Great White Shark Eats Dinghy: 'We're Gonna Need a Bigger Boat'

Footage of a great white shark munching on an inflatable boat carrying a team of wildlife documentary filmmakers has been captured and posted online.

The MaxAnimal Productions film crew had been shooting off the coast of South Africa when they spotted a shark swimming towards them with an underwater camera.

It then surfaces and begins chewing on the crew's inflatable boat, taking a chunk out of the side as it starts to deflate.

Writing on their YouTube channel, the team said: "Why does a rubber inflatable boat sink in the ocean? Because a Great White Shark has just taken a Chunk out of it!

"Is the scariest part when the Shark eyes our folks on the boat? Ah Yeah. Great White Sharks are amazing creatures. They should be respected and protected.

"The awesome Great White can grow to 21 feet in length. It is the apex predator of the sea. Except for maybe the Orca. Great Whites have been around for over 15 million years. Are they the offspring of the Megalodon? Not sure. Science is still working on that."

Viewers were keen to point out that the shark was not attacking the boat and was more likely biting out of curiosity.

"The shark's eyes weren't rolled back into its head, thus it was not making an attack. It bit the boat out of curiosity. As sharks lack suitable limbs, the only way for them to examine a new object is by biting it," one user said.