Divers in California have recorded a rare video footage of a Killer whaleSlurping the liver from a shark.
The horrific footage shows a orca tearing open the stomach of an enormous whale shark, measuring up to 30 feet (9 meters), before removing the liver.
As the killer whale swims from the shark, which is sinking lifelessly to bottom of ocean, other nearby orcas can be heard clicking with excitement.
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James Moskito (58) and other Californian divers captured this footage of a pod of 8 killer whales in April. The video shows the divers whooping in excitement at the sight of the orca.
Moskito: “It literally ends in seconds.” Live Science is a great way to learn about science.
“Looks like they slurped in the liver and then the whale shark just fell and descended down, with no movement – I’m assuming it was dead,” he said.
Soon after the encounter, a second orca nearby killed a whale shark. When the team reached the shark it was “just thrashing on the surface” with a killer attached, he said.
Shark livers are orca delicacies
This behavior is not new. Prior research found that this behavior was widespread in the area. Farallon IslandsIn northern California,
Two orcas that live in South Africa’s Mossel Bay have also become very good at Ripping the liversThey have so scared the great whites off their hunting grounds.
Orcas tend to go for the part of their prey that gives them the best “bang for their buck,” Michael Weiss, research director at the Center for Whale Research, Insider:What is the best way to behave?
“Sharks livers are extremely fat, so they have a lot in them,” he said.
Orcas may even use Sonar is a powerful tool for detecting and tracking objects.He said that they would try to find the most delicious parts of their prey.
Whales are known to switch to another shark after they have eaten the most appealing parts of the prey. This leaves the carcass exposed to bottom-feeding predators.
This article was first published by Business Insider.
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