The great white shark has often been seen as the ocean’s uncontested ultimate predator. But beneath the surface, the hunter has become the hunted… For the mighty great white is no match for the killer whale.
Since the initial discoveries, dozens of great white carcasses have been found washed up off the coast of Gansbaai in South Africa with their livers missing. Experts who examined the bodies say they were killed by local orcas, who specifically went after their organs.
We now know these aren’t isolated incidents. Researchers have identified specialized orcas tracking across the South African coastline. Their presence is so predictable that when they are detected in an area, the sharks disappear almost immediately in a massive “flight response.”
While it was once considered unusual for orcas to prey on great whites, these efficient killers are taking down many of the ocean’s greatest predators with surprising skill and cunning.
They’ve now been frequently spotted attacking great whites.
But what’s interesting about these killings is that the orcas puncture the sharks’ bodies with perfect precision in just the right spot. The carcasses discovered in Gansbaai and surrounding areas have been found with large holes below their pectoral fins, which allow their livers to slip out with ease.
Shark livers are rich in oil and fats, which provide energy and keep them afloat. Orcas are eating the livers to enjoy the nutrients, which, the researchers who autopsied the shark carcasses say, the energy-rich fats contained in the organs would be beneficial to the giant creatures.
“Obviously this is a very sad time for us all,” said Alison Towner, a white shark biologist who led the autopsy, according to a blog maintained by Marine Dynamics, a shark cage diving company in South Africa. “Nature can be so cruel and the dexterity these enormous animals are capable of is mind-blowing, almost surgical precision as they remove the squalene-rich liver of the white sharks and dump their carcass.”
These attacks have since been observed far more often. These are no longer “rare” or “occasional” sightings. Predation has become a consistent, documented pressure on the South African shark population, leading to a near-total exodus of great whites from traditional hubs like False Bay and Gansbaai.
It was once believed orcas only hunted these sharks in highly organized packs. However, scientists now have high-definition drone and helicopter footage of these attacks, revealing a terrifying evolution driven by an infamous local duo known as Port and Starboard. Recent footage shows that one of these males, Starboard, can successfully kill a great white and swim away with its liver—entirely solo, and in under two minutes, as shown in the video above.
A Global Phenomenon
This terrifying evolutionary leap isn’t confined to South Africa. Recently, researchers in the Gulf of California captured aerial footage of “Moctezuma’s pod” using the exact same methods. The whales were filmed working together to push juvenile great whites to the surface, flipping them upside down to induce a paralyzing state of “tonic immobility” before extracting their livers.
Killer whales truly have earned their name.
