See First Ever Video of an Orca Mother and Son Killing a Calf
Transcript
This is the first reported account of an adult male orca and its mother killing the calf of an unrelated female.
Researchers suggest the behavior was sexually motivated.
Here you see a pocket of slick water, which forms when the whales perform a quick dive.
This footage shows a male orca with the calf in its mouth.
The adult male took the calf by the tail and dove deep underwater ...
while its mother blocked the calf’s mother from pursuing its child.
The male orca drowned the calf in hopes the young mother would then be willing to mate.
This behavior isn't so rare in the animal kingdom. Lions, rodents, and even primates have been known to do this, too.
