Three killer whales were filmed off the coast of South Africa stalking and killing a great white shark. Shark populations have been dwindling in this part of the ocean.
Researchers already knew that killer whales, or orcas, are capable of attacking great white sharks. Just recently, scientist Alison Towner described in a paper how two orcas have been hunting sharks for years, scaring them away from their habitat – so much so that in the waters around Dyer Island, which is considered the great white shark capital of the world, the sharks’ presence has been constantly diminishing.
However, this is not a common occurrence – yet we now have some astounding evidence of it! New footage presented by The Daily Beast and shot by a Discovery crew from a drone in Mossel Bay in South Africa – another area where sharks used to be common but are now fewer and fewer – shows a group of orcas killing a great white shark.
It is “one of the most incredible pieces of natural history ever captured on film,” according to Towner.
The video shows a pod of three orcas and the shark, estimated to be three meters long, which has just been attacked and is sinking.
“We’ve had all the evidence for killer whales being responsible for killing white sharks,” Towner told the Daily Beast. Carcasses have washed up on the beach with their livers missing. “But this is the world’s first drone footage of killer whales predating on a white shark. It’s the first time in South Africa it’s ever been documented as direct evidence.”
The latest great white shark victim of orca predation washed up in Mossey Bay, South Africa, and bears the now characteristic wound where the liver was extracted with surgical precision. Image source: Reddit
In the video, it is also the shark’s liver that is bitten by the orca. Why? Shark liver is a delicious, nutritious and vitamin-rich food source for these animals, so that’s what they go for.
It’s weird to see a great white end up as prey…
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