Some stunning footage has emerged of a pack of orcas hunting dolphins off the coast of San Diego, USA. Not only are the orcas hunting the dolphins, but they are clearly training their calves to learn the behaviour.
The footage was filed by Domenic Biagini – also known as @dolphindronedom – videographer for the BBC, National Geographic and Apple, amongst others – and owner of San Diego-based Gone Whale Watching tours.
The orcas are members of the Eastern Tropical Pacific (ETP) population, known to range from Baja California and the Gulf of Mexico to Hawaii and the Galápagos Islands, but not often spotted near San Diego. When they are, however, it seems they come specifically for the dolphins.
‘ETP orcas are rare in San Diego,’ said Biagini in a message to DIVE, ‘ but usually seen in the late summer/early fall once or twice a year.
‘When they visit San Diego,’ he added, ‘it’s almost exclusively to hunt dolphins! This is the seventh time I’ve seen ETP [orcas] hunting dolphins in the area.’
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Some people may find the footage disturbing, as it shows one of our favourite ocean creatures hunting and killing another of our favourite ocean creatures – especially as orcas, while often called ‘killer whales’, are actually a species of dolphin, meaning the predator is quite closely related to its prey.
As Biagini points out, however, the hunt is simply nature’s way of sustaining itself.
‘A healthy ocean needs its predators,’ he writes on Instagram. ‘Without them, the ocean cannot survive in its modern form. Every hunt for this pod of orcas strengthens their familial bonds.
‘They love and grieve just as we do, and show signs of a huge intelligence once thought to be exclusive to humans.’
‘You may not like the idea of one single dolphin being hunted by these orcas, but that’s nothing compared to the thousands that are killed each year by humans from fishing gear entanglement, pollution, and climate change.’
Check out the amazing video below, and head to @dolphindronedom on Instagram, or Biagini’s YouTube channel, for more outstanding cetacean footage.
For more information on joining Domenic’s small, six-person tours to see orcas, whales and dolphins, check out www.gonewhalewatching.com. Biagini’s filming credits also include Big Beasts on AppleTV+, Nat Geo’s Super/Natural (available on Disney+), and The Americas, a ten-part wildlife series narrated by Tom Hanks, set to be released by NBC in 2024
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