Deadly Killer Whale Moments | Top 5 | BBC Earth

[Music] orca are the largest of the dolphins and like all dolphins they have a lot of distinct parts their day so sometimes they'll be traveling sometimes they'll be feeding sometimes they're just plain playing like now unbelievable that's incredible this is called breaching it's supposed to actually remove parasites from the skins of the the orca but when you look at something like that you've got to say they are just playing i mean if you could do that you would wouldn't you orca need to spend a good deal of their day interacting with the others in their group they have such big brains that really they just need time to get to know each other and just to muck around this has already been just about the most exciting two minutes of my life look at that they are magnificent i don't want to chase them it's very important that i don't go into their space i let them come into mine but they don't seem to be bothered by us oh my goodness it just breached right in front of me wow look at that this is the wildlife spectacle of this part of the world rarely for my crew they're almost speechless apart from johnny on the main camera it's amazing man really is they're very close to him how close are they 10 15 meters something like that should he be scared at this point steve every one of these orca could weigh as much as a small truck but they're incredibly maneuverable very very fast killer whales are probably the fastest mammal in the seas and certainly for long distances they can travel enormous distances and day i don't believe what i'm seeing here look at this they're just coming together right in front of me they call orca the wolves of the sea not just because they're incredible teeth but also because they hunt cooperatively together in groups and i think that's what's happening around me now look i think now i've probably got about 15 animals all very very close [Music] it's not just adults here there are plenty of young carbs in amongst them oh it frightens the life out of you when they come to the surface like that it's like an explosion of air and water out of their blow hole he's coming right underneath me i can see he's right underneath my boat that's he's about three meters away from me just looking up at me just turned on his side i just looked straight in my eye oh wow he just it just popped up right alongside me i think they've just really want to find out what this strange plastic yellow boat in their world is i'm seeing firsthand how intelligent they are the abundance of krill attracts other visitors to the peninsula in the summer antarctic minky whales their pointed heads and short dorsal fins give them speed and endurance and they need both there are other whales here too killers this is an extended family of mothers and their young and a male with a huge dorsal fin two meters high [Music] alone minky whale it's just what this group of killer whales are looking for working as a team as they have done for decades they fan out across the street in search of their quarry and they found it the minky races away pursued by outriders on each flank [Music] terrified the minky heads for the shore it's so desperate to escape it almost beaches itself it makes a desperate break for freedom [Music] [Applause] [Music] two hours and 20 miles later the minke is still alive and swimming strongly its only real defense is its endurance but the killers work as a team with fresh ones replacing the outriders in relays and as the minky towers the battering and the biting [Music] [Applause] begins sea birds are attracted by the smell of fresh blood rising from the water [Music] the killers try to flip the minke over if they can manage to keep its blowhole underwater it will drown one forces the mickey's whole body down below the surface and then the final strike the team dragged the minke under for the last time and the hunters finally can feed [Music] for sea lions to venture into deep water here is very dangerous indeed it's much safer to stay in the shallows if they can in one or two places channels enable the whales to get really close to the beach those are the danger spots [Music] [Music] to get off the beach the killer has to thrash its body no other whale deliberately beaches itself in this way or has perfected this method of getting back to the sea as long as the sea lions stay well up the beach you might think they would be safe but the hungry whales are very daring now several of the whales are hunting in a group that sea lion was keeping just ahead of one of the whales but was caught by another it probably hadn't seen this savage beating may be to separate hide from flesh [Music] [Music] [Music] not much remains of the porpoise after the whales are through with it killer whales don't just target prey smaller than themselves off the coast of california a gray whale and her baby are in serious danger once again computer images give the underwater view of an extraordinary hunt the gray whale calf is just a few weeks old it's following its mother north towards the summer feeding grounds in alaska they've reached monterey bay where a deep trench cuts in from the sea as they move beyond the trench wall the grey whales lose their cover [Music] out in the bay the killer whales are listening for that telltale sound the breathing of a great whale immediately their behavior changes the killers close ranks like a hunting wolf pack the killer whales have caught up with the mother and calf and now the chase is on the grey whales try to outswim their attackers fast swimming pushes up the grey whale's breathing rate a breathless calf is easier to catch [Music] the killers work as a team their first goal is to separate the baby from its mother [Music] the gray whale mother is a formidable adversary she could seriously harm a killer whale with just one slap of her massive tail fruit one of the attackers pushes between mother and calf [Music] the strategy is working the grey whales are forced apart with the baby separated the killer whales change strategy now their goal is to drown the cuff a six-ton orca slaps its tail with awesome destructive power under the water tail slabs are used to stun the herring some fish come too quickly and escape back to the safety of the shoal but most are picked off by the orcas one by one soon water glitters with fish scales as the orcas methodically consume the ball of fish by breaking up the herring into a smaller show the orcas have done the humpbacks of favor turning the usual relationship between the animals on its head [Music] everywhere else on earth orcas are the humpback's biggest enemy but here the humpbacks cash in on the colossal fish supper [Music] and the humpbacks aren't the only ones to get crashed the orca's party massive fin whales can swallow 3 000 herring in a single gulp [Music] deadly enemies feed side by side a unique scene only possible here because of the warmth of the gulf stream [Music] [Applause] [Music] [Applause] you

Channel: BBC Earth

Views: 1,326,592

Keywords: bbc documentary, bbc, bbcearth, bbc earth, orca, killer, killer whale, whale, killer whale attack, killer whale hunt, whale hunting, aquatic mammal, minke whale

Id: TmO0wiK5DqI

Length: 19min 3sec (1143 seconds)

Published: Tue Mar 23 2021