Great White Sharks Are Completely Terrified of Orcas

NewsVine_Mariyam

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I was watching the Netflix documentary 'Blackfish' tonight which briefly is about killer whales held in captivity. OSHA conducted a workplace investigation of Sea World on more than one occasion following 'incidents' in which the whales attacked their trainers. There was one incident in particular however that happened in Tenerife in the Canary Islands which only garnered a comment from the fiancee of the dead trainer but it made me remember having seen this article below. The victim's fiance stated that the victim's chest didn't "look right", she said it looked as if it had exploded.
A new study shows the apex predators will flee their hunting grounds and won’t return for up to a year when killer whales pass by
orca.jpg

Orcas kill great white sharks, then eat their calorie-dense livers. (Michael Weberberger/Getty Images)

It’s pretty much common wisdom that the top predator in the ocean is the great white shark (that is, if there isn’t a remnant population of megalodon hidden somewhere in the deep). But a new study reveals that the massive shark is not the ocean’s top apex predator: that title rightly belongs to orcas, also known as killer whales.​

The revelation comes from a paper in Nature Scientific Reports by senior research scientist Salvador Jorgensen at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and his colleagues. Ed Yong at The Atlantic reports that over the years, while studying great white sharks, Jorgensen and his team began to notice that when killer whales entered the scene, the sharks made an exit, and in many cases did not return for months. In particular, in 2009 the team radio-tagged 17 sharks around Southeast Farallon Island in Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, a marine and wildlife refuge off the coast of California. The sharks happily munched on young elephant seals in the waters around the island, which they regularly do between September and December. But when a pod of orcas entered the waters for just a couple of hours, the sharks high-tailed it out of there and most didn’t return that season.​

"So why are the sharks, which can grow up to 18 feet long, so afraid of orcas? Yong reports that most of what we know about white shark/orca encounters doesn’t end well for the sharks. In 1997, during the first interaction ever recorded, fishermen near Southeast Farallon witnessed a pair of orcas kill a young great white that tried to nose in on the sea lion they were eating. The orcas bashed him to death then ate his liver.

In 2017, five corpses of great white sharks washed up on the beaches of South Africa, all with their livers almost surgically removed. It was the work of orcas, which kill the sharks then make a wound near the calorie-dense shark liver. They then squish the yummy treat out of the shark and leave the rest of the corpse. “It’s like squeezing toothpaste,” Jorgensen tells Yong."

 
Yeah, agreed.

The documentary very interesting although I found it particularly distressing when they were explaining the mother orca's reactions when they took their calves from them. The mothers engaged in behavior previously unobserved which was explained as grieving since orca offspring stay with their mothers throughout their lives. These family unit are what makeup the pods that the orcas form and they stated that each pod is unique, including the language they use to communicate amongst the pod members.

This made a lot of sense of the behavior that was witnessed worldwide back in 2018 of a female orca in Puget Sound, Washington who carried her stillborn calf for 17 days as the pod moved around the area, more than 1000 miles before letting it go.

As heartbreaking as that was to witness, the mother now has new calf who was born this past year.
https://www.theguardian.com/environment/2020/sep/07/tahlequah-the-orca-famous-for-carrying-her-dead-calf-for-17-days-gives-birth-again|
 
Orcas have an intelligence and learn hunting techniques. They can band together and team up to kill a shark.

Sharks are big fish and only know how to eat.
FOOD....Kill it
The documentary stated that orcas also have emotional intelligence that exceeds other mammals including humans.

They are fascinating creatures and some of the things done to them were just inhumane.
 
Interesting that they only like to eat their livers.

That first comment made me laugh.

"The orcas bashed him to death then ate his liver." With a fine Chianti"; sftsftsftstsssss!
giphy.gif
 
I was watching the Netflix documentary 'Blackfish' tonight which briefly is about killer whales held in captivity. OSHA conducted a workplace investigation of Sea World on more than one occasion following 'incidents' in which the whales attacked their trainers. There was one incident in particular however that happened in Tenerife in the Canary Islands which only garnered a comment from the fiancee of the dead trainer but it made me remember having seen this article below. The victim's fiance stated that the victim's chest didn't "look right", she said it looked as if it had exploded.
A new study shows the apex predators will flee their hunting grounds and won’t return for up to a year when killer whales pass by
orca.jpg

Orcas kill great white sharks, then eat their calorie-dense livers. (Michael Weberberger/Getty Images)

It’s pretty much common wisdom that the top predator in the ocean is the great white shark (that is, if there isn’t a remnant population of megalodon hidden somewhere in the deep). But a new study reveals that the massive shark is not the ocean’s top apex predator: that title rightly belongs to orcas, also known as killer whales.​
The revelation comes from a paper in Nature Scientific Reports by senior research scientist Salvador Jorgensen at the Monterey Bay Aquarium and his colleagues. Ed Yong at The Atlantic reports that over the years, while studying great white sharks, Jorgensen and his team began to notice that when killer whales entered the scene, the sharks made an exit, and in many cases did not return for months. In particular, in 2009 the team radio-tagged 17 sharks around Southeast Farallon Island in Greater Farallones National Marine Sanctuary, a marine and wildlife refuge off the coast of California. The sharks happily munched on young elephant seals in the waters around the island, which they regularly do between September and December. But when a pod of orcas entered the waters for just a couple of hours, the sharks high-tailed it out of there and most didn’t return that season.​
"So why are the sharks, which can grow up to 18 feet long, so afraid of orcas? Yong reports that most of what we know about white shark/orca encounters doesn’t end well for the sharks. In 1997, during the first interaction ever recorded, fishermen near Southeast Farallon witnessed a pair of orcas kill a young great white that tried to nose in on the sea lion they were eating. The orcas bashed him to death then ate his liver.
In 2017, five corpses of great white sharks washed up on the beaches of South Africa, all with their livers almost surgically removed. It was the work of orcas, which kill the sharks then make a wound near the calorie-dense shark liver. They then squish the yummy treat out of the shark and leave the rest of the corpse. “It’s like squeezing toothpaste,” Jorgensen tells Yong."
VITAMIN A
 

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