It’s Shark Week again (though if you live by the ocean, I’m guessing most weeks fall under that category)!
Sharks are pretty fearsome creatures – plenty of people are pretty scared of them. So you might not imagine that even one of the largest, fiercest predators in the world fears something else.
And no, it’s not human beings (though with the rate we’re demolishing the shark population, it probably should be – we kill between 100 million and 273 million).
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0LVlo5BLAA/
According to new research published in Scientific Reports, the great whites off the Northern California coast turn tail when a pod of orcas show up – and then they avoid the area for up to a year afterward, says scientist Scot Anderson in a statement.
“These are huge white sharks. Some are over 18 feet long, and they usually rule the roost here.”
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0Q6NfthTIw/
Every September and December, great white sharks migrate to the Farallon islands to hunt elephant seals – a meal that orcas also enjoy. And when the latter decide to show up for dinner, the former decline to share hunting grounds.
“When confronted by orcas, white sharks will immediately vacate their preferred hunting ground and will not return for up to a year, even though the orcas are only passing through,” confirms Dr. Salvador Jorgnsen, a scientist at Monterey Bay Aquarium, and the lead author of the study.
https://www.instagram.com/p/B0TscWgAOdn/
Everyone is afraid of something, I suppose, and from what I know of orcas, I wouldn’t be hanging around while they were eating, either!
