A Pair of Orca Have "Upended" The Food Chain Off Cape Town - 17 Sharks in a Day Killed

[Deleted member 149562]

Port and Starboard arrived off Cape Town 8 years ago and have totally changed the ecosystem with their voracious hunting abilities....

Orca pair kill 17 sharks in one day in their deadliest hunt yet

The killer whales, named Port and Starboard by marine conservationists, have upended the food chain in the waters off Cape Town and have already decimated the great white population.

www.dailymail.co.uk

 

[Freshyfishy]

Aww.. That's so sad..

 

[sharkweek178]

Orcas are the apex predator of the sea.

There was a town in Australia trying to figure out a way to discourage sharks from swimming near its beaches. Someone came up with the idea of broadcasting orca whale songs in the water. It worked. That scared away the sharks. Problem is that it scared away all the other marine life too.

 

[sharkweek178]

Orcas are smart. They have hunting tactics for different prey. Sharks can go into a catatonic state called tonic immobility. It's kind of like when you hypnotize a chicken. One of the ways to induce this state is to flip a shark upside down onto its back. Scientists do this to baby sharks when they want to tag them. What orcas will do is swim upside down to a shark and grab a hold of it. Then the orca rights itself , flipping the shark over in the process. The shark goes into tonic immobility and is helpless prey for the orcas.