Orcas attacked a great white shark and ate its liver: rare footage from South Africa caught on video

Killer whales are one of the few animals that can attack sharks and even whales. In particular, white sharks are a delicacy for them - killer whales eat only their liver.

Recently, a pair of killer whales attacking a white shark was filmed in South Africa near Gansbaai. According to Live Science, citing a previously published study by scientists, they are considered serial shark killers. The pair had been killing great white sharks and eating their livers for at least five years.

Read also: Australia has organized a hunt for a killer shark

The key point was that the killer whales did not eat the rest of the shark's body parts except for the liver. Scientists say that they hunt the liver because of the nutrients and nutrients it contains. Perhaps they are hunting shark liver because of the compound squalene, which is found in the liver of sharks.

Researchers have reported that two male killer whales (Orcinus orca), nicknamed Port and Starboard, have attacked at least eight great white sharks off the South African coast since 2017.

The new footage, captured during an hour-long hunt using a drone and helicopter, shows that one of the orcas, nicknamed Starboard, helped the other two attack a great white shark and then ate several pieces of its liver.

It is noted that this video is the first time a killer whale has been seen in action during an attack, previously scientists have only found mutilated shark carcasses on the coast of Gansbaai.

"This behavior has never been witnessed in detail before, and certainly never from the air," commented Alison Towner, lead author of the study (senior researcher at the Academy of Marine Dynamics in Hansbay).

Read also: In Australia, a shark attacked a girl while swimming and tore her apart

The video shows one of the killer whales slowly approaching the great white with the intention of killing it, but the shark did not swim away, only circled in the water. Then two more killer whales came up and surrounded the shark. The first killer whale attacked its victim and began to bite.

As a reminder, Australian residents and tourists are advised to stay as far away from the ocean as possible. Sharks have started to hunt vacationers and surfers on a massive scale.

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