Orcas in South Africa Are Killing Great White Sharks for Their Livers

Great white sharks are formidable predators, but they can become prey themselves. Research off South Africa has documented particular orcas attacking white sharks and consuming their energy-rich livers. The story is about observed behavior by identifiable animals, rather than a rule that every orca follows.

People examining shark remains on a beach in two views — Images of shark remains retained from the earlier South Africa report. They do not depict the later solitary orca attack discussed in the text. Source.

The earlier investigation of stranded sharks

Before the later directly observed attack, investigators were examining shark carcasses. The 2022 article quoted a Marine Dynamics statement describing work by white-shark biologist Alison Towner and the Dyer Island Conservation Trust:

The Dyer Island Conservation Trust team was called out again this morning after another deceased shark washed ashore. Alison Towner, White Shark Biologist, has confirmed that it is a 4.1m male with the exact same injuries as previously deceased sharks indicating that is an Orca predation. The team is busy with the retrieval process. Our Marine Dynamics team is offshore of Dangerpoint tracking the elusive Orca pair, Port and Starboard. These are interesting yet trying times.

Another statement linked that search with the day’s observations from boats:

The pair of orcas believed to be responsible were sighted offshore of Danger Point then again in Franskraal today. Marine Dynamics cage diving boat tracked the pair. Subsequently, all cage diving boats failed to see white sharks today and it is believed the sharks may have fled the area once again.

“Today” and “this morning” refer to the statements’ reporting period. The first passage describes an inference from injuries; the second reports non-sightings and a proposed explanation. Neither establishes that every shark left permanently. This field history explains why later footage of predation provided such valuable additional evidence.

What researchers actually saw

A 2024 research announcement accompanying a study in the African Journal of Marine Science described an orca called Starboard attacking a juvenile white shark at Mossel Bay. Researchers reported that the approximately 2.5-meter shark was subdued in under two minutes, with the orca subsequently carrying its liver.

This added direct evidence to earlier work on the pair known as Port and Starboard. Carcasses with missing organs had helped investigators reconstruct previous attacks; witnessing behavior provides another kind of evidence.

Why the distinction matters

A spectacular encounter does not show that all orcas specialize in sharks, or that every disappearance of sharks from an area has the same cause. Diet and hunting behavior need to be studied in the animals and region concerned.

There is also a difference between sharks leaving a familiar gathering site and a measured decline in the whole population. Movement records, repeated surveys and other observations help researchers distinguish those outcomes.

What to look for in a wildlife claim

Ask whether a report describes an observed event, a conclusion drawn from remains or a broader population trend. All three can be valuable, but they answer different questions.

The same attention to scale matters in positive wildlife stories. The recovery of western South Atlantic humpback whales concerns a particular population, rather than proof that every whale population has recovered.