— from Inverse.com —
Great white sharks don’t need much introduction. They have a firm hold on human imaginations and have been around for much longer: For 400 million years these intelligent behemoths have cruised through the ocean practically undeterred by a predatory rival. However, there’s increasing evidence that there is one ocean creature that can match them — and a new study shows these killers are causing great whites to flee.
In 2017, a series of great white shark deaths made the news: Five carcasses washed ashore on beaches near Cape Town, South Africa, each missing its liver. The bite marks on the great whites’ bellies connected the attacks to Orcinus orca, commonly known as the killer whale. A study released Tuesday in Naturedemonstrates that while on the other side of the planet, orcas are still the top predator above sharks, Californian great whites seem to have also learned it’s best to get away as soon as possible.
While tensions between orcas and great whites are known, this study offers an unprecedented look at what happens below the surface, before an attack even happens.
This study is based off data collected on 165 white sharks who were tagged between 2006 and 2013, along with 27 years worth of surveys on the seals, orcas, and sharks that spend time around the Farallon Islands. These islands, just off of San Francisco, are where great white sharks gather to hunt for young elephant seals each fall between September and December. It’s also the site where, in 1997, biologists documented orcas killing and consuming a great white for the first time.
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https://www.inverse.com/article/55033-great-white-sharks-scared-of-orcas
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