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Documentary, River Monsters S01E07 Freshwater Shark
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00:00no fish inspires the same terror as the shark in the monster's mouth getting thrown around
00:13somebody's like a rag doll in its mouth getting thrown all over we've got sharks in australia
00:20that hit hard they don't leave anything but at least these killers are confined to the oceans
00:26or are they it seems one species of shark has been trespassing from salt water into my territory
00:36freshwater operating where people thought no danger existed
00:41as an angler and biologist my aim is to work out how this is possible and just how far in land
00:50these sharks will bring their reign of terror my mission is to find out whether it's safe to
00:58get back in the water even if you're miles from the sea
01:02i'm a specialist in hunting down giant freshwater animals using a combination of logic local
01:27intelligence and intuition i've faced shoals of piranha in south america and man-eating catfish in asia
01:35sharks though are a different target altogether
01:41these creatures are the stuff of legend
01:45jaws the iconic 70s story describes ferocious man-eaters with a taste for human flesh
01:51but the report of a shark operating in an inland lake is truly terrifying to investigate i'm heading to australia
02:05midsummer on a brackish lake
02:10the temperature over 80 degrees a 23 year old post-doctorate student beau martin and his friend david
02:17are planning a cooling swim in miami lake i'm going to flog you i'm going to absolutely slay you
02:24you put the money where it is 50 bucks 50 bucks 50 bucks give me this yeah you need it i need that for
02:29the race yeah yeah i'm down i thought i ain't know i can beat you
02:37hey hey please please let's go let's go let's drag we're going we're going
02:42they begin a swimming race across the 500 yard wide lake
02:55dave takes the lead
02:59and reaches the safety of the shore
03:03beau however is still out on the lake
03:06in trying to catch up he strays into deeper water
03:18in an instant he disappears
03:25dave returns to the water but there is no sign of his friend
03:29those sudden disappearance had all the hallmarks of a shark attack
03:39but few could imagine this apparently safe backwater to be a hunting ground for sharks
03:45even here where there are the deadliest snakes massive crocs the most poisonous spiders this incident
03:51rang alarm bells
03:52we just don't expect to be attacked by a shark on an inland lake in an urbanized area like the gold coast
04:04in australia there are three species of shark commonly responsible for attacks on people
04:10the great white the tiger shark and the bull shark
04:15australians know vic hislop as the shark man like quint from jaws hislop has fought a series of battles
04:28with sharks including this two and a half ton great white we've got sharks in australia that hit and
04:35hit hard they don't leave anything they're so good at what they do they pull somebody under you don't see
04:41anymore someone's got to be looking at that exact spot to see it happen the great white is a notorious
04:47man-eater but some experts think the bull shark is a far more deadly threat altogether it's a very robust
04:54animal very rough and tough because of the structure of its teeth it can't just bite through a big chunk of
05:01meat it has to bite and start shaking out crazy and of course somebody's like a rag doll in his mouth
05:07getting thrown all over and that immediately also instigates all sorts of fear reactions you know
05:13you you're in the monster's mouth getting thrown around
05:19stocky in shape savage in character the bull shark is built like a street fighter
05:25with a level of raging aggression that gives it its name pound for pound it's top of the league of man-eaters
05:33and the authorities believe that it's a bull shark that killed bow martin in this canal system
05:50this complex of waterways was built during the 70s and 80s and is bigger than venice italy 160 miles of
05:58canals and over 30 lakes this is an area with just thousands of apartments houses right down
06:05on the waterfront and most of the people here just think of these canals as a perfectly safe place
06:12to swim what puzzles me is how any shark could have made its way here so far from where we expect to
06:19find it the open ocean to work that out i'm heading 60 miles south to the coast
06:29there were 15 shark attacks in australia in 2008 but there's one well reported in the press that is
06:36central to my investigation 16 year old brock curtis matthew is setting off with his friend peter edmunds
06:43for some early morning body boarding we got there maybe he's caught at eight eight o'clock ish
06:50they've chosen a location next to the mouth of the richmond river
06:57this is a popular surfing spot often used by these close friends
07:03but this morning after several days of heavy rain they have the beach to themselves
07:07we were maybe like halfway to where we were going to go in the water i turned around and came back in
07:17and he kept going while brock covers their possessions in case of more rain
07:23peter heads out he's around 35 yards from the surf line but as brock goes to rejoin his friend he glimpses
07:31a dark shape i saw this big round weird circle thing
07:39what brock had seen was a shark
07:49he has no idea it is attacking his friend
07:53all he can see from 25 yards away is some splashing
07:56i was just thinking oh what's he doing something something's not right
08:04brock approaches as quickly as he can
08:11when i got like really close i couldn't see any blood
08:17and then like once i grabbed him and stuff i noticed his leg
08:19risking his own life brock carries his now unconscious friend towards shore
08:30he had taken a first aid course at school
08:39in a state of shock he calls the emergency services
08:42i just said can you come down how many quickly my friend's been attacked by a shark
08:51from the shape and the size of the wound to peter's thigh
08:56the attacker appears to be a bull shark
08:58some nine feet long
09:06i'm jeremy wade a freshwater angler fascinated by river monsters
09:23but in this case i'm out of my usual element
09:26in ballina australia a 16 year old bodyboarder has been savagely attacked by a shark
09:33he's been dragged to shore by his friend brock curtis matthew
09:39at first sight this would seem to carry all the brutal hallmarks of a classic shark attack
09:46on the coast
09:50but is there anything more that could be learned from what happened
09:53after the attack lifeguard stephen leahy was one of the first on the scene
10:00it was obvious that it was high impact it was hard hitting and there was just a large amount of
10:06flesh removed from his upper thigh leahy has worked to save lives on these beaches for over 15 years
10:13but in this case tragically peter had lost too much blood
10:16dr vic pedimors is the first person medical teams turn to when they believe there's been a shark attack
10:29it's estimated that a shark bite applies a force of over four tons per square inch
10:35the most important thing for a shark is to get that lower jaw in because those are the hooking
10:40teeth that sort of latches in so once it's got its lower jaw in the upper jaw can clamp down if that
10:47lower jaw has got in properly it only needs one bite and it'll take the muscle straight off
10:53because of the site of this incident the lifeguard already had this attacker's identity in mind
10:59knowing that the attacks happened just here we always had in the back of our mind that this was
11:04going to be a bull shark incident it's likely that the shark could confuse peter for his common prey
11:12a large fish perhaps even another shark
11:18nothing can ever compensate a family or friends for such a cruel loss
11:22but if there is anything to be salvaged from this terrible episode
11:26it might be in identifying the warning signals that accompany a bull shark attack
11:34bull sharks have been observed congregating around river mouths after heavy rain attracted
11:39by the supply of freshwater fish being washed out to sea
11:44we know the bull sharks will always hang around the river mouth
11:48after periods of heavy rain and when there are lots of fish around
11:51the beach where the attack occurred is only 60 meters away from the entrance of that river mount
11:57the bull shark that killed peter edmunds had been attracted to this shoreline
12:01because of its proximity to fresh water we're well and truly aware that there's just so much for the
12:07bull shark to live on in the in our freshwater systems and that's part of the uniqueness of the
12:12bull shark can easily cope in in salt water and in our oceans but it's just as comfortable in our river
12:18systems perhaps this knowledge might prevent others being caught like peter in the wrong place at the wrong time
12:27as a biologist i want to better understand the physiology and particular affinity bull sharks have
12:35for fresh water i need to catch one i must have fished literally thousands of destinations all over the
12:43world but this time i think i'm out of my depth i've never tried to catch any kind of shark let alone a bull shark
12:53a hundred miles north of where peter was killed in sight of land i join a fishing charter boat
13:02out after sharks with four rods set i know i'm in with a good chance oh yeah right there we go
13:15there we go that is a bull shark hammered quite a big mullet a couple of pound mullet
13:19and just took off i think we're ready to bring it in the back of the boat actually
13:30this one's none too happy to see me but after the hook's out it becomes easier to handle
13:36it's four and a half feet long around a third of the length they can reach
13:41boats rolling around a little bit at the moment side onto the tide and uh rolling a little bit so
13:46with something like this mouth full of teeth got to be a wee bit careful the teeth are partially
13:51obscured by thick gums but the tips are as sharp as scalpels that's good to actually see one of
13:57these animals close up get my hands on one that's what i wanted
14:03but what sets this species of shark apart is its extraordinary ability to operate in both salty and
14:09fresh water the bull shark is the only species of shark that can do this some scientists speculate
14:20that the bull shark is catalyzing on this adaptation to dominate new feeding grounds in land the bull shark
14:28is unique because it's actually much more capable than other sharks in regulating the amount of salts and
14:35urea in its body tissues bull sharks constantly test the salt content of the water with tiny sensors mounted
14:43all over the body similar to the way we use our taste buds then a special organ the rectal gland acts
14:52like an on-off valve releasing or retaining salt as required it's really incredible how capable they
15:00are at doing that but it's obviously energetically very costly and that's why we tend to find the
15:07bigger animals capable of changing very quickly whereas the smaller animals tend to stay within a
15:14relatively narrow band of salinity this amazing adaptation gives the bull shark a deadly access all
15:22areas freedom to roam bringing its violence to our once peaceful inland waters
15:27a predator that can operate in rivers and adjoining lakes all around the world responsible for fatal
15:35attacks from australia to south africa from florida to new jersey
15:46here in 1916 four people were killed and one was severely mutilated in a 10-day spree of attacks
15:53this provided the inspiration for the most famous shark story of all jaws but what is so terrifying is
16:03that two of these deaths occurred 15 miles up an estuary at matter one creek in a place that everyone
16:11thought was safe man leaders are supposed to be found in untamed places but this unstoppable predator
16:20seems to be bringing its savagery into the very heart of our civilized world
16:33how far up river has a bull shark been reported is it a 12 miles b 760 miles or c 2200 miles
16:50the answer is c bull sharks have been reported a staggering 2200 miles up the amazon river
17:05i'm hunting down the creature responsible for the brutal attack on bow martin
17:10and that sends a shiver down my spine bull sharks seem to be heading in from the ocean towards where
17:20people are most likely to swim and play in the belief that they are safe
17:25is there nothing in place to stop these deadly predators
17:32i'm here to meet tony ham he manages the shark control program on the gold coast in australia
17:41we're planning to make an inspection of the shark nets just off the main beach
17:46this section of the beach is called main beach on the other side of the spit
17:49it's a fairly heavily populated beach in summer you'd have anywhere upward of 50 or 60 000 people
17:54between here and surface paradise right and then from surface down further probably double that number
18:00it's a big beach just running up with sort of all the hotels and sort of tourist amenities exactly
18:05but branching off here are a number of canal estates and and large lakes and um what's happened is
18:11it's basically extended the river habitat and so we have bull sharks here uh pretty constantly uh they're
18:17they're right right up in in land yeah so bull sharks will actually live all the way up and
18:22including into freshwater reaches of some rivers so they're definitely in there and when you get in
18:27the water if you get in the water you could only be just a matter of of yards away from one i suppose
18:31literally feet and you wouldn't know they were there unless you know you actually see it or it
18:36bumps into you or actually does have a bite at you around the spit and about 500 yards off the beach
18:44the swell has picked up
18:48the shark net is pretty much the only line of defense along a two and a half mile long beach
18:54the idea is to remove shots that come in close to the shore
18:59but looking at it i can see no reason why bull sharks wouldn't easily go under it or around it and
19:04then head on relentlessly into the canals after all the net is only 200 yards long and just 20 feet high
19:15something that these measures are in fact literally worse than useless
19:19shark nets in australia are a false sense of security for tourism
19:24they kill everything we love out there they kill dolphins turtles dugong
19:28but more important the big sharks have learned to feed off those nets they're now a feeding ground
19:33if his love is correct bull sharks are being lured towards the shore and then inland into the canals and lakes
19:43and because inevitably they'll meet more people inland
19:46this species has to be a far greater threat than other man-eating sharks which remain out at sea
19:57on miami lake the day after beau martin's disappearance a search begins
20:02for two days there is no sign of beau
20:14on the morning of the third day after the police have given up the hunt he begins to search from his kayak
20:27he happens upon the body of his son part in and part out of the water
20:38the only reason his body had surfaced the gases resulting from decomposition causing his body to inflate
20:46the autopsy revealed that beau had been struck three times by a bull shark
20:57one devastating bite on his left thigh proving fatal
21:08this predator had slipped with ease from the sea into the brackish water of miami lake
21:19once inside it had been free to go about its business unseen
21:23until the killing of bow martin revealed its deadly presence
21:30but just how much further inland into fresh water are these predators capable of going
21:3980 miles inland from the ocean trainer alan treadwell is taking his finest trotting horse glenburn's arm
21:46for exercise in the river
21:49i'd swum there for eight nine years never a problem it's a very popular picnic spot
21:56this part of the river is a secluded oasis popular with families as a swimming hole
22:04but on this day treadwell has the river to himself for his training program
22:07he wants to build up his horse's muscle strength without straining its legs
22:15glenburn's arm a six-year-old gilding weighing a thousand pounds has won seven times over a three-year career
22:25with the help of his stable hand alice holden treadwell ties a half-inch rope to the horse's halter
22:30with it he can control the horse from the bridge
22:38as far as treadwell can see from 20 feet up on the bridge everything appears to be going to plan
22:43the horse was swimming i had control of the horse but suddenly something startles it
22:54the horse looks like it's gonna drown then all of a sudden i saw something hanging off the back of him
23:02as the horse rolled over the color lightened and it went to a white underneath whatever it was
23:07whatever this creature is it has the force to hold on to and the power to submerge a one thousand pound
23:14horse the horse is in trouble we had a problem i've got to get this horse out of there whatever's
23:23wrong if i can get him out of the water i can control it he won't drown
23:26is it possible the same species which attacked both beau martin and peter edmunds is now operating 80 miles
23:39inland if so places like this are no longer safe for man or beast
23:56far up river in queensland australia a racehorse struggles for its life
24:07the only reason it hadn't been killed is because of the tether around its neck
24:11if we hadn't got him out i don't believe he would have survived
24:15trainer alan treadwell was able to pull his horse to safety
24:21if the victim had been a human a fifth of the size of this horse
24:24there would be no hope of surviving the attack
24:29the horse glenn burns arm was treated by a veterinary surgeon who photographed the wound
24:39i want to meet up with alan treadwell to find out if this attack can be attributed to a bull shark
24:45hello alan g'day how are you all right thanks this is the boy is he yeah this is he this is can i say
24:51hello hello hey so he's not just an ordinary horse is he he's a bit of an athlete a bit of an athlete
24:58yeah he has been or used to be yeah yeah can we see the wound at all can you show me where it where
25:03it was yeah i can do it it's healed pretty well yeah that's where it was on the flat there right so
25:11looking at him now i mean he looks fine he looks fine but i mean do you recover fully or no i don't
25:16think so actually he swells up in the fatlock after a hard run right which virtually makes it impossible
25:23to race him so in effect this actually finished his career it has done yes it still seems to be a bit
25:29awkward in that one back leg i don't know what happened to it it's impossible to say so you know
25:33possibly there's some sort of you know deep muscle damage some yeah that's exactly right yeah
25:42although there had been no reports of sharks this high up the brisbane river before
25:47alan treadwell believes that what he saw was a shark yet he only glimpsed the white shape
25:53for a fraction of a second i want to take a logical approach to discover exactly what happened here
25:59my first strategy is to measure the salt content of this stretch of the brisbane river
26:08the water's saltiness lessens the further up river you go
26:17i've taken a reading of seawater with this machine and the reading i get is about 17.
26:22down the other end of the scale anything less than about one is fresh water so the fact that i've just
26:26got a reading of less than 0.5 this is fresh water
26:35i know bull sharks can get into fresh water everything points to this being a shark attack
26:43except for one thing there's a good reason why i don't think they could be responsible for this
26:49particular incident look at this just five miles down the river is this man-made barrier and it just
26:55goes right across the river mount crosby weir is a dam that has been in place for over a hundred years
27:04the difference in height between the water on the ocean side and the up river side is 12 feet
27:12now i can understand how something might possibly get up from the sea to here
27:16but how's it going to get over that so what else could it be
27:25i think there might be a clue in something alan treadwell told me
27:30although on the surface the wound to glenburn's arm has healed
27:34underneath the skin there is such profound muscle damage that he can no longer race
27:39that is exactly the case with attacks made by another animal entirely saltwater crocodile
27:51when a crocodile bites its victim it deposits bacteria in the wound that cause long-term muscle
27:57damage the most distinctive thing about a saltwater croc is that big gnarly head with those big
28:03actually blunt but long penetrating teeth saltwater crocodiles will live in freshwater saltwater brackish
28:12water mineral water they don't care
28:17once a crocodile reaches 13 14 feet and up you're dealing with an animal that can take down a one tonne
28:24water buffalo it seems more likely that the creature which attacked glenburn's arm is not a shark
28:31but a crocodile what they prefer is deep dark murky water because they are the masters of camouflage
28:40that's how they get their prey they will launch from an invisible position up out of the water grab
28:46whatever it is they're targeting drag it back into the water in the blink of an eye
28:50just the kind of water where the attack happened
29:01there's one problem with this idea while crocs were once found this far south
29:07none have been seen any closer than 150 miles away in the last 20 years
29:11i would be surprised that a crocodile who is big enough to take on a horse a would go unnoticed for
29:22long periods of time you know way outside its range um and and be in that situation would miss
29:31you know if it's in deep water it's a large animal and it's gone in to really have a go
29:36um you'd be the luckiest horse alive when all avenues seem closed i turn to the least unlikely
29:47option in my pursuit of the truth if the attacker wasn't a crocodile it has to be a shark yet i need to
29:56be certain if this is the truth it has far-reaching repercussions it would show conclusively that savage
30:04bull sharks can and will launch attacks in fresh water it would mean there is no kind of water
30:12that's safe from these predators
30:25my suspicion is that a bull shark has made its way far up the brisbane river to launch an attack on a
30:30half ton horse but i'm looking for proof i want to show scientist vic pedimore's the wounds inflicted
30:37on this racehorse
30:41he's one of the world's leading experts on shark bites
30:48so what do you make of that
30:52well i would definitely say it looks like a shark bite of some description
30:55because of these gaps between the tooth and the and the way that it seems to have
31:01scratched down on the hard quarter of a horse that is the bite in more context wow i think this is
31:09just a hit with the upper jaw and a slip down can you get any idea from that roughly how big the the
31:16shark might have been this isn't much of a crescent which suggests that the jaw must be fairly big
31:22assuming that that was the sort of this part of the jaw that hit it like so the curve is quite
31:29gentle the curve is very gentle okay so if you think of it as hitting like that now if you look at this
31:36this tooth there that tooth there it's a fairly close match it's not too far off a match
31:43and this was 2.75 meters in length 8 or 9 foot it's a very similar sort of curvature and it links in
31:53with our knowledge of bull sharks we we one would expect a bigger bull shark up in a very fresh water
32:01component of the river
32:05this evidence suggests that the creature that attacked alan treadwell's horse
32:09is a bull shark over eight feet long
32:20and by hunting through the government archives i now know how these animals managed to get over the
32:25weir the brisbane river has flooded repeatedly with one extreme occurrence in 1974
32:32the city itself was inundated but so too was the surrounding area including the mount crosby dam
32:45it seems that as the flood subsided a colony of bull sharks some growing to over eight feet long
32:51were locked in far up river and if this can happen here it can happen anywhere that bull sharks roam
33:03the danger they present isn't restricted to australia
33:09bull sharks have been observed moving up the mississippi river as far as saint louis
33:13and there has even been an attack reported in lake michigan
33:20to fully understand this threat i want to get my hands on one of these big predators in fresh water
33:29but to do that i need to learn some specialist techniques from an expert in catching big sharks
33:34hello there you're terry yeah nice to meet you nice to meet you hello there on march the 14th 2007
33:47just here in the river mouth terry hesse caught a nine and a half foot long female bull shark estimated
33:53to weigh over 500 pounds this all looks like pretty serious stuff yep well for our rods and reels we
34:00be using one of these right completely blown away with the idea of using you know needing to use that
34:07in a river these guys are serious i'm impressed they're fishing in this busy working port on the
34:14frontier between sea and fresh water i mean one thing i'm noticing already is attention to detail
34:21they've got a comprehensive plan to outwit the super sensory capacity of this shark
34:25bull sharks like all sharks have tiny pinholes on their snout called the ampullae of lorenzini
34:33used for detecting electrical fields they're so sensitive that they can detect the electrical impulses
34:40of a fish's heartbeat sharks with wider heads like the bull shark have more of these pinholes and
34:48therefore they can lock onto prey more accurately to avoid giving off any electrical signals to the shark
34:54terry masks all but the metal hook point in plastic and cable ties this to the eel
35:02next terry's making sure he capitalizes on the shark's smell sense by using fresh bait
35:08two-thirds of this shark's brain is devoted to sniffing out prey
35:13and by fishing at night we're choosing the most likely time for sharks to go hunting
35:17it's in the dark when the super sensory bull shark has the edge over fish that rely more on vision
35:29terry begins the journey across the river mouth to place the baits
35:34bull sharks have been reported to ram kayaks taking the paddle splash and rudder movements for the thrashing
35:40of the fish in distress
35:47terry's okay but in getting these baits set in the dark i've injured my index finger
35:53it's going to make things difficult i'm just hoping that this and the disturbance from the busy port
36:00doesn't damage my chances
36:07pick it up pick it up at 2 30 am
36:12with the tide high the line begins to run
36:14it's all right
36:23yep
36:25shuffling down
36:27at the moment it just feels like there's a boat on the end it's just
36:30a dead weight i've just changed the ratio there
36:33yeah yeah that's pulling that's pulling that's pulling it is coming my way
36:37and with nearly 200 yards of line taken in whatever it is reaches the shore
36:46what is it i think that is huge
36:50like something from 20 000 leagues under the sea it certainly isn't a shark but what on earth is it
37:04oh my god at the mouth of the brisbane river i've hooked into a monster fish it's not a shark
37:11but it is an exceptional fish
37:15it's just remarkable that is something isn't it i've never seen anything like this in my life before
37:22it's what they call the queensland groper this is a monster i mean it's not the monster i was after
37:26but this is a monster
37:27what about the girth yeah two foot one it's girth is four foot three inches four foot three inches
37:38this is a protected marine fish normally found on reefs but they're known to come into river mouths
37:44like this on rare occasions look at that this fish even terry and ben haven't seen anything like this
37:51anywhere like this size you know so it's just an amazing catch and particularly from a river just
37:57you know this thing really is a river monster groupers have an extraordinary trick
38:03this 250 pound male actually started life as a female
38:08when there are too few males in a spawning group a female will switch sex to keep breeding numbers up
38:18time though for this gender bender to head back home
38:22to me that just underlines even more than before
38:25that you know we just have no idea at all what is down there in our rivers
38:30it feels amazing to catch a fish like that but it's not what i'm here for
38:40armed with the knowledge i've gained from terry i'm driving 50 miles up river from brackish water to
38:46fresh water i'm fishing at night i'm fishing with the freshest bait so
38:54and i'm putting out two rods here we go look something something had that didn't have the hook in its mouth
39:07so whatever it was it's still out there and i'm really out of bait now so that's annoying
39:16finally i'm in luck i've got to take on the other rod
39:19and keep it away from there's some trees and stuff on the side there yeah it's a shark
39:27it's a shark up we come this is a shark in a river okay this may be a small one but for me this is
39:37in some ways more unsettling up onto the grass i already know there are big females in this river
39:44catching one like this implies they're breeding here that body it's just solid muscle you just
39:51feel it when it decides to flex that's just got so much strength there this one didn't swim all the
39:56way from the ocean it was most likely born in brackish water just downstream and while only 18 months old
40:05it seems to be thriving in fresh water it's a scary thought that this river will be its hunting
40:12ground for life another 15 years at three feet six inches long and 15 pounds in weight this one
40:21could triple in length and become 30 times heavier i'm just trying to imagine this thing two or three
40:30times the length in this water it's quite a frightening prospect you know in a river a small river anyway
40:36this one's going back i've been able to prove without question that bull sharks are trespassing on my patch
40:48in fresh water more than 80 miles up an australian river
40:54but critically what i've learned is that they have the capacity for brutal attacks
40:58in fresh water almost anywhere there are few limits to where this shark will operate
41:08more and more it seems that this freshwater jaws is bringing its savagery into our once tame backyard
41:18along metropolitan canals up quiet rivers
41:23and on tranquil lakes the bull shark is looking for its next meal
41:28it's just a question of who and when
41:37want more of the world's wildest strangest and most terrifying freshwater horrors
41:42visit our website at animalplanet.com slash river monsters
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