Very rare drone footage of three orcas attacking and killing a great white shark in Mossel Bay is doing the rounds. The video clip was reportedly filmed as part of Discovery‘s Shark Week series.
The video shows one of the whales bringing the wounded shark close to the surface before dragging it under again. The other two then follow the first whale underwater.
This is key evidence supporting recent findings that orcas preying on great whites are causing the sharks to steer clear of the area, resulting in the decrease in shark sightings in South Africa, and a growing concern for great white numbers.
The paper, led by shark expert Alison Towner is titled ‘Fear at the top: killer whale predation drives white shark absence at South Africa’s largest aggregation site‘ and was published on 1 July.
‘Initially, following an orca attack in Gansbaai, individual great white sharks did not appear for weeks or months,’ said Towner. ‘What we seem to be witnessing though is a large-scale avoidance strategy, mirroring what we see used by wild dogs in the Serengeti in Tanzania, in response to increased lion presence. The more the orcas frequent these sites, the longer the great white sharks stay away.’
Take a look:
READ MORE: Where did the Cape’s great whites go? A new study has the answers
