A group of whale watchers was surprised by a large pod of killer whales hunting dolphins in Monterey Bay, California.
MONTEREY BAY, Calif. – A group of whale watchers was met by a once-in-a-lifetime surprise as a group of orcas hunted a pod of dolphins over the weekend in California.
A group of boaters set out for a whale-watching adventure in Monterey Bay, California, when they were treated to a sudden emergence of a large pod of killer whales hunting down dolphins.
A video shared by Luke Kilpatrick of Sanctuary Cruises shows the large aquatic mammals quickly chasing down dolphins, often striking from below and sending them flying.
Killer whales rely on underwater sound to feed, communicate and navigate through various environments in the ocean.
FILE – A Bigg’s killer whale hunting. (Image credit: Sam Murphy, Island Adventures Whale Watching)
According to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), killer whales use a coordinated hunting strategy and work as a team to catch prey, as the large pod leaps out of the water in pairs.
Pods of these whales consist of a few to 20 or more closely related individuals, with larger groups sometimes forming a temporary social interaction.
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(Dean J. Koepfler / Tacoma News Tribune / Tribune News Service / Getty Images)
“As a whole, the species has the most varied diet of all cetaceans, but different populations are usually specialized in their foraging behavior and diet,” NOAA said. “They often use a coordinated hunting strategy, working as a team like a pack of wolves.”
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Throughout the video, the killer whales repeatedly pop out of the water, often at high speeds, almost out of nowhere, before launching more dolphins into the sky.
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These animals are considered apex predators at the top of the food chain. They will base their diet on the region they live in, such as in the Pacific Northwest, where killer whales exclusively eat fish, salmon and other marine mammals.
