Orcas murdered a Great White Shark to feast on its liver.

[DetlefK]

http://gizmodo.com/killer-whales-eat-enormous-great-white-shark-in-south-a-1795016535

Orcas have only been spotted attacking great white sharks a handful of times. But this past week, two mangled great white carcasses washed ashore in the town of Gansbaai on the South African coast. And the corpses definitely showed signs of being leftover orca lunch.

...

But then another smaller, liverless (and heartless) great white shark carcass washed up on May 4th. And another washed up just yesterday, with matching injuries.

According to the Marine Dynamics shark cage diving company’s blog, a shark missing its liver is a likely sign that an orca had enjoyed it, possibly with some fava beans and a nice chianti, though those details aren’t confirmed. Nor did the researchers confirm how many orcas attacked the shark. As for why the hungry whales focused on the liver, Towner pointed out that shark liver contains lots of the nutrient squalene.

“It seems likely that orcas are again the cause of death but we will confirm after the autopsy,” wrote Towner in the Marine Dynamics blog. “Obviously this is a very sad time for us all, nature can be so cruel and the dexterity these enormous animals are capable of is mind blowing, almost surgical precision as they remove the squalene rich liver of the white sharks and dump their carcass.”

[Throck]

1. Orcas like sushi?

[Thor_MN]

2. No, they like pate.

*apparently DU doesn't allow accented characters in the subject line... pâté