Flat-nosed sharks and even great white sharks find an unexpected enemy off the coast of South Africa: the orca, two specimens of which (even named after) seem to have been killing sharks for some time. about twenty hollowed out shark carcasses, stuck in the sand, recently appeared in South Africa. The focus of scientists two killer whales which has wreaked havoc with the attacks carried out with ‘surgical’ precision on the coasts of the said country for years.
Ralph Watson, a 33-year-old marine biologist from the association Marine DynamicsHe states that he found the total at the end of February twenty sharks cut into piecesnineteen of them flat nose. Scientists were warned by some passers-by who encountered this bloody sight.
The main suspects responsible for this massacre, orca calls ‘Port’ and ‘Starboard’ (‘Babor’ and ‘Estrbor’ in English), Observed three days ago off the coast of Gansbaai, a small fishing port well known to locals and located 160km east of Cape Town.
This slaughter is the final act of this killer whale duo, recognizable by their curved dorsal fins.
Alison Towner, the organization’s shark expert Dyer Island Conservation TrustHe participated in autopsies on dead specimens. All sharks had ‘scratch marks’ on their pectoral fins, typical of killer whale bites, while their livers were ‘missing’.He stated in his statements to the AFP agency.
“For the first time, the orcas hunt this shark species in this particular area,” added the researcher.
This fearsome duo, which has ravaged the area for several years, will be one of the reasons the great white shark ‘escape’ from certain areas off Cape Town.
A ‘surgical technique’
The Port and Starboard reached the waters near Cape Town in 2015. At first they hunted flat-nosed sharks, but since 2017 they have not hesitated to attack great white sharks as well.
The technique is “surgery,” Watson elaborates. They work as a team for tear open the chest of its prey and gain access to the liver, an organ “very nutritious and rich in lipids.”To add.
Stunning aerial images released by scientists in October 2022, five of these black and white predatorsbetween them asteriskwhile circling around a great white shark and clearing its guts.
“This behavior is very unusual. Orcas normally hunt dolphins in these waters.”said the expert.
According to Simon Elwen, the association’s researcher and director Sea SearchEarly observations show that Port and Starboard ‘probably comes from elsewhere, such as West or East Africa, or even the Southern Ocean. You really don’t know’.
Elwen adds that the attack, recorded in 2022, worries scientists about the potential risks of “cultural transmission” of these practices among these highly intelligent animals.
Unlike his peers who stayed on the high seas, The two orca heroes of these events were especially “coastal‘. They were sighted “from Namibia to the Port Elizabeth area” about 800 km east of Cape Town.
“Another threat to shark populations off the coast of South Africa” Towner says.
But the effect Port and Starboard is still limited. “It’s shocking that it’s on our beaches, but hundreds of thousands of sharks are caught every year,” Watson says.
“It’s ‘frustrating’ to watch an endangered animal attack another threatened species”accepts Simon Elwen. “But two separate killer whales are not going to wipe out a species,” he says.
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