A drone pilot recently managed to capture a rare footage of four killer whales ganging up on a lone shark and devouring it alive when the poor creature was still struggling for its life.
Slater Moore was on a tour across California’s Monterey Bay with the Monterey Bay Whale Watch (MBWW) on December 13, 2016, when they spotted a pair of adult killer whales and two calves at sea. The giant creatures appeared to be busy eating something, giving Moore and his companions a rare sight to enjoy.
Shortly after the initial contact, Moore decided to fly his drone to check and observe the whales from up close. Needless to say, Moore and the group were shocked to see the killer whales eating a whole shark alive.
According to Katlyn Taylor, an MBWW marine biologist, the shark devoured by the killer whales was probably a sevengill shark which happens to be native to the surround waters of Monterey Bay and San Francisco Bay, as reported by the Verge.
The shark captured on the footage is estimated to be somewhere around five-feet long, although it is normal for sevengill sharks to grow as much as up to 10-feet. On a closer look at the video, this becomes apparent that the shark on the video was sized more or less the same as the calves that were eating it.
As for the killer whales caught in the action, they are commonly referred to as offshore killer whales. Representatives of MBWW say that not much info is available as of today about offshore killer whales apart from basic details such as their dietary habits and social group size. Because they typically stay at deeper waters to hunt squids, sharks, and fish, these beasts are usually hard to spot of capture on camera.
Moore’s drone video of the killer whales eating a shark alive is definitely a big boon to many marine biologists who probably never had as clear a view of the offshore killer whales in action. https://www.facebook.com/gowhales/videos/1115875998510134/