- The 60-year-old orca was seen slamming into a great white shark
- Orca are normally pack animals that hunt in pods
- But climate change may be changing their behaviours
This is the moment a killer whale took down a great white shark in a pitched battle in the sea around South Africa.
The footage, captured by National Geographic as part of the series ‘Queens’, shows a 60-year-old grandmother killer whale called Sophie pounding into a great white shark off the coast of South Africa.
‘Orca are very smart animals, they’re very powerful, and in some cases probably even more powerful than a white shark’, Chris Lowe, a professor of marine biology, told ABC news.
But killer whales are ordinarily pack animals, preferring to hunt and live in small groups of families known as pods.
‘I think what we’re seeing is probably an anomaly. We often thing of white sharks as being the top predator in the ocean, when actually orca are’, the professor added.
Despite their tendency to hunt and live in pods, orca behaviours have been noticeably changing in recent years. Many scientists believe that climate change is forcing the marine mammals to change their behaviours to adapt.
Earlier this month, another orca was seen killing an eating a great white shark within just two minutes.
The orca, a male called ‘Starboard’, was seen tearing a great white shark to shreds by tourists.
Dr Alison Towner, from Rhodes University, led an international research team into the discovery by analysing footage captured by tourists on a nearby boat.
She said: ‘What we witnessed was an orca, nicknamed Starboard – due to his collapsed dorsal fin – performing alone to incapacitate and consume a white shark within an astounding two-minute timeframe.
‘Starboard was observed preying on a 2.5-meter (8.2 feet) juvenile white shark, later carrying the shark’s liver in its mouth past a boat.
‘Analysing the footage of Starboard surprised us. We were not aware that he was able to prey upon this shark species solitarily and in such a rapid time frame.
‘It just goes to show how proficient and skilled he is – a true super predator.’
During the observed interactions of this event, at least two white sharks were killed, as evidenced by the discovery of a second carcass measuring 3.55 meters (11.6 feet) nearby.
Esther Jacobs, from the marine conservation group Keep Fin Alive, witnessed the event firsthand.
She said: ‘I worked with white sharks for many years and to me, they are always a beautiful and powerful sight to see.
‘To witness one of these incredible sharks brought down so swiftly and efficiently by an orca, and being reduced to easy prey, was mind-blowing, but soul-crushing.
‘White sharks already face enough battles just trying to live in our overexploited oceans, never mind losing their place in the food chain.’
