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. 

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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:

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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."

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"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.

With their pointed teeth, their cold, dead eyes, and their ability to snap a person in two, great white sharks are amongst the most feared creatures on Earth.

Luckily for us, they tend to keep to their ocean habitat - so there's very little chance that we would ever have to encounter one unexpectedly (providing you stay on dry land).

Because of that, though, there are still many things we don't know about great whites. So, in order to find out more, a team of researchers from Australia and the USA attached cameras to some of the creatures - and ended up making some amazing discoveries about their hunting habits.

"We tagged eight white sharks ranging from 275 to 365 cm total length with high-resolution camera/motion sensor AVEDs near a Cape fur seal colony on Geyser Rock, in the Dyer Island Marine Reserve, near Gansbaai, South Africa during May 2014," the researchers explained.

"Sharks were attracted to a research vessel before being fitted with AVEDs (comprising HD video cameras and 12 channels of biologging data), using a minimally invasive stainless steel fin clamp."

What they found was that the enormous beasts were able to artfully dodge and weave their way through kelp forests in order to hunt down their prey.

You can see footage of one of the sharks hunting here:

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"A total of 28.5 h of video data from eight sharks were analysed and a total of 1340 incidences of kelp presence were recorded," the team said.

"Seals were in groups of one to three individuals and responded to the presence of the shark by blowing bubbles, swimming deeper into kelp or hunkering to the seafloor. The shark responded by turning sharply, eventually pushing directly through kelp while increasing activity."

While the team found that "No successful predation events were observed in the footage," they concluded that the sharks were tactically using the kelp in order to conceal themselves and hunt for seals.

"The film we collected gives us a new perspective on this species. We can see how they interact with their surroundings in real time, and they are able to make some pretty spectacular 180 degree turns in the kelp forest," explained Murdoch University PhD student, Oliver Jewell.

"In the past we would have to guess. We would track sharks to the edge of the kelp forest but then lose the signal. Being able to see what these fish do in this habitat helps to bring another layer of understanding to the behaviour of these ocean giants."

Though the team did not capture any evidence of a successful hunt, they believe that what they did learn meant the project was worth the effort.

"At times we would have to spend many hours at sea, perched over the side of a boat to deploy these tags, with no guarantees to even see a shark," said Dr Taylor Chapple, expedition leader from Stanford University. "But the incredible data made it all worthwhile."

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"We are really only scratching the surface with this study - there are so many layers to their behaviour. In the 12 years I’ve been studying them, it’s become clear white sharks have some very distinct behavioural traits," said Jewell. "More research of this nature is needed to help reveal more about this incredible species, so we can inform management and do more to ensure their survival."

Every creature in the animal kingdom is a majestic natural wonder - each meticulously designed to perfection, either by millions of years of evolution or at the hand of an all-powerful god, depending on your beliefs. However, some animals are d**ks.

Wasps are d***ks. Honey badgers are d***ks. And great white sharks are perhaps the biggest d***ks in all the animal kingdom. There's a reason Steven Spielberg managed to squeeze an entire franchise out of these vicious and malicious fiends of the sea.

Don't believe me? Are you one of these people who want to sit there and tell me that great white sharks are beautiful and majestic creatures who aren't as dangerous as they look? Yeah??

Then watch the video below of two great white sharks tearing chunks out of each other and tell me they're just sweet big fish:

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The stunning footage is part of National Geographic Wild’s new show Cannibal Sharks, which aims to delve deep into startling new reports that claim great white sharks are preying own their on kind more and more.

But despite the fact footage like that of the video above being incredibly rare, Professor Mark Meekan from the Australian Institute for Marine Science states in the program that all sharks are indeed cannibals.

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It's revealed that more and more mutilated carcasses are being fished out of the sea around Australia’s Gold Coast - some being devoured to the point where only the head remains.

Professor Meekan theorizes that this phenomenon is occurring as a result of the safety measures being taken to keep the sharks away from swimmers. Along the Gold Coast, nets and bated hook lines deployed in order to keep the public safe from the sharks. However, once a shark gets hooked by these, they send out a distress signal which is picked up by other nearby sharks.

The snagged sharks then become easy prey for other sharks who fancy an easy meal.

Professor Meekan went on to discover how sharks have had these cannibalistic traits for up to 300 million years.

Cannibal Sharks airs on National Geographic Wild on Monday, July 15, at 8 pm.

Sharks are one of the world's most notorious apex predators, but despite having dominion over the seas, in the vast majority of situations, whether they are environmental or manmade, they are at the mercy of us humans.

Case in point, this great white shark, who bled out after getting its head stuck in a diving cage.

To see the heartbreaking incident for yourself, check out the video below: 

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In the clip above, after the shark's head becomes stuck in the bars of the cage, it wriggles frantically to and fro in an attempt to free itself. Within feet of the diver, the shark tears open its gills and was eventually filmed floating lifelessly to the ocean floor.

Per the Daily Star, the animal struggled for 25 minutes after getting its head caught.

All of which begs the question: should we humans, the biggest predators of all, rethink activities like cage diving which have potentially deadly consequences?

This is the astonishing moment a rarely-seen prehistoric shark devours its prey: 

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The heartbreaking footage was posted to Facebook by Mexican environmentalist Arturo Islas Allende, who revealed in the comments section that the government had made it mandatory for divers to alter their cages so that such incidents could not occur in 2017, however, as evident, these regulations haven't been adhered to by everyone.

Allende continued that making the alterations was simply "common sense" because they protect not only the sharks but divers too.

This shark was also cruelly mistreated by humans and dragged behind a boat while alive: 

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Since being posted to Facebook, the footage has received over 229K reactions and 13K comments, the majority of which echo Allende's sentiment that this shark should have never lost its life in such a needlessly cruel way.

The cruelty of cage diving was also highlighted in the National Geographic, where it was explained that shark diving can also have a detrimental effect on ecosystems.

A Great White shark has choked to death on a sea turtle, a fisherman dramatically revealed on Facebook.

In a world where sharks - and especially Great Whites - are unduly feared because of the influence of Hollywood movies like Jaws, the pictures reinforce the narrative that this is one apex predator not to be messed with (even if it was taken out by a turtle). In them, the shark's bloody mouth and razor-sharp teeth are clearly visible.

This is the dramatic moment a whale protected a diver from a nearby shark: 

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It's certainly not a sight for anyone who thinks twice before putting a toe in the ocean, despite the fact that it's a fairly well-known fact that shark attacks, especially fatal ones, are rare.

The fisherman who made the grim discovery, Greg Vella, shared it on the Facebook group Commercial Salmon, Albacore & Crab Fishers alongside the following caption: 

"I was out commercial 'ken ken' style fishing for tuna (Japan, Pacific Ocean side) when I heard chatter on the radio that there was a white shark swimming around with a big sea turtle in [its] mouth. People started to joke about it, so I did not pay it any more attention," he wrote.

"The next day, it was found dead, near the bait receivers, tangled in some netting. The captains I interviewed who saw the mighty shark the day before, said it looked close to death, as it could not dislodge the giant turtle. The commercial guys were bummed, as white sharks do not bother their commercial fishing, and most certainly do bother the things that eat our catch," Vella continued.

He then concluded the post by revealing that the shark weighed 4,500 pounds (2,000kg).

Understandably, the shocking images garnered a considerable amount of attention on the social media website. At the time of writing, the post has been shared 9.1K times and received over 7.1K reactions.

"Holy crap. National Geographic at its best," remarked one member of the group. 

"Bit off more than he could chew," joked a second.
Whereas a third simply pointed out the obvious and wrote: "The shark [won't] do that again..."