Orcas have driven out a thousand great white sharks from a bay in South Africa.
Researchers have reconstructed how orcas drove away great white sharks from the coast near the town of Gansbaai in South Africa, and subsequently from Mossel Bay, located about 300 kilometers away.
Reported by UNN citing the Guardian and Tages-Anzeiger.
Details
Once, up to 1,000 great white sharks inhabited the waters off Gansbaai, in a bay near Cape Town, South Africa. For a time, tour operators even lured visitors to participate in a special extreme program involving cage diving with sharks or other thrilling encounters with predatory fish.
However, great white sharks suddenly began to disappear. Recently, researchers from South Africa reconstructed how orcas initially drove these predatory fish out of the bay near the coastal town of Gansbaai, and then from Mossel Bay, approximately 300 kilometers away.
Background
The research began in 2017 when Alison Towner from Rhodes University and other scientists examined great white sharks that had washed ashore in poor condition in the waters of Gansbaai. Similar findings were reported in Mossel Bay, 300 kilometers away.
The sharks returned before the start of summer, but soon more carcasses appeared. For instance, three were found within five days, and another in June. After that, researchers did not see any white sharks for several weeks. Another shark carcass was discovered in June 2021.
Researchers were able to establish a connection between the shark attacks and their subsequent disappearances. Orcas began hunting great whites.
Orcas easily killed a white shark, and on the same day, three more killings were recorded.
Reminder,
A 40-year-old Australian died from a shark bite to the neck while fishing with family near Hampi Island.
The current washed a rare Kemp's ridley sea turtle from warm waters into the dangerously cold North Sea. The turtle ended up in a fishing net off the coast of the Netherlands, but fortunately, the rare animal was rescued. The sea turtle was taken to Rotterdam Zoo and rehabilitated. After medical examination and acclimatization process, the turtle returned home to the Gulf of Mexico.