| the blue planet |
[Oct. 23rd, 2011|10:55 pm] |
Killer whales. They have learnt that grey whales follow traditional routes. The killers have no trouble in overtaking the calf and its devoted mother. Normally, they continually call to one another, but now they have fallen silent. The grey whale and her calf have no idea that they've been targeted. Catching up with the grey whales is the easy part for the killers. They have to be cautious for they are only about half the size of the mother. She can inflict real damage with her tail. But the killers are after her calf. As long as the mother can keep it on the move, it will be safe, and she does her best to hurry it along. At first, the killers avoid getting too close but just stay alongside. They know that the calf, going at this speed, will eventually tire. After three hours of being harried, the calf becomes too exhausted to swim any further. The mother has to stop. This is the moment the killers have been waiting for. They start to try and force themselves between mother and calf. A calf separated from its mother will not be able to defend itself. Time and again, the black fins of the killers appear between the grey whales. At last the killers succeed, and now they've got the calf on its own, they change their tactics. They leap right onto the calf, and try to push it under. They are trying to drown it. The calf snatches a desperate breath. The mother becomes increasingly agitated. Frantically, she tries to push her calf back to the surface so that it can breathe. But now it's so exhausted that it has to be supported by its mother's body. The killers won't give up. Like a pack of wolves, they take turns in harassing the whales. Now, the whole pod is involved. One of them takes a bite. Soon, the sea is reddened with the calf's blood, and the killers close in for the final act.
The calf is dead.
After a six-hour hunt, the killer whales have finally won their prize.
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The 15 killer whales spent over six hours trying to kill the calf, but having succeeded, they've eaten nothing more than its lower jaw and its tongue. |
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