Thanks to “Jaws”, “The Shallows” and to a lesser extent “Sharknado”, the great white shark has earned the perhaps unfair reputation of most feared animal in the ocean.
However, according to a series of shocking recent stories from one of the great white capitals of the world, it seems as though the giant fish may not be the ocean’s top dog after all.
In recent weeks, South African locals have been finding the grisly remains of several large great white sharks washed up on the beaches of Gansbaai. These bodies aren’t just stranded, but have been physically ripped apart in a precise, surgical manner, with key vital organs removed.
This has led several senior marine experts to conclude that the sharks, long considered to be the top predators in the area, are in fact being eaten themselves by orca - better known as killer whales.
Watch As Great White Shark Takes Down 32-foot Humpback Whale:While it might be difficult to imagine Shamu taking on Jaws, the physical evidence is hard to deny. As marine biologist Alison Towner explained in an interview with Newsweek, “When the animal is lying there with its 60 kilo liver ripped out, it's pretty obvious."
Towner continued, adding:
"These injuries on the great whites were identical to those on the sevengills in false bay in that the animals were physically ripped open."
"Just under the surface of the skin is the perfect place to open up the shark and access and extract the liver. I think two of the animals had both the heart removed and one male had his testes removed. Because they're very close there in the body cavity.
"We think the two killer whales were learning to get hold of the pectoral fins. We don't know for sure. It's like a ripping motion. The liver... it's oily, very slippery, it would naturally slide out so they could come along and share it."
Just as with many apex predators around the world great white shark numbers are on the decline. In South Africa, any threat to the population is treated extremely seriously. Then again, question marks remain as to how exactly you stop a hungry killer whale from getting its lunch.