A gray whale calf tries to climb onto its mother's back during an attack by killer whales in Monterey Bay. Crossing the undersea canyon is the most dangerous part of the gray whales' migration. Photo by Sarah Graham
Posted on 05/26/2004 12:02:49 PM PDT by Pikamax
Orcas feast on harvest of gray whale calves Killer whales team up in Monterey Bay - Alan Gathright, Chronicle Staff Writer Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Monterey -- The boatload of nature lovers set out to celebrate Mother's Day whale watching on sunny Monterey Bay -- only to witness the mother of all wildlife battles.
Instead of gentle giants lolling in the sea, they came upon a life-or- death struggle as a pack of six killer whales attacked a gray whale calf while its mother valiantly fought to shield her 8-ton baby.
As whale watchers looked on with a mixture of awe and sadness, mother killer whales -- the most experienced hunters -- took turns ramming head- first, like 6-ton torpedoes, into the calf's soft underbelly, their force nearly knocking it out of the water, while others leapt atop the 20-foot baby, trying to drown it.
"It's the greatest predation event on Earth,'' said Richard Ternullo, a killer whale researcher and co-owner of Monterey Bay Whale Watch, who witnessed the battle during one of the company's daily whale watching tours. "It's 100 tons of whales crashing together.''
This brutal, natural drama has been repeated on an unprecedented scale in Monterey Bay this spring. Crafty killer whale packs have turned the bay into "ambush alley,'' lying in wait for gray whale calves and their mothers to cross the bay's deep-water canyon -- the riskiest stretch of their 6,000- mile migration from Baja California, Mexico, to their Alaskan feeding grounds.
(Excerpt) Read more at sfgate.com ...
Bush's fault. PETA alert
A gray whale calf tries to climb onto its mother's back during an attack by killer whales in Monterey Bay. Crossing the undersea canyon is the most dangerous part of the gray whales' migration. Photo by Sarah Graham
Where is PETA when you need them? </sarcasm>
Huh, I wonder how baby grey whale steaks would cook up on my Weber (charcoal of course). I'm guessing a little like manatee.
I'm surprised the environuts aren't calling for a "program"
One of those libs should've jumped in the water to lure the whales from the calf and take the bite out of the crime....
FEED WILLY!
A little like a baby seal.
This reminds me of a story a few years ago about a seal or walrus that was rescued from an oil slick or other similar disaster and nursed back to health in captivity over a period of weeks or months. The animal was brought back out to sea amid a lot of fanfare from environmental activists, media, etc. -- and was promptly eaten by a shark or killer whale about 30 seconds after it was turned loose in the water.
Save the whales! Oh, wait...
I guess that's why they call 'em "killer whales".
Nature is not a Sierra Club cocktail party.
How necessary.
"the clash had a happy ending: The 40-ton mother gray whale, rolling like a log to shed attackers and lifting the calf on her back above the attack, led her battered and bleeding baby to shallow coastal waters -- where the orcas do not venture."
That one's an urban legend. Even Rush Limbaugh got suckered into repeating that one on his show back during the Exxon Valdez oil spill clean-up.
That must have been fascinating to see.
Chicken of the Sea?
I do, however, seem to recall a similar incident somewhere in Alaska involving a small land mammal and a bald eagle or hawk -- and this one was shown on videotape.
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