Orcas are apex predators, at the top of the food chain. No animals hunt orcas (except for humans). Killer whales feed on many different types of prey, including fish, seals, sea birds and squid.
Do orcas have predators? Orcas are apex predators, which means they're at the very top of the food chain and they have no predators. Killer whales are some of the largest and most powerful animals in the ocean, and no other predator is able to challenge them.
Killer Whales
When you think of top ocean predators, you probably think of sharks. Great white sharks, to be exact. But the true ruler of the sea is the killer whale. Killer whales are apex predators, which means they have no natural predators.
In the battle between a megalodon and an orca pod, the orcas would have the advantage.
Sperm whales are too large and powerful for a lone orca to hunt. A lone sperm whale would kill an orca in a one-on-one fight. Even when both creatures travel in pods, the orcas typically choose to separate the smaller whales from the group and kill that rather than face the terrible fury of a bull whale.
Well, it turns out they do. And they fear this black-and-white terror so much it's driving them away from what used to be some of their favorite spots.
Generally, a shark isn't going to be a real threat to a full-grown orca, even a great white. As such, the only reason that orcas hunt sharks is to eat them. What makes things interesting is that many of the great white sharks that orcas are killing are totally intact.
The sheer size of the average blue whale is enough to overpower a single orca, and even an entire pod of orcas. There are many key differences between an orca and a blue whale that lead to a winner in this fight. In terms of size, the blue whale wins over the much smaller orca.
“The humpback whale is, to our knowledge, the only cetacean that deliberately approaches attacking mammal-eating killer whales and can drive them off,” said Dr Robert Pitman, a marine ecologist and report co-author.
Saltwater Crocodile: King of the Water - YouTube.
"This kind of association between one species and its apparent predator is unusual." It turns out the dolphins have nothing to fear from these particular killer whales, also known as orcas.
Whale against Shark Who would win in a fight to the death? Although the great white shark has a fearsome reputation, in a straight fight it is outclassed by the orca. Not only are orcas much bigger, they are also smarter.
A killer whale would win a fight against the largest great white ever. The only case in which an orca could potentially be killed by a great white is if the largest great white took on the smallest orca, and even then, it would be at a bit of a size disadvantage.
The largest verified male orca is 32 feet long, and the largest verified female orca is 28 feet long. Both these fishes are humongous in size, but overall, Orcas are significantly larger than great white sharks. The orca grows to a length of 21-23 feet, whereas the great white grows up to 15-20 feet or higher.
What do orcas eat? Looking at all populations, orcas are generalist eaters, consuming fish, seals and sea lions, dolphins and porpoises, sharks and rays, large whales, cephalopods (octopods and squids), seabirds and more.
The answer is yes. Orcas are known to hunt and eat several species of sharks, including great whites. Although great whites are considered the top marine predator, orcas are even more formidable.
Because of their intelligence and social nature, orca whales are unlikely to attack humans out of aggression or hostility. In fact, there have been numerous instances of orca whales coming to the aid of humans who were in danger, such as when a group of orca whales helped a diver escape from a shark attack.
A pod of orcas has been observed hunting and eating the planet's largest animal – the blue whale – off the coast of Australia. Biologists have published the first observations of orcas hunting and eating an adult blue whale, the largest animal ever to have existed.
Killer whale
Orcas are the real apex predators of the ocean. Killer whales may be the only animals on our list that actually prey on great white sharks. Otherwise known as orcas, these intelligent mammals belong to the dolphin family and are probably the top predators in the entire ocean.
It has established that blue whales are the strongest, in terms of the absolute amount of force they can generate. They are stronger than other large whales, including the massive sperm whale, the largest toothed cetacean, although they are not the strongest relative to their body size.
“Both walruses and polar bears are powerful in the water. Both could handle most potential predators, but not killer whales,” Kovacs said.