Great White Sharks: Ultimate Predator - Or Are They?

For many years Great White Shark's have been feared by many. Spawning movies to the likes of Jaws, further entrenching that existing fear we had (or still have) for this majestic hunter.

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As you know the Great White is the largest of sharks known to be in existence today, growing to length's of up to 6.5 meters long and weighing up to 1,100 kilograms. That is a big animal and they've been around for millions of years.

The question is this though:

Are Great White Sharks the oceans ultimate predator?

Do Great White Sharks rule the oceans?

The answer:

A resounding no.

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So then if these massive predators, who have been perceived as ruling the oceans of the world aren't the number predators in our oceans, which animals are?

The answer to that is the Orca Whale AKA Killer Whale.

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Fairly recently, Great White Sharks off the coast of South Africa have been attacked by pods of Orca's. Their livers have been removed with near surgical precision and the rest of the body discarded. This however provided scientists with the physical evidence required to prove that Orca's hunt the Great White Shark, among many other shark species. Also bear in mind, it's not only small Great White's that fall prey to the Orca's. One of the sharks that washed up was a female estimated to be over 1 ton. That's a big animal. Close to the largest known 1.1 ton Great White.

The reason they only ate the livers (one of the three Great White's heart was also removed) is that the sharks liver is highly nutritious due to its squalene rich properties. A shark's liver also makes up about a third of their total body weight therefore there is enough to go around for the small pod of Orca's.

So how do they do it?

Orca's are highly intelligent and work in groups, referred to as pods, to catch their prey. They use echo-location, strategy and teamwork to kill their prey. In many instances they'll use a series of high pitched clicks to stun the prey.

With regards to shark species they seem to have developed a very particular strategy as follows:

Ingrid Visser, who has studied killer whales for nearly 20 years, told the Telegraph that orcas use a specialized technique to stun their prey: “The orca will use its tail to drive the shark to the surface. They don’t even touch it. Using an up-thrust of its tail it creates a vortex which pushes the shark up on the current they create with their movements.

“Once the shark is at the surface, the killer whale pivots and lifts its tail out of the water and comes down on top of it like a karate chop.”

Read more: http://www.2oceansvibe.com/2017/05/05/massive-great-white-sharks-are-washing-up-dead-in-gansbaai-and-orcas-might-be-to-blame-images/#ixzz52ZEkTHLk

At the end of the post is a video that was caught off the coast of Australia, which shows how the Orca's entrapped a Great White. The charter was out on a shark cage diving expedition and everyone got more than what they bargained for on the trip. In the one section of the video you can see how one Orca breached the waters and smashed down onto the helpless Great White, seemingly in an attempt to stun the shark. Soon after that, it was all over.

Back to the case off the coast of Cape Town (carcasses washed up at Gansbaai, Franskraal and Struisbaai) the Department of Environmental Affiars have confirmed that these Great White's were indeed killed by Orca's.

The sad part about it though, is that it appears as if the Great White Shark's may be fleeing the coast of South Africa, seemingly in an attempt to escape the Orca attacks. We will have to wait and see what happens to the Great White Shark population around South Africa.

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There you have it. The ocean's ultimate predator is not The Great White Shark, rather it is The Orca Whale. Hunting sharks, whales, dolphins, fish, penguins, seals and more.