11/19/2023 0 Comments Blue whale vs killer whale sizeSeveral dozen birds continued to feed on scraps for days afterwards. In the next six hours, 50 more orcas joined in the feeding, as well as at least 200 flesh-footed shearwaters, more than 20 storm petrels and at least one albatross. The last one swam inside its mouth and started eating its tongue, which is nutritionally dense. After an hour of relentless attacks, three female killer whales lined up side-by-side and rammed the blue whale on its side, pushing it underwater, while two others attacked its head. Orcas recorded killing and feeding on blue whales in 2019 – videoīy the time observers reached the site, large chunks of skin and blubber had been stripped off the adult blue whale and most of the dorsal fin had been bitten off. It was coordinated by at least 12 orcas, led by eight adult females and one male, with younger ones watching. The attack in March 2019 was on a healthy adult whale, between 18 and 22 metres long. Many individual females were involved in all three attacks. “Notably, the first whale taken appeared to be a healthy adult.”Īll the attacks happened off Bremer Bay in Western Australia, within 40 miles (60km) of the shore, and were observed from commercial whale-watching vessels. “Here we provide the first documentation of killer whales killing and eating blue whales: two individuals killed, 16 days apart in 2019, and a third in 2021,” researchers wrote in the paper. This research is the first to officially document these killings, including details about how orcas swim inside the mouth of the blue whale to eat its tongue just before it dies. Previously there were reports of these apex predators “chasing” blue whales – which grow up to 33 metres long – but authenticated attacks are extremely rare.
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