When Nat Geo Explorer Gibbs Kuguru was in college, he found himself trying to choose between two terrifying futures: going free diving with sharks off the coast of South Africa or, even scarier, studying for the MCAT. Since then, he’s become devoted to sharks. His genetic research has shown they can do remarkable things, like change color to become more effective predators. And he’s also become a staunch advocate for shark species as they grow more vulnerable to overfishing and the effects of climate change.

For more information on this episode, visit natgeo.com/overheard.

Want more?

If you want more on Gibbs’s journey and his research, check out our story about him online.

Plus, we’ve also got an article about how great whites change their color to sneak up on prey.

Also explore

You can watch Gibbs in the National Geographic documentary Camo Sharks. He and other scientists try to catch sharks in the middle of their color changes.

And if you just can’t get enough of sharks, we’ve got a whole bunch of SharkFest stories for you, including how drones are changing how we observe and think about sharks.

If you like what you hear and want to support more content like this, please consider a National Geographic subscription. Go to natgeo.com/exploremore to subscribe today.

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