SHARKS with ‘nearly SURGICALLY removed livers’ land on beaches as experts solve shocking mystery 

Experts solve the mystery of 19 shark carcasses that land on South African beaches with their livers almost surgically removed  

A mystery of sharks landing on beaches of Cape Town, South Africa, with their livers removed has been solved by shark biologists who made a shocking discovery.  

Investigations started after 19 carcasses of sharks washed on a beach in South Africa in February. 2023.  

According to National Geographic “The sevengill sharks—predators in their own right­—were all found in the same condition: missing their livers, which had been sucked out through a clean tear in their shoulders. The rest of their organs remained intact”.  

After hearing about the encounters, Alison Towner, a shark biologist and a Ph.D. candidate at Rhodes University in South Africa, already knew who the culprit was.  

She said, “My reaction was just, Here we go again”, adding, “There’s no stopping this”. 

Towner said that “Such near-surgical precision is the hallmark of a pair of orcas known as Port and Starboard”.  

The biologist also stated that these orcas have been “extracting livers from sevengills and great white sharks since at least 2015”.  

Orcas, which can be found all over the world are known for their wide range of diets and behavior. They have also been frequently documented hunting sharks, whose organs are high in fat.  

But scientists state that they have “never before documented orcas performing this kind of consistent, surgical predation on sharks”.  

Their research also suggests that “the orca pair are showing others how to remove shark livers—possibly an intriguing example of culture in the animal kingdom”.  

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