The orcas are highly intelligent and aggressive animals that coordinate their attacks to capture everything from large prey like whales to smaller ones like seals. We have seen how they can work together to create waves and throw them off ice floes where they take refuge.
Before we continue, did you know that we have orca t-shirts as well as sperm whale t-shirts? They are our tribute to these two majestic creatures. We ship worldwide!
Photographer Shawn Heinrichs has documented, for the first time in photo and video underwater, the attack of a group of orcas on a pod of sperm whales to hunt one of the calves. These images, captured on the south coast of Sri Lanka, were taken while the cameraman was in the area looking for blue whales when the enormous dorsal fin of an orca cut through the surface. They instantly realized that a group of sperm whales had emerged beside them, huddled on the surface just meters from their boat in a defensive posture.
For 30 minutes, the five orcas harassed the six sperm whales, hitting and biting several, leaving the water turbid and bloody after the fight. After that half hour, the orcas fled, apparently having killed the young whale.
In the words of Shawn Heinrichs, "As I took pictures on the surface, the scene began to clarify a bit more: it seemed that a group of approximately 5 orcas was attacking a family of about 6 sperm whales." He continues Heinrichs, "The attack was violent and disturbing, as the panicked sperm whales were clearly no match for the speed and maneuverability of the orcas."
After capturing some images from the relative safety of the boat, Heinrichs took things a step further and jumped into the water to capture the closest commotion.
"All eyes were on me," the photographer continues, "wondering if I would become easy prey for the ocean's most formidable predators." Without wasting time, I grabbed my camera and slid off the back of the boat. There were a lot of dark and foamy shapes in front of me. Moving away from the boat towards the action, I noticed how the largest orca in the group veered and headed straight for me, sending signals with its sonar."
As Heinrichs tells it, time slowed down at that moment as his mind struggled against intuition. The photographer knows the dangers of swimming with orcas in their natural environment, especially when these predators are in full hunt. "But in my heart," Heinrichs continues, "I knew they were highly intelligent and evolved creatures that shouldn't have any interest in me. As the orca approached, I thought to myself, 'Well, I'm about to find out the answer.'
The orca came straight at the photographer and then veered away from him at the last moment, descending into the deep blue beneath Heinrichs, aware that he had captured some historic images.
