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Title: Killer whales suspects in Cape shark killings
Source:
TimesLive
URL Source: https://www.timeslive.co.za/news/sc ... -another-cape-shark-is-killed/
Published: Jun 26, 2017
Author: Claire Keeton
Post Date: 2017-06-26 18:55:10 by cranky
Keywords: None
Views: 1107
Comments: 4
File photo of a great white shark. South African National Parks marine biologist Alison Kock confirmed on Monday that a fourth shark was found dead at Pearly Beach with wounds suggesting orca predation.
Orcas are suspected of killing another huge white shark off the Western Cape‚ bringing the death toll to four in two months.
South African National Parks marine biologist Alison Kock confirmed on Monday that a fourth shark was found dead at Pearly Beach with wounds suggesting orca predation.
Pearly Beach is about 40km south-east of Gansbaai‚ where other dead white sharks were discovered with similar wounds.
Autopsies on them found their livers‚ nutritious and weighing as much as a person‚ had been removed with almost surgical precision.
Marine biologist Alison Towner‚ from Marine Dynamics‚ reportedly said the latest casualty was a 4.2 metre male.
Only about 10% of white sharks get longer than four metres‚ said white shark expert Chris Fallows.
White sharks mature and breed slowly so the loss of a rare big adult is a blow to this endangered species.
Fallows said losing a giant white shark could have a similar impact to losing a super tusker in the elephant population‚ whose numbers are also low.
He said orcas could be influencing the low number of white shark sightings in False Bay and Ganbaai this season.
In South Africa white sharks have been protected for more than 25 years. (1 image)
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Killer whales suspects in Cape shark killings
Killer whales will gang up on and eat anything with great pleasure. That's why they are called killer whales. On the other had, great Whites, are hardly nice guy candidates for the book of the month club. Whoever get eaten is no loss to the world.
#2. To: rlk (#1)
I guess the great whites will have to accept the fact that they are not the baddest of the bad. They better learn to avoid the orca's, or travel in large packs.
Replies to Comment # 2.
Of course that's the beauty of it (from the whales' perspective): sharks are just big dumb eating machines - cold-blooded pea-brained fish. Orcas are the biggest of the porpoises: warm-blooded, highly social, and the second-most intelligent animals on earth, after man.. The sharks don't stand a chance!
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