Two orcas named Port and Starboard seem to have developed a taste for great white sharks. Since 2017, eight large white sharks have been washed up in South Africa, with signs that they have been attacked by orcas. Seven of the sharks – usually top predators – did not have a liver and some no longer had a heart. The sharks’ wounds, as well as recorded sightings of the two oaths, showed a team of researchers that Port and Starboard were responsible for the killings and believe that most sharks were probably killed by the same pair, but were not washed ashore. . The findings are published in the African Journal of Marine Science. “Killer whales are highly skilled hunters,” said Alison Towner, a marine biologist at the Dyer Island Conservation Trust and lead author of the new study, in an email to Gizmodo. “This particular guy has learned how to target sharks for their lipid-rich, nutrient-rich liver, which can be up to a third of a shark’s body weight.” Photo: Dyer Island Conservation Trust Whole orcas can be over 30 feet long and weigh over 7 tons, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation. Orcas hunt in herds and eat a variety of prey, such as seals and dolphins, but also sharks and squid. But the great white sharks are formidable adversaries. The fish can be up to 20 feet long and have hundreds of pointed toothed teeth, ideal for tearing the flesh. But in this case, the hunters became the hunted. Using tagging and viewing data, Towner’s team found that great white sharks have stopped visiting certain areas along the coast of South Africa where orcas fed on juvenile sharks. “The more orcas frequent these locations, the longer the great white sharks stay away,” Towner told a news release. Orcas (nicknamed Port and Starboard by the group) throw the entire food chain for a loop. With the normally top white whites leaving the area, a new predator – the bronze whale shark, known to be eaten by the great whites – emerges. But orcas also hunt these sharks. An orca off the coast of Norway. Photo: OLIVIER MORIN / AFP (Getty Images) The declining presence of large whites has also increased the local number of their prey, the cape seals, which in turn eat the endangered African penguins. “To put it simply, although this is a hypothesis at the moment, there is only so much pressure that an ecosystem can accept, and the effects of shark-eared orcas are probably much broader,” Towner said. As tough as they are, whites are a vulnerable species, according to the World Wildlife Fund. With Port and Starboard in their tails, these sharks have no choice but to leave the ship-ee, their habitat. More: Large white sharks may have pushed Megalodonts into extinction
