Two Orcas Kill And Rip Livers From 17 Sharks In One Day

[maximus otter]

Two orcas renowned for terrorizing great white sharks were again seen hunting off the coast of South Africa. The killer whales, which are dubbed Port and Starboard, are known to kill great whites and rip out their livers. Last month, marine scientists witnessed the deadly duo killing a record 17 sharks in one day at Pearly Beach, South Africa.

“We observed the two orcas repeatedly diving down in a small area for almost two hours before they departed offshore,” said Ralph Watson, a researcher with Marine Dynamics Academy.

A few days later Watson and his team retrieved the carcasses of several broadnose sevengill sharks from a nearby beach. “Each sevengill shark was torn open and missing its liver,” said Alison Towner, a Ph.D. student who is leading a study on killer whale hunting behavior. She participated in performing necropsies on the sharks. “They were all females measuring between 1.6 to 2.3 meters and had similar injuries to those killed in False Bay by the same orca pair,” Towner said.

A July 2021 study led by Towner found that Port and Starboard were ripping sharks open by grasping them by their pectoral fins. The whales then removed the sharks’ livers, which are highly fatty and calorie-rich, before leaving the carcasses to wash up on shore. The pair hunt together and often prey on great whites and other sharks by forcing them to the surface and attacking from below. The study used telemetry tracking to show that the orcas’ behavior was causing great whites to abandon their territory near Gansbaai—once considered the shark-diving capital of the world—when the killer whales showed up, sometimes fleeing hundreds of miles and staying away from the area for up to half a year.

https://www.fieldandstream.com/conservation/sharks-hunt-17-sharks/

maximus otter

 

[Ogdred Weary]

They do have "orc" in their name.

 

[ramonmercado]

Two orcas renowned for terrorizing great white sharks were again seen hunting off the coast of South Africa. The killer whales, which are dubbed Port and Starboard, are known to kill great whites and rip out their livers. Last month, marine scientists witnessed the deadly duo killing a record 17 sharks in one day at Pearly Beach, South Africa.

“We observed the two orcas repeatedly diving down in a small area for almost two hours before they departed offshore,” said Ralph Watson, a researcher with Marine Dynamics Academy.

A few days later Watson and his team retrieved the carcasses of several broadnose sevengill sharks from a nearby beach. “Each sevengill shark was torn open and missing its liver,” said Alison Towner, a Ph.D. student who is leading a study on killer whale hunting behavior. She participated in performing necropsies on the sharks. “They were all females measuring between 1.6 to 2.3 meters and had similar injuries to those killed in False Bay by the same orca pair,” Towner said.

A July 2021 study led by Towner found that Port and Starboard were ripping sharks open by grasping them by their pectoral fins. The whales then removed the sharks’ livers, which are highly fatty and calorie-rich, before leaving the carcasses to wash up on shore. The pair hunt together and often prey on great whites and other sharks by forcing them to the surface and attacking from below. The study used telemetry tracking to show that the orcas’ behavior was causing great whites to abandon their territory near Gansbaai—once considered the shark-diving capital of the world—when the killer whales showed up, sometimes fleeing hundreds of miles and staying away from the area for up to half a year.

https://www.fieldandstream.com/conservation/sharks-hunt-17-sharks/

maximus otter

Nature, bloody in tooth and fin. Every beach where swimmers are threatened by sharks should get an Orca pod!

 

[Kondoru]

And then the orcas would complain about humans tiddly livers?

 

[Floyd]

Mine's pretty shot so I don't think they'd bother with me.

 

[Robbrent]

Pah! Animals are so wasteful look at all the meat they have left!

It's the same with bears and salmon, they just eat the skin and the roe!

 

[ChrisBoardman]

A great white with its liver eaten by an orca.

 

[Sabresonic]

Mine's pretty shot so I don't think they'd bother with me.

I was told very young from my boozed up Uncle that your liver is evil and needs to be punished.

 

[Min Bannister]

Pah! Animals are so wasteful look at all the meat they have left!

It's the same with bears and salmon, they just eat the skin and the roe!

Other animals will eat the rest though so it won't go to waste.

 

[Floyd]

I was told very young from my boozed up Uncle that your liver is evil and needs to be punished.

I hated liver when I was a child, so I'm getting revenge by destroying my own.

 

[Cochise]

And yet it's whales that are under threat, not sharks. Sharks and alligators/crocodiles are some of the most successful survivors on the planet.

That doesn't mean I want one as a pet.

 

[ramonmercado]

Side effects of these liver eating orcas.

Researchers have discovered that hundreds of great white sharks that vanished from their home off the Western Cape of South Africa have moved east in order to survive — but this could spell trouble for both the sharks and the people living there.

South Africa is renowned for having one of the world's biggest populations of great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias). Substantial declines have been observed, however, in places where the sharks normally gather on the coast of the Western Cape province. Sharks congregate at these locations to feed, interact socially, or rest.

In Cape Town, skilled "shark spotters" documented a peak of over 300 great white shark sightings across eight beaches in 2011, but have recorded no sightings since 2019. These declines have sparked concerns about the overall conservation status of the species.
Conserving great white sharks is vital because they have a pivotal role in marine ecosystems. As top predators, they help maintain the health and balance of marine food webs. Their presence influences the behavior of other marine animals, affecting the entire ecosystem's structure and stability.

Marine biologists like us needed to know whether the decline in shark numbers in the Western Cape indicated changes in the whole South African population or whether the sharks had moved to a different location.
To investigate this problem, we undertook an extensive study using data collected by scientists, tour operators and shore anglers. We examined the trends over time in abundance and shifts in distribution across the sharks' South African range.

Our investigation revealed significant differences in the abundance at primary gathering sites. There were declines at some locations; others showed increases or stability. Overall, there appears to be a stable trend. This suggests that white shark numbers have remained constant since they were given protection in 1991.

Looking at the potential change in the distribution of sharks between locations, we discovered a shift in human-shark interactions from the Western Cape to the Eastern Cape. More research is required to be sure whether the sharks that vanished from the Western Cape are the same sharks documented along the Eastern Cape.

The stable population of white sharks is reassuring, but the distribution shift introduces its own challenges, such as the risk posed by fisheries, and the need for beach management. So there is a need for better monitoring of where the sharks are.

https://www.livescience.com/animals...-great-white-sharks-to-flee-their-home-waters