Wednesday, May 07, 2008

Caught on film, a killer whale hunting a dolphin

In the ocean the Orca dominates all: Gray whales, sperm whales, great white sharks, dolphins, giant squids and anything else that swims are nothing more than menu items to them.

What has me completely astonished is that killer whales know that we are harmless to them and refuse to put us on the menu. In this article the writer recounts how a killer whale actually paraded it's baby for the divers to see after mauling a dolphin.

The image is attributed to The Herald in South Africa. Here is a snippet from the article: "...

“My four clients and I decided to join them in the water. While orcas in the northern hemisphere feed mostly on fish like herring, the species in the south focuses on mammals like seals and dolphins, so we were cautious.

“But they were just curious, and quite friendly. At one point the mother of the calf brought it towards us, shielded against her side as if to show us to it.”

Schimpf, who is also spokesman for the marine conservation lobby group Ocean Messengers, said the event was further evidence that “Algoa Bay offers the best dive opportunities world-wide.... and needs to be protected accordingly.

“It is a heritage of enormous tourism value and has huge potential to support eco-friendly business, for present and future generations. ...”

1 comment:

Unknown said...

Wow.