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Shark-eating Marine Mammal?
Topic Started: Aug 16 2011, 06:32 PM (626 Views)
Flash
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I was just wondering, sharks are common in the Ocean. And with Humans not around to overfish the Oceans, they would flourish. Well, would it be possible for a marine mammal to specialize in killing & eating sharks? Or would it be too dangerous to hunt such a predator?

I'm sure we've all seen this video:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=W8GaDuCvYbE
Now could something like a Killer Whale mainly hunt sharks instead of other fish or Seals?
Edited by Flash, Aug 16 2011, 06:34 PM.
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Are you plausible?

Too dangerous? I doubt it, but the question I have is why? Sharks aren't exactly the easiest things to hunt and kill, nor are they necessarily the most abundant. It's easier to catch fish and seals than sharks, so specializing in sharks isn't exactly worth it.
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You DO realize that a lot of sharks aren't very big, and it's mostly these that killer whales prey on, don't you?
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No reason it can't happen, Sharks have massive oily livers, something thing marine mammals love.

Still, feeding only on sharks is a pretty specialised diet.
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I agree with lamna.

I think any marine mammal large enough and fiersome enough, would predate suitable sharks when applicable.

Orcas are already shark-eating marine mammals. The Wikipedia article states that they have been observed hunting makos, threshers, and smooth hammerheads. And there's also this story, which reads like a scenario depicted in 1930s science fiction:

Quote:
 
In July 1992, two killer whales attacked, killed and fed on an 8-metre (26 ft) long whale shark, Rhincodon typus, in the waters off Bahia de los Angeles in Baja California.


:confused:
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T.Neo
Aug 17 2011, 09:46 AM
Quote:
 
In July 1992, two killer whales attacked, killed and fed on an 8-metre (26 ft) long whale shark, Rhincodon typus, in the waters off Bahia de los Angeles in Baja California.


:confused:
I think that in 2002(?) they got film of orcas killing an 18 foot white shark in the San Francesco/Monterrey bay.
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T.Neo
Aug 17 2011, 09:46 AM
I agree with lamna.

I think any marine mammal large enough and fiersome enough, would predate suitable sharks when applicable.

Orcas are already shark-eating marine mammals. The Wikipedia article states that they have been observed hunting makos, threshers, and smooth hammerheads. And there's also this story, which reads like a scenario depicted in 1930s science fiction:

Quote:
 
In July 1992, two killer whales attacked, killed and fed on an 8-metre (26 ft) long whale shark, Rhincodon typus, in the waters off Bahia de los Angeles in Baja California.


:confused:
Holy s*** a whale shark?! Damn, I had no idea Orca's were that hardcore!
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BananaBoyL337
Aug 17 2011, 11:15 AM
Holy s*** a whale shark?! Damn, I had no idea Orca's were that hardcore!
They've killed healthy blue whales and bull sperm whales, if they could damage large ships without injury everyone would be dead.
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Killer Whales eat pretty much whatever they want, perhaps only man is a superior predator. They will spend hours hunting the most massive animal to have ever existed, and will just eat the tongue and go back to playing. They will take on the largest shark on the planet just for the liver and will beach themselves just to play catch with seal pups.

And people wonder why I find them creepy.

You could have a whale that kills something big, tosses it about so it breaks apart and spreads the blood around, so it can attract sharks which it would then eat.
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The thing is, most predators feed on animals on primary and secondary consumer levels of the food chain, for reasons any person worthy of the title "biology fan" knows. Most sharks fall on either secondary or tertiary level consumers; while frequent predation on sharks can offer many vital nutrients like the already mentioned liver oils, a predator solely specialised in sharks is not very likely, specially when most sharks have very slow growth and breeding patterns.

We already have shark killers in our archives, like the Cardiophoca species. However, even these giant leopard seals are not specialised shark predators, although two species are entirely devoted to consumtion of secondary and tertiary consumers, which is possible thanks to the sheer diversity of the sorrounding seas.
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Orca have "tribal culture" - in their hunting methods - i.e. different families/packs specialize on different prey items.... some rely mostly on salmon, others seals and sea lions etc - some specialise in hunting other cetaceans...

I reckon a basking or whale shark would make a much easier target than a baleen whale!
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lamna
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It's not just tribal, their could be 3 or maybe more species of Killer Whale, they have not mated for a long time.

The UK's only resident pod, the West Coast Community are Transients. They live mostly in and around the Irish Sea, right in the path of the Basking shark migration. There has only been one report of an attack though, and that was a long time ago. If they ever did hunt them, they probably don't now there are only 9 left.

Maybe they don't taste good, Killer Whales can afford to be picky.
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Did anyone mention Livyatan melvilei or what I personally call Mobi Monster?

You can find rough outline of it here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Livyatan_melvillei

This thing probably eat the Biting Sperm Whale Ithat eat that occasionally eat megalodon) and megalodon (they lived in the same Era) but they can probably do that alone (unlike the Biting Sperm Whale, which had to be in a group to take on megalodon). It hold the title as the owner of the biggest teeth (36 cm) and the biggest bite for tetrapods.

Man, I wonder why today's animal's don't have the same overkill as ancient animals? Today's Sperm Whale don't even have teeth on their upper jaw and can only eat cephalopods because of that. It was as if Mother Nature just decided to keep all the excitement away from us.

p.s.: I therefore concluded that Mother Nature is unseemly and should be regarded as an enemy of man :P
Edited by Dinotherium09, Aug 18 2011, 04:41 AM.
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Dinotherium09
Aug 18 2011, 04:37 AM
Man, I wonder why today's animal's don't have the same overkill as ancient animals? Today's Sperm Whale don't even have teeth on their upper jaw and can only eat cephalopods because of that. It was as if Mother Nature just decided to keep all the excitement away from us.
Before mass whale hunting nearly killed every large meloned whale on the planet, bull sperm walls could reach 70-90 feet (21-27m). In the rare cases where that happened during whaling the whale tended to win.
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