Jaw-Dropping Video Shows ORCAS Pulling Out a Great White Shark to Eat Its Liver
Orcas are called “Killer Whales” for a reason. These apex bodies are adept pack hunters, using combination attacks and special techniques to take down their prey.
Scientists have recently captured drone footage of a pod of orcas in California killing baby great whites proudly on the ground until they play on the ground. Investigators described the attack in a new study published Monday in the journal Sarine Science.
The video is the work of Study Lom author, marine biologist and underwater wildlife cigumatos Erick Higuera, and Marco Villegas. Higuera has been filming and studying Orcas for over a decade, but the first time he saw this shark hunting behavior was in August 2020. At first, he couldn’t tell based on Shark Fod.
“I thought, ‘Yeah, it could be a sand tiger shark,’ you know, a shark like that. But I never thought it would be a great white,” Higuera told Gizmodo.
Good behavior
While encounters between the two killer whales are considered unlikely, scientists have documented Orca attacks on great white sharks in South Africa, Australia, and other areas off the coast of California. Killer Whales Target Sharks for their rich Sivers, which can weigh up to 1,300 pounds), according to Higuera-That’s about a quarter of the Shark’s total weight.
A ferocious shark looks down on a common hunting orcas Orcas use to induce a state of tonic dysfunction. The movement temporarily paralyzes the shark, preventing it from fighting back. It also gives orcas direct access to their liver.
What’s different about this pod of Orcas in California is that they target great whites against older ones, military researcher, assistant Salvador Jorgensen, professor at California State Montey Bay, told Gizmoto.
Orcas tend to hunt older great whites because they offer a greater reward. “Courage is huge,” Jorgensen explained. “But what we’re seeing in California is what younger people are saying over and over again that maybe they were born a year or two ago.”
Finding out what drives these orcas to target young whites rather than adults will require more research, but the authors have some ideas about the benefits this strategy could provide.
Changing hunting tactics
Which great white sharks don’t have the size of a liver can easily do it, according to the researchers. It may be easier with the ORCAS pod to throw a small white, small white on its back, enabling an easy kill.
Young great whites can be more vicious than adults. Fully grown great whites have an uncanny ability to sense when Orcas are nearby. “If they get even the faintest smell or hint of an orca, all those great white sharks will run to that area,” Jorgensen explained. If that’s what’s being studied, it could suggest that young sharks are more vulnerable to ORCA attacks, he said.
“Maybe they don’t have a flight plan developed yet,” Higuera suggests.
Climate change may play a role as well. The increased frequency of El Niño events and oceanic heat waves in the Pacific Ocean have caused Great Whites to change habitats, increasing their presence in California. That change may have presented this particular ORCAS pod with an opportunity, offering seasonal collaboration for children.
Either way, documenting repeated ORCA attacks on great whites for the first time raises many new questions about the two species and their interactions. “It’s exciting that in this day and age where we have sensors and cameras everywhere, we’re still discovering new things,” Jorgensen said. “There are still mysteries like this in the sea.”
