Immobilising the shark by turning it upside down likely makes it easier for the orcas to quickly kill their prey and avoid a nasty bite. \u201cThe lack of bite marks or injuries anywhere other than the pectoral fins shows a novel and specialised technique of accessing the liver of the shark with minimal handling of each individual,\u201d write the authors in a new paper published in the journal\u00a0Frontiers in Marine Science<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n Footage shows the orcas ramming and submerging young white sharks in the Gulf of California. Credit: Erick Higuera | Marco Villegas\u00a0<\/p>\n This is the same technique killer whales use to\u00a0hunt whale sharks\u00a0<\/a>\u2013 the largest fish in the ocean. <\/p>\n \u201cThis behaviour is a testament to orcas\u2019 advanced intelligence, strategic thinking, and sophisticated social learning, as the hunting techniques are passed down through generations within their pods,\u201d says the study\u2019s lead author\u00a0Erick Higuera Rivas, project director at Conexiones Terramar and Pelagic Life.\u00a0<\/p>\n The killer whales belong to Moctezuma\u2019s pod; a group already known to eat sharks and rays<\/a>. The researchers wonder whether these orcas are benefiting from warmer waters, which may have changed the distribution of white shark<\/a> nurseries and lead to more juveniles being present in the Gulf of California where these orcas live.<\/p>\n “Juveniles tend to congregate during their first years in coastal nursery areas making an easy repeatable target,\u201d says co-author\u00a0Salvador Jorgensen, a marine ecologist at California State University Monterey Bay.<\/p>\n Orcas are known to hunt adult white sharks but juveniles might be easier for them to catch because they haven\u2019t yet learned to avoid the threat of killer whales. <\/p>\n \u201cAdult white sharks have demonstrated an incredible ability to immediately vacate their preferred hunting ground in a mass exodus if\u00a0orcas\u00a0appear,\u201d says\u00a0Jorgensen. \u201cIf the juveniles have not yet developed similar anti-predator mechanisms, the white sharks population could become vulnerable.\u201d<\/p>\n Top image: Orca killing young white shark. Credit: Marco Villegas<\/p>\n More wildlife stories from around the world<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Researchers have filmed\u00a0orcas\u00a0bringing down juvenile great\u00a0white sharks\u00a0in the Gulf of California. They say this is the first record…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":241696,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[26],"tags":[90,56,54,55,4407],"class_list":{"0":"post-241695","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-wildlife","8":"tag-science","9":"tag-uk","10":"tag-united-kingdom","11":"tag-unitedkingdom","12":"tag-wildlife"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241695","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=241695"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/241695\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/241696"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=241695"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=241695"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=241695"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}![\"Orcas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Orcas-hunting-white-sharks.jpeg\")
An orca strikes a shark in the belly. Credit: Marco Villegas<\/p>\n![\"Orcas](\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/11\/Orcas-hunting-white-sharks-1-scaled.jpeg\")
An orca subdues a white shark. Credit: Marco Villegas<\/p>\n