Vanishing protectors and predators

Vanishing protectors and predators

Sharks play a critical role in the ecosystem as guardians of the seagrass, policing populations of turtles and other animals that would mow down all the seagrass if left unchecked. Catching sharks is not easy, nor is it usually inadvertent.

Orcas Are Hunting Great White Sharks and Throwing the Ecosystem Into Chaos

Port and Starboard are rather cutesy names for two of the murderous orcas slaughtering great white sharks off the coast of South Africa at an alarming clip. The local killer whales are so bent on feasting on shark organs that researchers say they’re now affecting the marine ecosystem. Orcas target white sharks mostly for their livers, which are rich in the nutrients their fellow apex predators crave. The number of sharks in South African waters …

In South Africa's bays, there are hardly any white sharks left. This has a profound impact on the food chain and biodiversity in the Atlantic, as a research team finds out. But why have the top predators disappeared? The cause could be another predator.

Great white sharks in False Bay vanished. What happened?

Orcas Are Terrorizing Sharks, And The Consequences Could Be Profound

A pair of orcas terrorizing white sharks off the coast of South Africa may have captured the popular imagination, but their activities may be quite damaging, new research suggests.