A gang of orcas attacked a humpback whale for 4 hours and took his dorsal fin but not his life.
In Australia, whale watchers spotted a rare sight last week when two pods of orcas ganged up and attacked a healthy young humpback whale. As stated by the Sydney Morning Herald, the humpback whale, which is a 2- to 3-year-old male, survived the attack, even though they took his dorsal fin.
The Whale Watchers
Gemma Sharp, the joint owner of Australia Whale Watcher, who was present at the scene during the attack on Feb.17, 2021, told the newspaper that they knew they were witnessing something significant. The gang of orcas was in all-out attack mode and the humpback whale was desperately trying to protect itself.
A fast boat full of whale watchers was in Bremer Bay in Western Australia when they noticed about 15 orcas splashing at the surface. They later discovered that the orcas were surrounding a humpback whale. As the whale watchers watched, the orcas tried time and time again to grab the dorsal fin of the humpback whale to flip the whale over and drown it, a tactic often used on yearlings.
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The Flip and Drown Tactic
According to Gemma Sharp, the flip and drown tactic often works on whale calves and yearlings but the young whale was too strong and large for the orcas to move him. The whale made a quick exit toward the boat, taking cover under the boat for almost an hour.
As the orcas surrounded with the hope of having another chance at the humpback, the commotion got the attention of a group of 50 pilot whales and a group of bull sharks. In the end, one of the orca pods left the surface.
Other pods of orca waited about 300 meters away from the boat until the humpback decided to take off. A 19,800-pound (8,980 kilograms) male nicknamed El Notcho by the area's whale watchers for being the largest orca, tried to plunger the humpback and break his jaw. The attack did not discomfit the humpback, Sharp made it known to Herald.
The orcas gave up and the humpback sped toward the coast.
Sharp said they did take his [dorsal] fin, but nothing happened to his tail flukes and pectoral fins, which is important. It is always a real concern if they exhale blood but there was none of that. The whale-watching crew recorded the attack on video, which is the first of such an attack in Bermer Bay, Sharp said.
Two Humpback Whales Rescued
As reported by Live Science, Orcas, which are also called killer whales, are known for their sometimes violent behaviors and interactions with other animals inside water. In 2018, a photographer took one-of-its-kind footage of a pod of orcas frustrating (or playing with, depending on the way you view it) sea turtles off the Galápagos Islands.
As previously reported by Live Science, the orcas were basically treating the turtles as pool toys, dragging them around as a form of entertainment. In another way, this time in 2016, a pod of orcas near the Antarctic peninsula surrounded a lone seal on an ice sheet. Fortunately for the lone seal, two humpback whales came to the rescue, saving the Weddell seal from becoming orca dinner.
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