Astonishing drone footage captures death of great white shark by Orcas
Just when a great white thought it was safe to go back in the water, it was killed by a pod of orcas in spectacular drone footage as the two apex predators meet in waters off South Africa’s Mossel Bay.
And it is hugely significant film, as it is said to be the world’s first drone footage of killer whales predating a great white.
The footage was shot as part of a special for Shark Week, which gives a birds eye view of the moment an orca bites a 9 foot long great white around its liver, causing a pool of blood to emanate from the apex predator before it slowly disappears from view.
It's a hard watch to see this magnificent creature be taken out and sink to its death, just like the shark from Jaws drifts to the bottom of the ocean floor. You can almost hear the death noises from the Steven Spielberg film and the music by John Williams as the once great white fades from view.
Not that great white killings by orcas are anything new, bodies of great white sharks have been washing up on beaches minus their hearts and livers for years. Their organs harvested by the killer whales, which apart from man are the only known predators of the great white shark.
The jaw - or should that be Jaws - dropping footage continues to play out the ongoing battle between the sharks and killer whales. And it is one that has been hinted at within the Jaws films itself.
It is no coincidence that the name of Quint the shark hunter's iconic boat in the Peter Benchley book and Steven Spielberg film of Jaws is called Orca.
And Jaws 2 (1978) saw a dead killer whale wash up with what Chief Brody (Roy Scheider) thinks are shark bites, which was Jaws' revenge on the previous year’s Orca (1977) - essentially Jaws with a killer whale - which took out a great white in its opening scenes.