Orcas hunt and kill great white sharks, study reveals

The preliminary drone video of the Mossel Bay mauling was launched in June.
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A brand new examine printed Monday confirmed what scientists have lengthy suspected – that orcas, also referred to as killer whales, hunt nice white sharks.

A paper printed within the Ecology Society of America’s “Ecology” journal describes the primary confirmed statement of a pod of killer whales searching an important white.

The paper is a follow-up to a drone video launched in June, which reveals 5 orcas chasing and mauling a big shark in Mossel Bay off South Africa.

“This conduct has by no means been witnessed intimately earlier than, and positively by no means from the air,” stated Alison Towner, a scientist at Marine Dynamics Academy and lead creator of the examine.

“Killer whales are extremely smart and social animals,” Simon Ellen, a marine mammal specialist and examine co-author, added. 

“Their group searching strategies make them extremely efficient predators.”

One of many whales captured within the video was later recognized as Starboard, a very vicious male with a signature collapsed dorsal fin.

Starboard was beforehand tied to a number of shark carcasses that washed up in South Africa, 4 of which have been lacking their livers.

Starboard the orca captured chomping on a shark’s liver.

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However whereas Starboard and different orcas have been recognized to assault different shark species, the examine marked the primary printed proof of an assault on an important white.

“We noticed them kill a bronze whaler [copper shark] in 2019– however this new statement is actually one thing else,” David Hurwitz, a whale-watching operator and examine contributor, advised Rhodes College.

Whereas the examine didn't analyze the exact causes behind the assault, it did word that sharks largely disappeared from the Mossel Bay space for 45 days after the mauling.

The examine authors stated the mauling was proof was wide-reaching implications.

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The authors famous the sharks’ sudden absence as proof of a “flight response” amongst nice whites, which may have better implications for additional research.

The examine additionally cited the “wider reaching impacts” of cultural transmission between orcas, which may see the species turning into a better risk to nice whites sooner or later.

The “Ecology” paper marks one other latest milestone for orcas, who made headlines earlier this week after they have been captured on video sparring with two humpback whales in Washington state’s Salish Sea.

After the mauling, nice white sharks disappeared from the bay for about 45 days.

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“We’re seeing extra orcas and we’re seeing extra humpbacks, so I wouldn’t be shocked if we see extra of those encounters of these two species collectively,” Erin Johns Gless, govt director of the Pacific Whale Watch Affiliation stated of the footage.