Share this with anyone who wants to ride a killer whale.

[RandySF]

MONTEREY (CBS SF) – Dramatic footage shows a group of killer whales methodically ram, isolate and kill a gray whale calf passing through Monterey Bay with its mother, on Saturday.

The graphic attack was captured in its entirety on video by Monterey Bay Whale Watch, a company that organizes whale-watching trips led by marine experts to groups.

In the clip, a small pod of killer whales can be seen moving in just below the surface. The young whale desperately tries to escape while the mother rolls over to protect her baby, but the outcome is inevitable. The killer whales will have their meal.

It took about four hours for five orcas to batter and kill the calf, even as its mother tried to defend it.

The pair were traveling to Alaska during spring migration.

Whale Research Institute Director Joe Renard tells KPIX 5 the gray whales travel in groups.

“With the migration of 22,000 grays off our coast, they move in groups of mothers with babies, teens, singles,” explained Renard. “Adult Males all go at different times.”


https://sanfrancisco.cbslocal.com/2019/04/29/video-killer-whales-attack-kill-gray-whale-calf-monterey-bay/

[milestogo]

1. Or else share this one...

[backscatter712]

2. These are orcas - treat them with the respect you give any big apex predator.

A lion or tiger can be cuddly and affectionate, but obviously you don't want to be in the reach of one that's pissed off, or that's hungry and thinks of you as an hors d'oeuvre.

Same thing with orcas. They are wild predators.

[defacto7]

3. It's perfectly normal especially since the orcas are starving

in many areas of the Pacific due to their main food source, salmon, being almost gone.

[albacore]

6. The "transient" pods are doing OK... they eat pinnipeds....and whales

It's the salmon eaters - the "residents" that are in trouble because of the shortage of salmon.
Totally different sub-species.

[A HERETIC I AM]

8. "Sub-species"? Or separate population?

The resident pod aren’t a sub species.

They are just an independent group of Orca.

I would be very interested in reading any document you may have that proves otherwise.

[albacore]

10. Here...

"Killer whales were once considered monotypic (belonging to one species). But many biologists now believe that several populations, or even subspecies, of killer whales exist. There are three main types of killer whales: Resident, Transient, and Offshore."

Different size, different feeding habits, different language, different markings...Biggs' is an example.

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/killer-whale

[A HERETIC I AM]

12. Fair enough. Thanks.

Very interesting

[albacore]

13. I just found this. In the next few years, these new sub-species will firmed up...

https://www.livescience.com/9893-killer-whale-species-proposed.html

I think we're to find that the sub-species are the like the Red Wolf. Canis Lupus has 38 subspecies.

I find this fascinating. I'm a salmon fisherman, but I have gladly cut back my take of Kings... their favorite prey. The orcas need them more than I do. That doesn't keep me from trying to suggest to resident orcas that seals have a LOT more fat and can't swim as fast as a King. No luck so far.

[defacto7]

9. Thanks for filling in the missing info.

I've always had a special affinity for orcas.

[albacore]

11. To clarify... when I said the transients are OK....

I was a little hasty. Since pollutants concentrate in the fish that the seals eat, and then the transients eat the seals.... they are OK, but being slowly poisoned.
So... poisoned slowly rather than starved like the residents.

[Trenzalore]

4. Not once in my life have I ever thought about riding one

Nor have I thought about being in the same body of water as one.

Frankly the one time I saw them as a child at Seaworld my only thought was that animal could eat me.

[Goodheart]

5. Nature is f*'ing cruel. One of the several reasons I can't believe in a loving god.

Not that I believe in a non-loving god, either.

[albacore]

7. Just like wolves... or any other apex predator. Not pretty. But. nt

[Captain Stern]

14. I would definitely share that with anyone that I knew (or even didn't know)..

...that wanted to ride a killer whale. But, I don't know anybody that wants to ride a killer whale.

The folks I know seem to have a a fairly firm grasp of the reality that beasts that are known as "killer" whales....are, in fact, killers. And, the people that I know aren't even an especially smart bunch....but, the word "killer" is right there in the name.....that's just hard to miss.

I could see the misunderstanding if those things were called "Huggy Whales" or "Cuddly Whales" or "Whales That are Very Safe for Human Beings To Ride On".......but damn...they're actually called "Killer Whales".

Words mean things.