In South Africa, a pair of killer whales is expelling and killing white sharks from their ancestral habitat.
According to a study published in the African Journal of Marine Science, white sharks now avoid the coastal area of Gansbaai out of fear, considered until now one of the most legendary in the world in terms of sightings of these gigantic predators.
Eight sharks whites killed
Since 2017, eight Great white sharks have washed ashore following an orca attack in the region, according to the study. Seven of them were missing their livers and others their hearts, wounds clearly inflicted by the same pair of killer whales. The researchers suspect that it also killed other white sharks that did not make it to shore. Killer whales are found all over the world and feed on fish and seals, among other things.
The results of the study, which began in 2017, suggest that the attacks have triggered a rapid and long-term mass movement of great white sharks. Great white shark sightings had “dramatically decreased” in Gansbaai since 2017.
Port and Starboard
Like cartoon criminals, killer whales were easily identifiable by their battle scars; one whale’s dorsal fin had bent to the right, while the other’s was bent to the left.
As reported by Live Science, These characteristics inspired local whale watchers to nickname orcas Port and Starboard. Almost as soon as whale watchers spotted the duo in Gansbaai, a dead great white shark washed up on the beach.
Gansbaai is located in the Western Cape province of South Africa. The place attracts tourists from all over the world who want to see the great white sharks from the diving cages.
Displacement of the ecosystem
“We observed a large-scale evasion strategy. The more frequently killer whales visit these locations, the longer white sharks will stay away,” said study lead author Alison Towner.
The absence of great white sharks does not it is unprecedented in the region and is changing the marine ecosystem, Towner said. The decline in white sharks, for example, caused the number of Cape fur seals to increase.
This has a negative impact on endangered African penguins, which are hunted by seals, she said.
Unpublished data suggests that the presence of orcas, also known as killer whales, continues to increase in the coastal regions of South Africa.
It is believed that the pair of killer whales may belong to a special way of eating sharks that hunts at least three species of sharks. Behavioral changes in hunting may be related to the decline of several populations of fish that were previously preyed upon by killer whales, Towner said.
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