Great white sharks (Carcharodon carcharias) are often unfairly the stuff of marine nightmares. But these infamously fearsome creatures are sometimes eaten by an animal even higher on the food chain—orca whales (Orcinus orca), also known as killer whales. After this event, white sharks in the region disappeared for approximately two months. Many people blamed killer whale predation and pointed to comparable situations in South Africa. “The sudden disappearance of white sharks following killer whale predation, or even presence, has been observed across different locations, including in South Africa or California,” Huveneers explains.