Drone footage taken above Monterey Bay, California exhibits some of the gorgeous large-scale predation occasions on the planet. In a video filmed by Monterey Bay Whale Watch final week, a pod of 30 killer whales swarms and assaults a pair of grownup grey whales.
The gorgeous interplay spanned 5 hours, in accordance with Monterey Bay Whale Watch’s photographer Evan Brodsky. In 30 years of observations, that is the primary time the whale-watching outfit has ever captured footage of orcas preying on grownup grey whales. Brodsky posted the video to Fb on April 2, and it has since amassed greater than 12,000 views.
“My coronary heart was beating out of my chest,” Brodsky later advised the San Francisco Chronicle. “I felt like I used to be filming one thing from Nationwide Geographic.”
Two-and-a-half minutes of high-quality video present the North Pacific grey whales huddled collectively in an effort to keep off their killer whale attackers. The orcas ram the enormous whales repeatedly, exploding out of the water round them. As the grey whale on the viewer’s left twists its physique, patches of bloodied water rise to the floor.
In one other video, posted by WVUE Fox 8, Brodsky stated it’s widespread to see killer whales preying on grey whale calves between April and Might—however he by no means sees them attacking full-grown adults.
Killer whales are the ocean’s apex predators, although they’re really members of the dolphin household and never thought-about true whales. Males, which develop bigger than females, attain 30 toes in size and weigh upwards of 16,000 kilos. Their chew pressure clocks in at an unimaginable 19,000 kilos per sq. inch.
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Absolutely grown feminine grey whales, which generally develop bigger than males, attain 49 toes and weigh over 90,000 kilos. They’re the eighth largest animal on earth. The most important—blue whales—are twice so long as grey whales and weigh thrice as a lot. They’re additionally on the killer whale’s menu.
