WATCH: Smart Seal Hops on Tourist Boat to Escape Hungry Orcas

An agile seal was able to escape the jaws of death when it managed to jump in a boat few minutes before ending up as a meal.

The petrified mammal suddenly hopped of the tour boat in Vancouver when it noticed a pod of orcas was approaching. The amazing moment was filmed by Nick Templeman, who runs Campbell River Whale and Bear Excursions.

In an interview with CBC, Templeman said, "The seal was tossed around a few times and taken under quite a bit before seeking refuge among the boats in the area. He got close enough to see us and beelined for the boat."

Templeman said they did not know what the seal was doing on the boat until they saw a dozen of orcas swarming and circling on the boat, seemingly looking for the poor seal.

"We had four or five orcas all at once sitting at the back of the boat straight up and down sort of looking at the seal," said Templeman in a separete interview with CNN. "They would dive and they would all disappear -- about 12 of them -- and you can see shape after shape trying to come up from under the boat."

The seal eventually made it back to the sea, but it still looked quite scared as it attempted to climb back the boat a few times before finally deciding to swim freely. "The seal took a few minutes, went into the water, hesitated around the engines and then left," said Templeman.

Killerwhale.org, a website dedicated to conservation of the orcas, describes the diet and feeding behavior of orcas as "all meat." Orcas feed on a wide variety of prey. The estimated number of species consumed worldwide by orcas is around 140. This includes squids, octopus, seals, sea lions, sea otters, rays, dolphins, sharks, baleen whales and fish.