake. When they do, the bait balls of silver snacks suddenly vanish back into the deep blue sea - leaving frustrated, still hungry, seals, penguins, sharks and countless others. This year, several young great whites have also been following the sardine run to False Bay. Great whites live on fish when they're small, and graduate to marine mammals - like Cape fur seals - when they transition to adulthood. Now, these newcomers are searching for the perfect place to do just that, and they're going to find it in "the Gauntlet." Haai is about to be faced with stiff competition for the seal meals she's already having trouble with, Rob is going to find himself hunted by more than one Great White Shark, and the penguin couple will suffer a terrible tragedy. Will the big boss of False Bay manage to conclude her hunt - and survive despite the arrival of younger, faster, sharks? Will Rob, the fur seal, manage to out swim - and outsmart - the new predators as well as his original nemesis? Who will be left in False Bay at the end of the sardine run, and who will survive "The Gauntlet?"

Are "Custa's" days as King of Katmai about to end? This season, a single, violent struggle for the kingdom determines the ruler of the rivers and forests of Katmai.