Every winter here on the Ningaloo Coast we see this same family of Killer Whales aka Orca. They show up around the same time as the Humpback Whale migration starts arrive.
These Orca are known as transient Orca which means they don't live in one place, researchers are trying to find out more about them but the reason they arrive at the same time as the Whales is because they like to feed on the Humpback Whale calves.
On the day that this photo was taken they were hunting, they tried for about 40minutes to separate the calf from its mother. She did everything in her power to protect her young keeping it on her back and using her giant tail and long pec fins to keep the group of 4 Orca away, this was the end to a happy story for the Humpback and her calf as they managed to hide in the swell, shallow enough that Hook and Elle (in photo) gave up and moved to find the next. A not so happy story for the Orca.
There are always a lot of mixed emotions when we see the Orca hunting, on one hand we know this family and we want them to have food and on the other hand the Humpbacks most defiantly grieve the loss of their young but that is just nature and I feel so lucky to be able to witness such events.
Hook (on the right) is the matriarch of the group and Elle (her daughter pictured on the left).
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