Otters that look cute and cuddly eat sharks for their organs like the liver, heart, sex organs. It's hard to believe that such a small animal has such voracious appetites too.
This unusual predatory behavior has been captured on Africa's southern coast, which biologists want to study. One question is why these cute mammals are catching sharks and consuming only the liver, heart, and sex organs. Oddly the carcasses are discarded by the small carnivores; only the selected parts are eaten.
Shyshark carcasses over the past months have been seen by rangers close to Simon's Town in False Bay, South Africa. They have noticed that organs were missing from the bodies, Newsweek.
Documenting the unusual predation done by the mammal are Wildlife trap cameras and photographers who got the footage. They recorded Cape clawless otters eating parts from the shark, which is 23-inches long. After eating the parts, they wanted, its carcass was forgotten by the clawless otter, reported Daily Mail.
According to Alison Kock, a marine biologist connected to South African National Parks, it took time to get carcasses and examine them. From her investigation of the dead sharks, otters were gorging on the sharks' most nutritious parts.
Parts favored by the small carnivores are the liver and heart of both sexes of shy sharks. But, the reproductive parts of the male shark were preferred as well.
In the area of the Table Mountain National Park marine, the sky sharks are plentiful species living there. It is also a protected reserve for animals. Here the Cape clawless otters live here too.
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Related to the catfish, shysharks like to live in waters that are temperate, there are many of them. These fishes will be seen on sandy or places like rocky habitats mentioned Knowledia.
Though called sharks, their prey are seagoing worms; larger sharks make them food, and also seals, but most surprising is they are clawless otter food too. Compare to bigger carnivores are the least expected to go after shark organs.
Talking to Newsweek, Kock said there is a lot of food to go around. Some predators like the clawless otter-like to choose what part to eat in their shark prey.
Carnivores like clawless otters, bears that prey on other animals choose what specific body parts are the best to eat. They do this to get the most nutrient into their diet, noted News Crater.
False Bay is where several great white sharks were found dead in the water. When examined, their livers were gone, eaten by a larger alpha predator in the sea. One of the suspects is the Orca or Killer whale.
For clawless otters, these sharks are favored by them, but these fishes are not major predators. Small in size and limited to worms or crustaceans that are relatively minuscule.
An effective otter is killing shy sharks and the culprit leaving their remains in the bay. There is no way that the small mammal can eviscerate a great mammoth white at 19-feet long.
Kock and her peers have picked up the dead shy sharks with missing organs. Near where the clawless otter enclave lives in the bay.
She added that clawless otters took nibbles compared to the bites of an Orca. Most of the prey had their shark organs like heart, liver, sex organs taken by a cute carnivore.
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