Great White Sharks are apex predators. Which is why the world’s first aerial footage of killer whales hunting them has left the Internet shook. In light of this revelation, scientists are theorising killer whales may be passing the learned hunting behaviour on “culturally.”
A video filmed as part of a study in South Africa, in which biology boffins directly observed killer whales preying on white sharks and saw “evidence of a flight response” has netizens peeling out their eyeballs and setting fire to their retinas.
Either that or it has their heart strings swelling like an orchestra, sympathising for the plight of the mighty great whites featured in this unprecedented aerial footage.
WATCH: killer whales hunt great white sharks in world first aerial footage
On commenter on social media, having seen the footage, which started to go viral (again) this morning, wrote: “There’s always a bigger fish.” Another asked: “But why don’t the sharks just swim way down and stay there? Orcas can only hold their breath for like 10 minutes.”
Yet another chimed in with: “The hunt was probably well ‘orca’ strated.”
The scientific paper explains that the story began on on 16 May 2022 when, “between 14:00 and 15:00 PM, D. Archer of Mossel Bay Helicopters flew a series of short tourist flights over the same area of Hartenbos (34°07′ S, 22°07′ E).”
“While there the pilot witnessed two white sharks being killed by killer whales…neither was fully captured on film. However, using a Samsung S21 cell phone, the pilot captured a series of images and short video clips, which partially captured the interactions between four of the previously described killer whales and several white sharks.”
“Given the overlap in time and area, we assumed it was the same group captured by the drone footage,” the scientific paper explained, adding: “Two video sequences at 14:07 and 14:27 PM showed two different killer whales (Starboard in the first clip) closely following large white sharks at <1 killer whale body length. In both clips, the sharks displayed evasive behaviours, circling back tightly with the whale following, but both moving slowly.”
“In the later clip, a second killer whale is seen directly approaching the first killer whale and white shark to within five body lengths before visuals are lost.”
“A series of three images over 4 s showed what appears to be the consumption of a free-floating shark liver. The liver is roughly the size of the killer whale’s head and appears at the surface before being taken into the killer whale’s mouth.”
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“This behaviour has never been witnessed in detail before, and certainly never from the air,” said lead author Alison Towner, a senior shark scientist at Marine Dynamics Academy in Gansbaai, South Africa.
Only two killer whales in South Africa have been thought to hunt great whites, and one of those two was seen in the footage, along with four others. This has led researchers to speculate the behaviour may be learned.
When asked on Instagram whether this behaviour was spreading, lead researcher Towner said: “Cultural transmission is a reality yes.” She was also asked whether it was the two “famous” orcas that have been reportedly attacked Great Whites before. She said: “Quite likely them but could be others.”
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