Video: Killer Whales Hunt Young Great White Sharks For Their Livers, Stun Them With Paralyzing Flip

Sharks are usually the hunters, but these killer whales have developed a surprising new way to enjoy a meal.

Off the coast of Mexico, a pod of killer whales has developed a specialized hunting technique. They flip juvenile great white sharks upside down in a way that likely triggers a trance-like paralysis, then extract their livers while discarding the rest of the carcass.

Researchers captured two attacks on video: one in August 2020 and another in August 2022, at nearly the same spot in the Gulf of California. Both times, the orcas targeted sharks about two meters long, around six and a half feet. The footage reveals a deliberate method: repeated strikes, maneuvering the young sharks belly-up in what likely induces tonic immobility, a physiological state that leaves them defenseless and unable to move.

Once the shark goes limp, the killer whales access the liver with precision. In one attack, the organ emerged intact at the surface. An adult female held it in her mouth, its distinctive two-lobed shape clearly visible. She released it to another whale. For several minutes, four pod members passed the liver between them before finally consuming it.

During one sequence, a California sea lion tried to grab a piece. The orcas drove it off by exhaling bubbles. The researchers noted in their study, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, that the killer whales shared the liver among pod members, including calves.

A Pod That Adapts Its Methods

Photo analysis identified at least three killer whales from the 2020 incident as members of the “Moctezuma pod,” a group documented hunting multiple shark and ray species across the Gulf of California between 2018 and 2023.

The pod adapts its technique to each prey type. When hunting Munk’s pygmy devil rays, they target stragglers at the edge of schools, grabbing them by the wingtip before repositioning to control the head. Pelagic stingrays get slammed with forceful tail strikes to stun them and avoid their venomous spines. Bull sharks require different handling altogether.

For white sharks, the flipping technique likely induces paralysis and allows access to the liver without risking a bite. A 2.5-meter white shark can generate bite forces exceeding 3,000 newtons, enough to cause serious injury and derail an attack.

This behavioral flexibility sets the pod apart. Killer whale populations worldwide tend to focus on narrow prey types, with distinct groups hunting fish, marine mammals, or sharks. The Moctezuma pod hunts at least six elasmobranch species using adapted methods for each, which points to an unusually diverse skill set.

Shark livers offer high nutritional rewards. These massive, oil-rich organs can comprise up to a third of the animal’s total weight. For an orca, it is high-calorie fuel for relatively low effort once the extraction technique is learned.

But learning that technique requires practice and coordination. The 2020 footage shows the process unfolding. One young female pushed the shark from below toward the surface while it bled from its underside. The whales took turns controlling the inverted shark, working together. After several minutes underwater, an adult female surfaced with the liver and began passing it among the pod.

Seven minutes into the video, the whales attacked a second juvenile white shark. This one was worked over repeatedly until its liver began protruding from the right side of its body, partially exposed. At eleven minutes, the shark sank motionless. Pink tissue floated at the surface.

The 2022 attack followed a similar pattern. An adult female surfaced with the shark held below, mouth open, large pectoral fins visible. The characteristic black tips on the underside of white shark pectorals can be seen in the footage. The shark bled from its gills, liver exposed on the left side. Minutes later, pieces of liver tissue appeared in the mouths of the females. The adult male and a calf fed at the surface. Seabirds including boobies, gulls, pelicans, and frigates arrived to scavenge scraps.

Why Killer Whales Hunt Juvenile Sharks Instead of Adults

Most documented killer whale predation on white sharks involves larger individuals. In South Africa, Australia, and California, attacks have occurred at sites where subadult and adult sharks gather. A documented case in Mossel Bay, South Africa, involved a white shark about 2.5 meters long, still larger than the juveniles in the Gulf of California.

Smaller sharks may be easier to handle. Inducing tonic immobility and controlling a six-foot animal is more manageable than dealing with a 12- to 16-foot adult. The risk of injury drops as well. Even a juvenile’s bite can cause damage, but the force is substantially less than an adult’s crushing jaws.

Adult white sharks have learned to fear killer whales. In California, researchers documented mass evacuations from feeding areas when orcas appeared, with sharks fleeing and not returning for extended periods. That fear response requires memory and experience. Whether juveniles have developed this response is unknown, which may leave them more vulnerable.

White sharks exhibit natal philopatry, meaning females return to the same areas to give birth. Juvenile sharks appear in predictable nurseries, segregated from adult feeding grounds. If killer whales learn these locations, young sharks may become vulnerable seasonal targets, appearing year after year without the wariness that might save them.

The Gulf of California incidents occurred at the same location in mid-August, two years apart. That timing suggests potential seasonal availability. If juvenile sharks gather in this area during late summer, and if the Moctezuma pod has learned this pattern, the attacks may not be purely opportunistic but instead calculated returns to a known hunting ground.

Ocean warming has been linked to white shark range shifts. Events like El Niño and marine heat waves have pushed juveniles into new areas, including increased sightings in the Gulf of California over the past decade. If climate-driven redistribution is placing young sharks in territories where year-round killer whale pods patrol, the sharks may be encountering predators they have not evolved to avoid.

Potential Impacts on White Shark Populations

White sharks mature slowly and have reproductive cycles exceeding 12 months. Consistent predation on juveniles at aggregation sites could affect populations already facing threats from fishing bycatch and habitat changes driven by warming oceans.

In South Africa, killer whale predation has been controversial, with some researchers linking it to coastal displacements of entire white shark populations and subsequent ecological changes. Others argue the data does not support such conclusions. The debate continues, but the potential for localized impacts remains real.

Whether the Gulf of California attacks represent an emerging pattern or isolated events is still unknown. Two documented incidents do not establish a trend, but they raise important questions. Are other juvenile sharks being killed without documentation? Are additional killer whale pods developing similar techniques? Do juvenile sharks in this region show any behavioral response to orcas, or are they naïve prey?

Scientists note the need for continued monitoring of juvenile white shark ranges, testing for fear responses, and documenting additional interactions. Big-picture population conclusions require more data, but the repeated nature of these attacks and the involvement of a pod with documented hunting expertise across multiple shark species suggest something more than chance encounters.

Female white sharks likely continue to give birth in the same locations, unaware of recent killer whale predation activity. As a result, juvenile white sharks could be more susceptible to consistent exploitation at aggregation sites, unlike adults that flee when orcas arrive.

For the Moctezuma pod, juvenile white sharks appear to have joined a menu that already includes devil rays, stingrays, bull sharks, whale sharks, and prickly sharks. The pod hunts each species with adapted methods and often focuses on the rich liver, which is shared within the group. The pattern points to learned behavior passed between generations and offers one more demonstration of killer whale intelligence and adaptability in the ocean’s complex food web.

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