Could a killer whale eat a shark?

Answer 1

Yes, with no problem.

It has beem known to kill a large Great White Shark.

A great white shark does not stand a chance.

Answer 2

Clash of the titans: Whale vs. Shark
October 8, 1997
Web posted at: 11:28 p.m. EDT (0328 GMT)
SAN FRANCISCO (CNN) -- Move over, Jaws. An underwater battle captured on videotape proves that killer whales are the kings of the sea.

The first known videotape of a clash between a killer whale and a great white shark has enthralled whale watchers all over the world.

"Nothing like this has been known to happen before," said Mary Jane Schramm, a naturalist who witnessed the attack Saturday off the Farallon Islands.

Marine biologists had assumed that the ocean's two big predators tended to avoid each other. But the tape shows otherwise.

The video was shot by wildlife enthusiasts on a cruise sponsored by the Oceanic Society. They were alerted by a radio transmission from a fisherman who had spotted two orcas in the area.

It's a whale of an attack!
2M/15 sec. QuickTime movie
The expedition found the two killer whales -- a 20-foot-long female and a youngster about half her length -- were still there, swimming idly about.

"Then we noticed this dark shape moving in the water, giving the orcas a wide berth," Schramm said.

The adult orca veered toward the dark shape, and then surged to the surface with a 10-foot-long great white shark in her jaws. "We were stunned," Schramm said.

The killer whale eventually swam away from the boat and began thrashing the shark on the surface of the water, a practice orcas typically employ with their prey.

Around this time, Peter Pyle, a great white shark expert with the Point Reyes Bird Observatory, arrived on the scene. He got within 5 feet of the killer whales, then used a special underwater camera to record the attack.

Having made her kill, the victorious orca let her maternal instinct take over.

"The female apparently killed the shark, but she didn't eat it -- she was encouraging the calf to feed," Schramm said.

Schramm said the calf "especially liked the liver. You know how hard it can be to get kids to eat. Not him, though."

The Associated Press contributed to this report.




Related sites:
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The Orca Foundation
The Orca Adoption Program
The Great White Shark
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Answer 3

Despite being immortalised by Stephen Spielberg, in the film Jaws, the Great White Shark is not safe from the Killer Whale. In fact, the Killer Whale, Orcinus orca, is the most fearsome killer in the oceans. In actual fact, it is highly regarded as the world's most efficient predator. There are two kinds also. The 'Oceanic' Killer Whale & the 'Coastal' Killer Whale. The oceanic type, is the one that always remains far from the coast. The coastal types, are those that are usually seen on wildlife programmes, deliberately beaching themselves as they grab seals & penguins. Both are of the same species, although, the lifestyles are simply passed on through the ages, depending on the surrounding environments. Apart from all that, The males, which are larger than the females, are twice the size of Great White Sharks, Carcharodon Carcharias. They measure up to 27 feet in length & weigh up to 6 tonnes. Killer whales always hunt like Wolves; always in a pack. The Great White Shark, however, always hunts alone. But when it comes to who eats who, the Killer Whale truly is the killer itself. Their teeth also, are meshed tightly together & this in turn, grinds sharp wear facets along their edges. Killer whales will hunt virtually anything they can get their teeth into & their hunting range extends from the tropics to the polar regions. Surprisingly, though, Killer Whales, known otherwise, as Orcas, are approachable & very inquisitive. Nobody is sure why, but Killer Whales never try to attack human beings. There is one record of a human death, caused by an Orca. It happened at one time, possibly in Seaworld, Florida. As the swimmer jumped into the water to perform stunts with the whale, the animal apparently mistook him for a toy & held him down against the bottom of the pool, until he drowned. But when it comes to the whale eating the shark, the Killer Whale will even eat the Blue Whale. I've seen a pod of Killer Whales chase & rip huge chunks out of a Blue Whale, before swimming away & leaving the Blue Whale to bleed to death.

Answer 4

Yes they could, but a killer whale is a mammel and a shark a fish, so the killer whales prefers other mammels like seals and the odd dolphin. I don't think there is much a killer whale couldn't eat to be honest, they hunt in packs too you know. It's amazing they are so friendly with humans, there is somewhere where certain times of year you can canoe across an enormous lake linked to the sea and they will race you across, saw it on TV, looked awesome, they were in a apck of three of them about three feet away from them either side, hurtling across a freezing cold lake in the rain. Never forgot seeing that.

Answer 5

What kind of shark? Killer whales like seals and fish...and I've never heard of anyone saying anything about them eating a shark...

Answer 6

Only if killer whales are really hungry and in a pack. Then yes, they will pick out a lonely shark and eat it. This is quite rare though.

Answer 7

not if the shark got to the whale first

Answer 8

Theoretically.
However you don`t find many sharks in the same seas as Orcas - most sharks are warm water creatures.

Answer 9

i think sharks prefer warm water, and killer whales are cold water loving... but i dont suppose they taste much different.
sure, why not?

Answer 10

yes they can if they want to but it's not really one of their favourite, they love seal most like some people love chicken more than beef so they would eat chicken more and barely beef if you want to know more about killer whales please visit www.killerwhale.org

Hope it helped