When a group of scientists and tists saw seals attacking a minke whale off Russia’s Kamchatka Peninsula, they knew they were in big trouble.
It was not only an opportunity to see the rarely seen phenomenon up close, but also to hear the heavenly voice call made by canis mammals after a kill.
The scientists also used a device to get an “inside” look at the attack.
“The cas went after the whale for a long time, and the dog was up in the air when it physically stopped resisting—it was tied.”
“But it still spewed water from the bottom,” says Inessa Yyea, a Team Tip coordinator for the Fa Easten Rssian Oca Pject and the technology company Ksatka Cises.
The video’s director, Mikhail Kstele, is the founder of Team TIP, an adente tism organization that helps finance Arctic research that isn’t typically supported by Russia’s scientific institutions.
“Eeyne was ey excited—if cse it’s awfl t see the whale spout, but this is nate, and it’s magnificent to come acss ae sight like an ca hnt ap clse,” Yyea explained.
Ocas are the only cetaceans that can feed on both fish and mammals, including dolphins and whales.
In general, resident cas (those who live in the same location year after year) eat fish and shellfish, whereas transient cas (the scace type) consume large amounts of pey.
For example, there are approximately 800 fish-eating cas in Kamchatka and only approximately 200 in the entire Rssian Far East.
The two types do not interbreed and have distinct social conflicts, and wide-ranging transients have high intelligence, necessitating interaction with intelligent mammalian mammals.
Mammal-hnting may also be the source of the species’ favorite nickname, killer whales.
