Unlike random attacks, these are calculated ambushes. The kill sequence unfolds rapidly.
In the Gulf of California, a pod of orcas has mastered a hunting technique usually only seen in South Africa and, real occasionally, Australia: paralysing juvenile Great White sharks with ram strikes, then surgically extracting their delicious nutrient-rich livers.
This behavior, documented in a new study published in Marine Mammal Science, reveals the apex predators’ intelligence and adaptability.
Researchers from the Monterey Bay Aquarium and collaborators analysed drone footage, boat observations and shark carcasses from 2022–2024 off Mexico’s Baja California Peninsula. The pod, led by a dominant male nicknamed “El Rey,” targets young Great Whites (little six-to-ten footers) migrating through nutrient-rich waters teeming with squid and fish.
Unlike random attacks, these are calculated ambushes.
The kill sequence unfolds rapidly.
Orcas charge at speeds up to 30 mph, delivering a high-impact blow to the shark’s side or guts.
This “paralysis strike” severs the spinal cord or damages vital nerves, immobilising the shark within seconds without killing it outright. The orca then flips the stunned prey upside down, inducing tonic immobility, a trance-like state sharks enter when inverted.
With the Great White helpless, the orca uses its cone-looking teeth to tear a precise opening in the abdomen, extracting the liver in one clean pull. The organ, comprising up to 30% of a shark’s body weight and packed with squalene oil for energy, is eaten on-site.
The orca don’t care much for the rest of the fish and lets it wash ashore eviscerated, heart and other organs intact.
This isn’t brute force; it’s surgical precision honed by cultural transmission.
Pod members, including females and calves, learn from elders through observation and practice. Drone videos captured El Rey teaching a young orca by demonstrating the ram on a dummy seal before a real hunt.
Ecological ripples are profound if you’re of the school that without Great Whites ecosystems are upturned.
Yet, researchers say that orcas fill the apex void, maintaining ecosystem health. The study underscores orcas’ cognitive prowess: tool use, problem-solving and dialect-specific hunting dialects across pods.
Thus, and for now, in the Gulf’s pretty turquoise depths, killer whales reign supreme, turning Great Whites into delicious ready-made snacks.