Rare dramatic footage shows orcas attacking gray whales
The drone footage shows a rare battle play out as 30 killer whales attempt to devour two much larger adult whales off the coast of California.
A pod of over 30 killer whales injured two adult gray whales in an attack that lasted over five hours off the coast of Monterey Bay, California, on March 30.
A dramatic scene played out off the coast of Monterey Bay, California, last week when a pod of 30 hungry orcas attacked two adult gray whales in a rare display of predatory force.
Evan Brodsky, of the Monterey Bay Whale Watch tour company, captured drone footage of the violent episode, which lasted a stunning five hours. The video shows the orcas plunging into the much larger gray whales, all of them thrashing about in the huge water battle.
“Monterey Bay and its marine life are always fascinating and unpredictable, but this event was unlike any other we’ve seen!” the tour company said in a post on social media.
The entire incident finally ended when the badly wounded gray whales managed to split up and escape to shallow waters toward the beach and "the orcas backed down,” according to the whale-watching staff.
The tour company shared the entire March 30 footage on its Facebook page on Saturday.
Orcas, also called “killer whales,” are known for their distinctive black-and-white patterned body.
Marine experts said it’s quite rare for the species to prey on significantly larger whales, like the gray whale.
“Usually, killer whales will hunt gray whale calves as they head up to their northern feeding areas with their moms (from mid-April to May), but these were not calves!” the whale watch company noted in its post.
Orcas are extremely fast swimmers and have been recorded at speeds of up to 33.5 mph, according to the Whale and Dolphin Conservation. They were actually given the name "killer whale" by ancient sailors who saw them preying on large whales.
It wasn’t the only recent attack by orcas on much larger whales. This week, a pod of orcas attempted to make a meal out of a blue whale, the largest animal on Earth, off Bremer Bay in Western Australia. The blue whale managed to escape as the scene was documented on video by a nearby whale-watching tour boat.
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