Orca Moms teaches young people the first footage show, pretending to be one another. The brutal training session teaches Orcas the skills needed to kill the biggest animal they’ve ever lived in.
In the video, a young Orca (Orcinus orca) pretends to be prey and soaks its blowhole to prevent the remaining pods from surrounding it and breathing. Members of the POD hold the young Orca’s head under the water for a while before releasing it.
Later in the clip, the pod applies this technique while hunting a blue whale (Moussulus balaenoptera). Orcas appear to be caught off guard, giving them advantages in becoming an unequal battle with the giant whales otherwise. They swarm around the whale’s head and submerge their blowholes, but it is unclear from the footage whether they managed to kill the giant mammal.
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Researchers already knew that Orcas could own them and kill whales, but “this practice hunting behavior has never been filmed before,” a BBC spokesperson filmed footage of a new nature series, “parents and children.”
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The clip is told by British biologist and broadcaster Sir David Attenborough. “These orcas need to be on top of the game,” explains Attenborough in the footage. “They hunt the biggest animal they’ve ever lived in: the blue whale.”
Filmmakers used a specialized underwater stabilization device called a gimbal and tow camera to capture scenes off the coast of Bremer Bay, Western Australia. “The technology allowed crews to travel at the same speed as the ORCA hunting pack, providing new insights into their behavior,” a BBC spokesperson told The Times.
Bremar Bay has an ORCA population of around 200 people, making it the largest known orca congregation in the southern hemisphere, according to tour operator Bremar Bay Killer Whales. Pods range in size from 6-20 orcas, and usually eat giant squid (Architeuthis dux) and giant squid (Mesonychoteuthis hamiltoni) rather than blue whales.
Orcas is more likely to hunt blue whales, not because they want to enjoy it, but because they want to enjoy it, experts say. “They play together [whales] Just as cats play with their prey, “Nancy Black, marine biologist who runs the whale watching business Monterey Baywatch, told National Geographic after drone footage of Orca attacking a blue whale appeared in 2017.
However, chasing a lonely adult whale is dangerous. So orcas usually chase after a blue whale that is sick or is towing its calf. The calves were tired faster than the adult whales, and were behind and became easy prey for Orcas, reported National Geographic.
The BBC show “Parenthood” is a five-part series on some of the strategies and actions used by animal parents to encourage young people to survive. In the US, the show is expected to air on PBS’s “Nature” later this year or early next year.
“My personal favorite must be the story of an African social spider. The African social spider not only raises 50 offspring with his sisters, but also feeds young people who are ultimately sacrificing their bodies to grow up in what is called matrifaggies,” the series director told The Times.
Here you can see the clip surrounding this sacrifice’s stomach.
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