‘Nature in its rawest form:’ Watch as mother-son orca duo take down humpback calf
.jpg "The attack took place in Ningaloo Reef, according to social media posts.")
A tour boat had a “once in a lifetime experience” in Australia recently when they witnessed an orca and its mom hunt and kill a humpback calf.
The boaters were in Ningaloo Reef as they watched Cosmo, one of the reef’s transient orcas, take the humpback calf from its mom “without her even realizing,” according to an Aug. 7 Instagram post from Liv Cornale. It took the orca two hours to hunt the calf.
Cosmo then led the humpback out to deeper water before calling over his mom, Abby, to help him with the attack, Cornale said. Orcas attack and kill their prey by holding them underwater and drowning them.
“We [were] so lucky to witness this event which is a once in a lifetime experience,” Cornale wrote in her post.
While the attack was “hard to watch,” it was also a fascinating moment, according to photographer Ashlee Jansen, who also witnessed the orca attack.
“Today we witnessed nature in its rawest form, the true apex predator doing what it does best,” Jansen wrote in an Aug. 7 Instagram post. “Acts like this can be confronting and hard to watch, but it is [truly] Mother Nature at its finest. Always incredibly humbled to see moments like this up close.”
Jansen called the attack “a brutal harsh act of Mother Nature” but said it shows “the pure force and intelligence of one of the ocean’s most apex predators,” according to a second Instagram post.
There are about 40,000 humpbacks in Ningaloo Reef but only 15 to 20 orcas, Cornale said.
Social media users were in awe at the encounter.
“Holy moly, pretty surprised the mum isn’t right there battling while her calf is still swimming?! It looks like the game of cat and mouse, poor little thing. Such intelligent, calculating hunters,” one person commented on Cornale’s Instagram post.
“This is so hard to watch but incredible to see natural predation like this. Thank you for sharing,” another person commented on the post.
“Wow wow wow. Nature is amazing,” a third person wrote on Instagram.
Ningaloo Reef is on Australia’s northwestern coast.
This story was originally published August 8, 2023 at 3:54 PM with the headline "‘Nature in its rawest form:’ Watch as mother-son orca duo take down humpback calf."
