Recent findings used wildlife forensics and citizen science data to provide the first confirmed evidence of killer whale predation on white sharks in Australia.

Footage captured in May 2022 shows an aerial view of killer whales hunting and killing great white sharks at Mossel Bay, South Africa.

Based on DNA analysis from the bite wounds on the carcass of a large white shark washed ashore near Portland in Victoria in 2023, the Flinders University-led study identified that killer whales were responsible for consuming the mid-section containing the nutritionally rich liver.

Scientists said the presence of killer whale DNA on the great white shark was the result of a "true predation event".

Andrew Fox, Rodney Fox Shark Expeditions.For the first time, DNA evidence has confirmed killer whales in Australia hunted a white

At the time, researchers believed they knew what had managed to kill this shark, but they could not confirm it. Now, however, DNA analysis taken from the bite wound has confirmed their suspicions: orcas are hunting white sharks in Australia.

The recent autopsy of a partially devoured great white shark confirms a brutal hunting trend— killer whales around the world are not afraid to attack the fearsome fish, especially when they get a taste for liver.

Great white sharks are washing up dead on beaches with enlarged brains in what is becoming a spiralling marine mystery.