{"id":22256,"date":"2022-11-08T15:24:27","date_gmt":"2022-11-08T14:24:27","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/?p=69539"},"modified":"2022-11-08T15:45:14","modified_gmt":"2022-11-08T14:45:14","slug":"orcas-work-together-to-attack-great-white-sharks","status":"publish","type":"rss_feed","link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/rss_feed\/orcas-work-together-to-attack-great-white-sharks\/","title":{"rendered":"Orcas work together to attack great white sharks"},"content":{"rendered":"

<\/p>

By Kenny Taylor\n \t\t<\/p>

Published: Tuesday, 08 November 2022 at 12:00 am<\/p>

\n\n

Great white sharks (known simply as white sharks by scientists) and orcas are both apex predators, able to kill many other creatures, but rarely attacked themselves.<\/p>\n

However, video footage and surveys from a South African study published in Ecology<\/em><\/a> suggest orcas are the topmost seagoing predator of all \u2013 and that white sharks are well aware of that danger.<\/p>\n\n<p>\u201cWe had all the pieces of evidence pointing to the fact that orcas were preying on white sharks,\u201d says lead author Alison Towner, a marine biologist and PhD candidate at <a href=\"\/\/www.ru.ac.za\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Rhodes University<\/a>. \u201cBut we were not quite sure of the hunting strategies the orcas used, nor how the sharks initially responded.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>Previous clues included white shark carcasses with their livers missing, washed ashore on the Western Cape in recent years.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cTagged white sharks also vanished from key coastal aggregation sites,\u201d says Towner, possibly to avoid predation by the orcas.<\/p>\n<p>This parallels what happened in 1997 around the Farallon Islands, off San Francisco, when whale-watching tourists saw two orcas kill a white shark and eat its huge, fat-rich liver.<\/p>\n<p>Twenty years later, when white shark carcasses started to be found in South Africa, researchers suspected that another orca duo was implicated. This deadly couple, named Port and Starboard, had already been seen attacking smaller species of shark.<\/p>\n<div class=\""image-handler__container\" image-handler__container--full=\"\" style=\""padding-bottom:\" calc=\"\"> <picture><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=300%2C190,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?quality=90&resize=300%2C190,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=355%2C224,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?quality=90&resize=355%2C224,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=405%2C256,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?quality=90&resize=405%2C256,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=554%2C350,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(max-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?quality=90&resize=554%2C350,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=620%2C392,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C392,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=408%2C258,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?quality=90&resize=408%2C258,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?webp=true&quality=90&resize=556%2C352,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/webp"\"><source media=\""(min-width:\" data-srcset=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?quality=90&resize=556%2C352,\" https:=\"\" type=\""image\/jpeg"\"><img class=\""wp-image-69544\" align=\"\" size-landscape_thumbnail=\"\" image-handler__image=\"\" image-handler__image--full=\"\" no-wrap=\"\" js-lazyload=\"\" data-src=\""https:\/\/images.immediate.co.uk\/production\/volatile\/sites\/23\/2022\/10\/Port-and-Starboard-orca.-Alison-Kock-c05ccce.jpg?quality=90&resize=620%2C392"\" width=\""620"\" height=\""413"\" alt=\"""\" title=\"""\"\/><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/source><\/picture><\/div><div class=\""caption-hold"\"><figcaption class=\""wp-caption-text"\"><span class=\""caption-copy"\"><i class=\""icon-arrow\" icon-camera-circle=\"\"\/> <em>The orcas Port and Starboard have been previously linked to hunting great white sharks. \u00a9 Alison Kock<\/em><\/span><\/figcaption><span class=\""im-image-caption"\"\/><\/div>\n<p>But the new video footage, captured from both drone and helicopter, shows a white shark trying to evade capture from a group of five orcas. At first, it circles a would-be attacker, which has made a slow, close approach.<\/p>\n<p>This could thwart a lone assailant, but because orcas hunt in groups, the researchers believe that the circling strategy is ineffective. \u201cFor the first time, we have direct evidence of this behaviour,\u201d says Towner.<\/p>\n<p>It shows that more than two orcas have learned how to hunt white sharks in the area. Starboard was indeed one of them, but \u201cthere are others.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>What happens next could have knock-on effects for white sharks, the wider ecosystem and wildlife tourism off this part of the coast.<\/p>\n<section class=\""highlight\"><div class=\""highlight__content\" editor-content=\"\"> <h4>Learn more about orcas:<\/h4>\n<ul><li><a href=\"\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/news\/orcas-seen-killing-eating-blue-whale\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">First records of orcas seen killing and eating blue whales<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/mammals\/do-orcas-go-through-the-menopause\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Do orcas go through the menopause?<\/a><\/li>\n<li><a href=\"\/\/www.discoverwildlife.com\/animal-facts\/marine-animals\/facts-about-orcas\/"\" target=\""_blank"\" rel=\""noopener" noopener noreferrer\">Orca guide: diet, how they hunt, and what they\u2019re related to<\/a><\/li>\n<\/ul><p> <\/p><\/div> <\/section><hr\/><p><em>Main image: Drone shot of orcas chasing and killing great white sharks. \u00a9 Christiaan Stopforth\/Drone Fanatics<\/em><\/p><\/body><\/html>\n<hr class=\"no-tts wp-block-separator\"\/>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>By Kenny Taylor Published: Tuesday, 08 November 2022 at 12:00 am Great white sharks (known simply as white sharks by scientists) and orcas are both apex predators, able to kill many other creatures, but rarely attacked themselves. However, video footage and surveys from a South African study published in Ecology suggest orcas are the topmost […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":24,"featured_media":22257,"template":"","categories":[1],"acf":{"readingTimeMinutes":"2"},"uagb_featured_image_src":{"full":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/orcas-work-together-to-attack-great-white-sharks-scaled.jpg",2329,2560,false],"thumbnail":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/orcas-work-together-to-attack-great-white-sharks-150x150.jpg",150,150,true],"medium":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/orcas-work-together-to-attack-great-white-sharks-273x300.jpg",273,300,true],"medium_large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/orcas-work-together-to-attack-great-white-sharks-768x844.jpg",768,844,true],"large":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/orcas-work-together-to-attack-great-white-sharks-932x1024.jpg",800,879,true],"1536x1536":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/orcas-work-together-to-attack-great-white-sharks-1398x1536.jpg",1398,1536,true],"2048x2048":["https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/uploads\/sites\/44\/2022\/11\/orcas-work-together-to-attack-great-white-sharks-1863x2048.jpg",1863,2048,true]},"uagb_author_info":{"display_name":"importmanagerhub@sprylab.com","author_link":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/author\/importmanagerhubsprylab-com\/"},"uagb_comment_info":0,"uagb_excerpt":"By Kenny Taylor Published: Tuesday, 08 November 2022 at 12:00 am Great white sharks (known simply as white sharks by scientists) and orcas are both apex predators, able to kill many other creatures, but rarely attacked themselves. However, video footage and surveys from a South African study published in Ecology suggest orcas are the topmost…","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed\/22256"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/rss_feed"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/rss_feed"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/24"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/22257"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=22256"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/c01.purpledshub.com\/bbcwildlife\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=22256"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}