One-Minute Facts: What Scares Great White Sharks?

Great white sharks are an apex predator. However, one creature gives them the heebie-jeebies. What is it?

You wouldn’t think that great white sharks are scared of anything. They’re killing machines. Just look at those teeth.

But, they get the willies around orcas. A great white will leave its territory for a long time if an orca pod simply travels through it.

Why?

Orcas are also apex predators. They are larger, faster and brighter than great whites. They hunt in packs and have a taste for shark liver.

An orca pod works together to bring down a great white. Sometimes, they flip the shark onto its back and hold it there.

This move — tonic immobility — puts the shark in a trance-like state. If they hold the shark upside down for long enough, it drowns.

But, orcas don’t need to wait. Once the shark is immobilised, they can open its stomach and suck out its liver.

No wonder the sharks run, well swim, for their lives.