Orcas Flip Juvenile Great Whites, Eat Livers in Gulf

Researchers filmed a specialist pod dubbed “Moctezuma’s pod” in the Gulf of California flipping juvenile great white sharks onto their backs to induce tonic immobility, then extracting and eating their energy‑rich livers in two hunts recorded in August 2020 and August 2022 that killed three juvenile sharks. Lead author Erick Higuera Rivas and colleagues identified individual whales by distinctive dorsal‑fin markings and published the observations in Frontiers in Marine Science. The pod shared the livers and likely consumed other organs before abandoning the carcasses, behavior researchers say indicates coordinated social hunting and cultural learning. The findings echo earlier South African evidence of orcas targeting white‑shark livers, and scientists warn warming waters may be shifting shark nursery areas, exposing inexperienced juveniles to ambushes while adult white sharks avoid orca‑occupied areas. Researchers call for broader monitoring to determine how widespread this specialization is and what its ecological consequences might be.