Orcas have a diabolical strategy for tearing up sharks
It's unprecedented: a group of killer whales targeted a whale shark, following a well-thought out plan.
The strategy is astonishing. Researchers analyzed images captured between 2018 and 2024 in the Gulf of California and discovered almost 5 identical hunting groups. In order to defeat their prey, the orcas seem to have established a complex and rather brutal scenario.
As Futura-sciences reports, once a whale shark has been spotted, the group of hunters rushes towards it, colliding with it at high speed. The aim: to stun the prey and flip it onto its back. This position paralyzes the whale shark. In a second stage, the orcas attack the shark's pelvic area to touch its liver and feed on it. Orcas are known to love this nutrient-rich organ.
Observations suggest that these attacks are the result of learned behavior. Futura-sciences reports that an adult male, known as Moctezuma, was the leader of the orca pod.
During the fourth attack, it was a female who coordinated the attack. This suggests that orcas are real tacticians, capable of transmitting a project/idea to the other members of the group.
(MH with AsD - Source: Futura-sciences - Illustration: Unsplash)