The film captures a lone killer whale while hunting great white sharks off the coast of South Africa. The extraordinary footage has amazed scientists and revealed the extraordinary hunting skills of killer whales.

Dr Alison Towner, a shark biologist at Lord’s University in Grahamstown, South Africa, was surprised by the solitary and swift attack, saying it “caught us off guard”. British Broadcasting Corporation. The male killer whale attacked and ate the shark’s liver in less than two minutes.

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Previously, “it took two killer whales to team up to hunt sharks off the coast of South Africa. This single incident brings new aspects to our understanding,” Dr Towner said.

He revealed, “During the attack, the sharks will tightly surround the killer whales, desperately trying to avoid being preyed on.”

Dr Luke Rendell, a marine mammal scientist at the University of St Andrews, described the recent attack as “a really beautiful observation” of behaviour, highlighting the skill displayed by a lone killer whale in dealing with a great white shark.

“Great white sharks are a good, large food concentrator, so it’s perhaps not surprising that this is happening in some populations. [of killer whales]Where these sharks are abundant enough, they have learned to take advantage of this,” he added.

Scientists are unsure of the drivers behind this behaviour, but Dr Towner noted that climate change and human activities such as industrial fishing are increasingly affecting the ocean. There are also potential health effects from killer whales eating sharks, including ingesting toxins and metals in the shark meat.

Dr Towner touched on the wider ecological impacts, noting that disruptions in the balance of top predators could affect other species.

“Endangered African penguins may face more predation by Cape seals [if the fur seals are not being eaten by] White shark,” she said.

Although it’s unclear whether this behavior is observed for the first time, the researchers stressed the importance of each finding for understanding the interactions between orcas and sharks, calling them “fascinating.” Dr Towner concluded: “But what is most striking is the skill of these animals as hunters.”