Orca Pods Surgically Kill Great White Sharks by Removing Their Livers

Scientists have uncovered a terrifying new reality in our oceans where the ultimate apex predator hunts and kills sharks with surgical precision. The great white shark, once feared as the top of the food chain, is now being systematically taken down by killer whales who are even more powerful. Behavioral ecologist Tristan Guttridge explained how these orcas wipe out entire populations of white sharks from the US coast down to Africa through highly coordinated strikes. During Discovery's annual Shark Week special, Dr. Guttridge stated that these animals surgically remove a shark's liver while leaving the rest of the carcass behind.

The method involves a shocking lesson learned from practicing on human sailing vessels. Researchers watched as orcas wrecked and capsized hundreds of boats worldwide before turning their attention to the great white. Guttridge used his own boat as bait alongside underwater cameraman Kina Scollay and orca expert Dr. Renauld de Stephanis to capture this deadly behavior for the first time. The recordings showed how killer whales communicate using sound frequencies far beyond what a white shark can hear. Then, the massive predators attack in packs, surrounding their target to grab its fins and control its motion before ripping out that vital organ.

Scollay noted that these guys are truly the ultimate apex predator on the planet. The first documented case of a killer whale attacking a great white occurred off the California coast in October 1997. After that specific incident, all the white sharks disappeared from that immediate area. Guttridge pointed out that while drone footage exists showing orcas chasing sharks, viewers often miss the full picture of the hunt. He emphasized that these animals are now taking on other apex predators in our oceans to feed on everything from sea leopards to salmon.

In South Africa, dead white sharks began washing ashore with their livers surgically extracted by the killer whales. Researchers explained that a shark's liver makes up 25 percent of its body weight and represents a pure energy feast for a pod of orcas. This organ helps the creature store massive amounts of fuel and contains oils that control buoyancy, which can weigh hundreds of pounds in a great white. While the great white is a massive predator, orcas are even bigger, growing to be over 30 feet long and weighing more than 14,000 pounds.

Guttridge believes killer whales use attacks on human vessels as practice for their deadly hunts of great white sharks. In Spain, they actively attack and disable sailboats along the coast. The first report of a ship being rammed by an orca came in May 2020 off the coast of Barbate. Just weeks later, there were 45 ship attacks recorded along that same stretch of coastline. However, the number has exploded since then with over 600 ship attacks reported along the Spanish coast. Guttridge revealed that while theories exist regarding retaliation or play, one stands out as some sort of training exercise for these intelligent hunters.

They're using these boats as a teaching platform for their young," Guttridge said. Scientists have witnessed instances where whales taught other whales how to attack. In South Africa, two orcas named Port and Starboard have been credited with teaching nearby orcas how to hunt down and kill great white sharks. Researchers deployed a fake rudder in a small boat within Spain's Strait of Gibraltar, similar to the most common type of vessel orcas have attacked, to examine exactly how the whales target their prey.

The team spotted Atlas, the first whale Dr de Stephanis documented attacking a boat near Spain in 2020, traveling with a pod of seven to eight orcas. Four of them moved in to attack the rudder of Guttridge's boat. One predator was seen swimming on its side and biting the giant rudder as the boat tried to escape. A constant attack on the decoy boat ended up crippling the vessel, since the orcas were smart enough to target both the fake rudder and the real one.

The pod then turned their attention to the safety boat containing Dr de Stephanis. They were clearly seen by Scollay lining up and precisely attacking the boat's rudder, just like whales do with a shark's pectoral fin to reach the liver. Atlas is a killer whale believed to be the first to start attacking human boats in Spain's Strait of Gibraltar. A pod of orcas targeted the team's rudders and disabled one boat being used as bait.

"There was genuine fear on my part that this boat would go down," Guttridge said. "They were persistent, they didn't back off." The research explained that orcas have the ability to 'see' with sound using echolocation, which sends out high-frequency clicks that bounce off prey in the ocean, giving the whales information about an object's size and distance.

"We're only really beginning to unravel how smart these animals are," said Guttridge. "It's a highly intelligent, social animal." Orcas form close social groups with other orcas, often spending their entire lives together, learning to both live and work as a team of predators throughout the world, communicating through clicks, calls and pulses. This gives them a distinct advantage over great white sharks, which communicate at much lower frequencies and rely more on their sense of smell to track down injured fish.

"The white shark is a highly visual predator; it has one of the largest proportions of its brain dedicated to olfaction, to smell. It can get up to 30 or 40 mph," Guttridge revealed. The team suspected that orcas were able to sneak up and kill great white sharks because they communicated through sounds outside the range of what sharks generally pick up in the water.

Using a custom sail boat with a stronger rudder, a glass floor to witness the attack, and special microphones to listen for orca communication, the team returned to the sea to gather definitive proof that killer whales were using boat attacks to train themselves to kill sharks. Sharks use the element of surprise much differently than orcas, who communicate at much higher frequencies. Orcas were seen attacking boats in the same way they paralyze great white sharks.

The modified boat with Guttridge on board was again approached by Atlas and his pod. One of the orcas completely broke the boat's rudder, grabbing, twisting and bending it to use it as a 'control point' on its victim. The researchers believe the same move could be used on great white sharks, controlling the fin to turn the shark upside down and temporarily paralyzing them.

"This orca was lining it up at a very specific angle to try and maintain that kind of blind spot position," Guttridge revealed.

It would be almost impossible for the white shark to detect the incoming orca." These words highlight just how different each predator approaches the hunt. Both rely on surprise, yet their methods diverge sharply before the kill happens. For a white shark, taking down a seal at the surface demands stealth and precision. Guttridge explained that these massive fish stay low to the ground, using camouflage to blend in until they are right next to their target. Then comes the strike, hitting the animal at the exact right point with no room for error. "For a white shark, it's kind of all or nothing," he noted.

Orcas play by completely different rules. They operate as tight-knit teams, coordinating perfectly to overwhelm their prey. The scientists watched this teamwork firsthand when they recorded an orca attacking a modified sailing boat before the vessel disabled its rudder and engine. Before that damage occurred, researchers managed to capture vocalizations from the attacking orca for the very first time. Analysis of those calls showed frequencies sitting well above what a normal white shark can hear. This discovery offers hard proof that orcas have learned to sneak up on sharks quietly. They use this advantage to outnumber their opponents and incapacitate them, all to reach the nutritious livers inside. It is a clever strategy built on silence and strength in numbers.