Erick Higuera, an independent marine biologist in Mexico, and his colleagues captured video footage of orcas in the Gulf of California hunting juvenile great white sharks on two separate occasions. The first, recorded in August 2020, showed five female orcas working together to push a young great white to the surface. “The orcas were ramming the great white to flip it upside down,” says Higuera.

The manoeuvre forced the shark into a state of temporary paralysis, called tonic immobility. It also allowed the orcas to get at the shark’s energy-rich liver, which they shared amongst themselves.