Gory Footage Confirms Orca Pods Can Kill Adult Blue Whales
upstart writes:
Gory footage confirms orca pods can kill adult blue whales:
Killer whales are skilled assassins, hunting everything from herring to great white sharks. Now, for the first time, scientists witnessed a pod of killer whales bring down the world's largest animal: an adult blue whale.
This is the biggest predation event on the planet," says Robert Pitman, a cetacean ecologist at Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute in Newport. We haven't seen things like this since dinosaurs were here, and probably not even then."
[...] The coordinated attack was consistent with methods observed during other orca takedowns of large whales. Orcas will target the fins, tail and jaw, possibly to slow the whale. They will also push the whale's head underwater to prevent it surfacing for air, while others below push it up so it can't dive. These are practiced large-whale hunters," says study coauthor Pitman. They know how to do this."
Journal Reference:
John A. Totterdell, Rebecca Wellard, Isabella M. Reeves, et al. The first three records of killer whales (Orcinus orca) killing and eating blue whales (Balaenoptera musculus), Marine Mammal Science (DOI: 10.1111/mms.12906)
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