Orcas attacking sharks in bizarre battle of ocean giants

It sounds like an almost mythical battle - like who would win a fight between a lion and a tiger.

But in South Africa, there truly is an underwater struggle taking place between what are seemingly apex predators: orcas and great white sharks.

It happened at Gaans Baai, a couple of hours drive east of Cape Town, when a pair of male Orcas moved into the area.

Suddenly, great whites started washing up dead.

The culprits?

Orcas.

"We think possibly what they’re doing is taking a pectoral fin of the white shark in each mouth and swimming,” said marine biologist Dr Alison Towner.

“And then they’re opening up the shark and extracting its liver that way and what’s incredible is the surgical precision that they do this with.”

Dr Towner and her colleagues are trying to work out why it’s happening.

Did the killer Whales run out of other food, or have they simply developed a taste for great whites?

“There’s so many complex dynamic factors that play into a story like this… lots of questions on everyone’s mind, not so many answers,” she says.

What is certain is how the great whites have reacted.

They’ve fled the area, leaving a great-white-free zone in what is normally a shark-dominated coastline.

Gaans Baai used to be a hotspot to cage dive with the creatures, but now there are only blue sharks in the area.

So maybe orcas could be the world’s best shark repellent?

That’s unlikely, as training them could be an issue.