Orcas stalk and kill great white sharks in drone footage never seen before

Animal behaviour is both wild and sometimes cruel, as this drone footage showing orcas stalking and killing great white sharks shows.

The footage, shot by drone in South Africa, is the first time the animal behaviour has ever been seen before.

The footage was shot in May this year, and it depicts five orcas circling a great white shark before viciously attacking and killing the large sea predator. Scientists also believe three more were mauled to death during the hunt, although this wasn't seen in the footage.

Watch it here:

The group of orcas are thought to have stalked and hunted their kill for over an hour before finally striking.

The footage was shot off Mossel Bay in the southern Western Cape province, as part of a scientific study.

Alison Towner, a shark scientist at Marine Dynamics Academy in South Africa's Gansbaai who led the study, said: "This behaviour has never been witnessed in detail before, and certainly never from the air."

Simon Elwen, a marine mammal specialist and study co-author, added: "Killer whales are highly intelligent and social animals. Their group hunting methods make them incredibly effective predators."

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Previous animal research has seen orcas prey on other shark species, but the evidence of them attacking the great white sharks species has always been limited. This drone footage is one of the first pieces of evidence that orcas will attack such a large sea predator.

Of the five orcas in the video, one was known to the scientists behind the study and has been seen to attack great white sharks before.

As a result of the orca attack, great white sharks became scarce in the area with sightings dropping to just one in the next 45 days. The authors of the study believe this means the sharks have a flight response, and avoided the area until they felt it was safe.

However, this flight response could mean that great white sharks could leave or abandon their usual habitats in future if they fear they will be attacked.

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Alison Kock, a marine biologist with South African National Parks, added: "In earlier observed cases, the animals ended up abandoning former key habitats, with consequences for the ecosystem and shark-related tourism."

Elsewhere in the marine world, a great white shark which is tracked by GPS has drawn the shape of a great white shark in the water.

The 652 kg predatory adult fish – named and tagged as Breton by the ocean research group OCEARCH – was spotted swimming in a pattern that was comparable to his own species.

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