Today I Learned

It turns out that great white sharks aren’t always the hunter — the feared killers of the ocean are prey for orcas. Autopsies have been done on six bodies of the monster predators which washed up on the coast of South Africa over the years and the results show the sharks were attacked by killer whales for their nutrient rich organs. Marine biologist Alison Towner helped perform post-mortems on six sharks that washed up on the shores of Gansbaai, and, in an appearance on the YouTube channel Shark Talk, hosted by Gemma Care, said orca pods had “physically ripped open” the sharks’ skins just below the throat in a “precise and refined” way in order for the organs to slip out. This story was first reported by Newsweek. There have been reports of killer whales attacking several species of sharks off the South African coast since 2017 and the deaths were eventually linked to two killer whales in the area. Towner said the autopsies on the great whites took hours to perform, with the team meticulously taking measureme