Whereas fishing off the coast of Honduras in 2023, a gaggle of anglers stumbled upon a uncommon sight: a pod of orcas searching down a sperm whale.
The underwater assault unfolded over many minutes alongside the anglers’ vessel.
Now, over a 12 months later, biologists have tracked down eyewitness accounts of the incident in addition to movies and images, which have been included in a research revealed on Jan. 13 within the journal Aquatic Mammals.
The research represents the primary documented case of orcas searching sperm whales within the waters off the Central American nation, a stretch of the Caribbean Sea that has been “relatively unexplored.”
The coordinated hunt
All of it started when a trio of hobbyist anglers have been crusing off Honduras’ Bay Islands — about 30 miles from the mainland — on Nov. 24, 2023.
They seen a flurry of exercise within the distance.
Upon maneuvering nearer, they noticed three orcas — an grownup male and a mother-calf pair — circling a sperm whale, which measured below 20 toes.
“According to the anglers, the attack was already underway when they arrived as the killer whales were observed coordinating their attack on the sperm whale in waves,” the research stated.
For the following half-hour, the 2 grownup orcas, by turns, bit the whale and dragged it underwater, trying to stop it from surfacing.
Then the large marine mammals disappeared beneath the waves, leaving the anglers in suspense.
After about 20 minutes, “large chunks of blubber and blood” materialized on the floor — signaling the hunt had been profitable.
The whale’s carcass finally floated into view, and the anglers watched for about an hour because the orcas sank their enamel into their hard-won meal. A video posted by Aquatic Mammals depicts the orcas consuming the prey.
However, “as the anglers tried to get closer to observe the killer whales feeding, the large male began vocalizing and charging directly at the anglers’ vessel,” the research stated. Consequently, the anglers left the world.
Biologists’ evaluation
“Our report is the first to offer documented witness of sperm whale predation by killer whales in the western Caribbean Sea,” the research stated.
Beforehand, there had been reviews of orcas within the area attacking a lot of different species, together with pantropical noticed dolphins, Bryde’s whales and short-finned pilot whales — however predation had not been confirmed.
As supported by these reviews, orcas within the Caribbean and different tropical waters are believed to be “generalist hunters,” not like the specialist hunters present in colder waters.
Additional, the noticed orcas appeared to have taken half in a “cooperative hunting strategy,” which could be deployed to assist them overpower bigger prey.
Nonetheless, researchers famous that, as a result of the video doesn’t depict the whale alive, they can’t rule out the likelihood that the orcas scavenged it. This situation, although, is unlikely.
They concluded, “this documented event of killer whale predation on a sperm whale in the Caribbean Sea serves as a critical addition to the existing knowledge of cetacean interactions within this region.”