Turning the tables on Jaws.

Byline: Nature Shock

THANKS to Steven Spielberg's frightening 1975 thriller Jaws, everyone thinks the great white shark is the most fearsome predator in the animal kingdom.

While most people understand that they are not the man-hunting beasts portrayed in film, few realise that they too are preyed upon and make quite a meal for a hungry orca - aka the killer whale. v

Nature Shock (Five, 8pm) returns this evening with the amazing story of tourists aboard a whale-watching boat near the Farallones Islands, 27 miles west of San Francisco, witnessing a half-ton great white shark being killed and eaten by an orca.

Killer whales have a fearsome name for a reason - they are nature's ultimate killing machine but, thanks to Free Willy, they're often considered docile creatures who pose no threat to humans, although there have been instances where captive killer whales have attacked their trainers.

In contrast, great whites are seen as killers that sometimes deliberately target humans.

While these have been few and far between, orcas are known to prey on sharks more often than one might think.

This extraordinary event was captured on camera for the first time in 1997 and can now be seen by viewers in the first edition of this intriguing documentary series.

Nature Shock Tuesday, Five, 8pm

CAPTION(S):

Orca - the ultimate predator