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u/SurayaThrowaway12 1h ago
Where did you film this? Looks like somewhere in the Pacific Northwest. If so, these are mammal-eating Bigg's (transient) orcas hunting harbor seals, which are their favorite prey.
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u/kxrimm 1h ago
It wasn't me filming. But That’s at Pat Bay / Institute of Ocean Sciences on Vancouver Island. Canada
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u/Present_Value_4352 42m ago
I thought the local orcas didnt eat seals and thats why they close salmon fishing
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u/cans-of-swine 1h ago
I could be wrong, but that looks like Topeka Kansas.
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u/Mother-Pineapple1392 1h ago
I'm from Topeka and can confirm. Sherwood Lake to be exact. Happens at least once annually during their northern migration.
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u/Unarmed_Character 4m ago
Do you have good seafood in Topeka? I've been considering it for a beach holiday next January.
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u/Pazzeh 1h ago
The amount of water that first fly-by displaced was surprising
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u/CervantesX 1h ago
Orcas will actually try and knock prey off ledges or out of shallows with that displacement.
There's video of multiple orcas lining up to create waves that roll over ice floes and knock seals off them into the water.
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u/rewardingsnark 1h ago
You know its good when so much stuff is happening camera man doesn't know where to focus.
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u/lightr3nd 1h ago
Sooo cool... But they really are the bullies of the ocean. Dicks.
Equally amazing; humpback whales have been recorded to protect other species by ganging up on orcas. I love whales.
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u/TheMightyMisanthrope 58m ago
Orcas are so cute yet such gigantic assholes.
Seals should evolve legs back already
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u/Development-Alive 49m ago
Orcas are amazing to witness in the wild. Feel so fortunate to live in the PNW.
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u/Kraken-__- 32m ago
I’ve had seal… wouldn’t recommend it.
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u/SchwiftySavage 16m ago
Where did you try it and how was it prepared? My sister made dried seal meat recently and it was great. I am indigenous alaskan and would take seal over something like mackerel any day haha.
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u/MEWilliams 0m ago
Amazing! So how many seals make a meal? Honestly do Orcas need to eat X amount of meat per day or is a seal or two enough for a couple days?
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u/Ok-Maintenance-2682 1h ago
In a lake? Literally my worst nightmare
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u/Snortserranopeppers 31m ago
Are you a seal? It’s in a bay, they’re marine animals not fresh water.
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u/AdvBike214 1h ago
This type of hunting depletes the population of seals.
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u/SurayaThrowaway12 59m ago
At least in Washington State, there have been talks of controlling and culling the harbor seal and sea lion populations due to fears of them eating too much salmon. But there is no need for this when one of the main natural predators for these seals can do the job just fine on their own. This is just nature rebalancing itself.
"With a 2014 estimate of 51,000 harbor seals in the Strait of Georgia and Washington’s inland waters (Zier & Gaydos, 2014), transients consumed (at a minimum) more than 2% of the regional harbor seal population in 2017 alone. By taking a minimum of 1,090 seals in 2017, transient killer whales are exceeding the approximately 1,000 seals per year killed in Washington State between 1943 and 1960 (Newby, 1973). Since we were conservative in all of our parameter estimates, it is likely that the actual number of seals taken far exceeds 1,090, perhaps substantially. In 2017, the authors and others observed groups of transient killer whales taking multiple harbor seals at multiple seal haul outs over the course of less than two hours."
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u/According-Try3201 1h ago edited 1h ago
we're so lucky they don't like how we taste:-)