If we were to believe movies like Jaws, great white sharks are the ocean's most terrifying predator says Melissa Hobson. Nothing can take on a great white and live to tell the tale – or can it?
White sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are built for taking down their prey. Their bulky torpedo-shaped bodies and powerful tails enable them to bullet through the water reaching speeds of almost 35 miles per hour, and their rows of large, triangular teeth can slide through flesh like warm butter.
So, you might be surprised to hear that they are preyed upon too.
Can any animals kill a great white shark?
Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are one of the most intelligent predators in the ocean. Mariners used to call them ‘whale killer.’ It’s not an unfair nickname. Pods are known to take down humpback whales, bowhead whales, and even blue whales – the world's largest animal.
Orcas don't just stop at hunting whales and some orcas are known to eat sharks – including great whites.
Orcas don't mess about when it comes to hunting white sharks. They swoop in, create a tear in the shark's side with the precision of a surgeon and rip out its liver.
WATCH orcas work together to attack great white sharks
After eating this nutrient rich organ, they leave the shark to die – not touching the rest of its body. This scheming attack can all be over in a matter of minutes. In some areas, white sharks have been known to vanish when orcas are around.
Although hunting in groups gives orcas an advantage, one lone orca has have been recorded killing a white shark.
- Orcas are now hunting whale sharks – and they're doing it in an astonishing way
- Killer whales are using dramatic hunting techniques to catch large marine animals in California
Size isn't everything in the animal kingdom. One species known to take a chomp out of white sharks is surprisingly small. One of the world's weirdest sharks, the cookiecutter shark (Isistius brasiliensis) measures just half a metre but that doesn't put it off feasting on prey much bigger than itself. They’ll even have a nibble on a great white.
Cookie cutters don't need to kill the animal to enjoy a feast. They swim up, clamp on with their teeth and spin around to remove a perfectly circular plug of flesh. The scar – as you might have guessed from the name – looks like someone's removed the tissue with a cookie cutter.
There's one more animal that kills great white sharks and this one is the most terrifying of all: us. Humans kill 100 million sharks every year through fishing. As well as overfishing, we also threaten them through things like urban development and pollution.
Predators like sharks play a vital part in keeping the ocean healthy. By removing weak and sick animals from the ecosystem, they help maintain balance. When white sharks vanished from False Bay in South Africa, the ripple effect caused major changes across the food web. Scientists still don't know what the long-term impact from this disruption will be.
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