A poonado of epic proportion may have salve some sperm hulk from a fatal fundamental interaction with a pod of orcas off Western Australia ’s southerly coast . The extremely scatological wildlife coming upon was the first time this yr that sperm whales had been see in the area , and they put on a display nobody was expecting .
The perilous event was witnessed by nautical life scientist Jennah Tucker on plug-in aNaturaliste Charterstrip with other whale watchers and lensman . They were honor a seedpod of orcas when the group get down surging forward in a way that show they were pursuing something .
The object of the hunt was a pod of sperm heavyweight . One of the four was much smaller than the others , and the group appeared dog-tired and distressed as they huddle closely . As predators in their own right , and big ones at that , it was suppose at one time that sperm whale were n’t vulnerable to sea wolf predation . However , orcas have since been spotted attack sperm whales , seeming to favor female with young calf .
The whales were in distress, so they unleashed a poonado.Image courtesy of Naturaliste Charters
The sperm whales were toss their tush against the orcas ' improvement as the squad looked on . Then , “ a bombastic dark house of cards rise to the aerofoil amongst the huddle , believed at the time to have been blood , ” explained Tucker in a web log Emily Post divvy up with IFLScience .
That cloud was afterward confirm to be whale dirt base on the pic and videos that were captured during the striking encounter . An volatile defence mechanism that spermatozoan giant are known for .
“ spermatozoan whales are known to defecate when threatened , look up to as emergency or justificative defection , ” explained Tucker . “ The cloud of diarrhoea created when the whale wave its tail through its poo number to deter marauder and in this character , seemed to work ! Given their fecal matter appear crimson in colour , due to their diet consist of 90 % squid , it ’s no surprise it was well misidentify for blood . ”
It ’s no mean exploit to pursue the ocean ’s big toothed predatory animal into the shallows , and the orcas put up a adept engagement . Whatever ill-gotten maneuver they ’re open to exploring , however , do n’t seem to include get a face full of BM .
The orcas involved in the fray were actually sighted carrying some sort of mystery meat in their oral cavity , but it remains unclear if their William Holman Hunt was successful . They may have been stealing clump of giant squid from the sperm cell whales , something that ’s been document among these animals before .
As for the events of this fateful first return for sperm whales ? The only thing that we know went down with rank certainty is a shit - gross ton ofwhale poop .
