Photographer Captures Dramatic Battle Between Orcas and Sperm Whales

[sparkchaser]

Talk about being at the right place at the right time...

If killer whales lived on land, we’d be in trouble. Highly intelligent and social, the black-and-white marine mammals hunt in packs, launching coordinated attacks on other whales and sharks, and even wave-wash seals off Antarctic ice floats.

On April 18, a half-dozen orcas battled a pod of sperm whales off the southern coast of Sri Lanka. The unusual encounter is one of fewer than a dozen such recorded conflicts — and the first observed in the Indian Ocean.

It’s also the first to be captured in underwater photos and video (underwater video not yet available, above-water video in last slide).

“We saw the water churning on the horizon,” said Heinrichs, a photographer and filmmaker who was in the area looking for blue whales. He and his colleagues steered their boat toward the patch of white water. As they got closer, they saw an enormous dorsal fin slicing through the water — a killer whale trademark — and then noticed the group of sperm whales, clustered together in a defensive stance.

At that point, Heinrichs did what many of us would not do: He jumped in.

“I grabbed my camera and slid off the side of the boat,” he said. “There was a frothing, dark pile of shapes ahead of me. When I drifted away from the boat, the largest orca in the pod made a beeline for me but veered off at the last moment and dove deep.”

Screw. That.




Video:

 

[Summerflyte]

Did not know that. Wow! Was that Heinrichs guy just plain crazy?

 

[sparkchaser]

I think he has the right mentality to be a war photographer.

 

[Sparhawk]

He is a photographer, almost all photographers are a little mad. We see photos not missing limbs!

 

[Meadow337]

yup we are all a little mad - photographers and writers alike.

 

[pontalba]

Yeah, they must be crazy, and absolutely wonderful!
Great catch Sparky...thanks for posting. I hope the underwater video will be available.

 

[regdog]

WOW

 

[753C]

Wow, that is cool and interesting. Didn't know killer whales attacked sperm whales. I watched an educational thing about sperm whales on discovery not long ago and it was pretty amazing.
The ocean is the most fascinating place that I never want to visit.

 

[Polly Parrot]

Yeah, they must be crazy, and absolutely wonderful!
Great catch Sparky...thanks for posting. I hope the underwater video will be available.

I see what you did there.

 

[pontalba]

I see what you did there.

I'm innocent! I'm just unconsciously funny.........