Orcas Flip Juvenile Great Whites, Extract Livers in Gulf

Drone footage captured by researchers led by Erick Higuera Rivas documented Moctezuma’s pod of orcas in the Gulf of California flipping juvenile great white sharks into tonic immobility and extracting their energy-rich livers, with detailed observations published in Frontiers in Marine Science from encounters in August 2020 and August 2022. The recorded hunts involved five orcas, resulted in three juvenile shark deaths, and individuals were identified by distinctive dorsal-fin markings. Co-authors including Salvador Jorgensen and Francesca Pancaldi say the precision and repeated liver-targeting technique points to cultural learning and coordinated social hunting. Scientists note adult great whites may avoid orcas—abandoning seasonal aggregation areas—making naïve juveniles more vulnerable. The behavior mirrors prior orca–great white interactions in places like South Africa, and researchers call for broader data to determine how widespread this specialization is and whether changing ocean conditions are increasing encounters.