Latest news with #MachuYoshida
Yahoo
10-04-2025
- Science
- Yahoo
In rare sighting, 60 orcas attack the largest creature on the planet
Five families of orcas joined forces to hunt down and feed on a blue whale, the largest creature on the planet, in what was an extremely rare sighting off Australia. More than 60 orcas worked together to attack the blue whale, only the fourth such recorded instance of its kind, according to Yahoo! News Australia. Video of the attack was posted on the Facebook page of Naturaliste Charters Whale Watching, which also posted a series of photos. 'There were five families of the orcas around the blue whale and they all started to hunt it,' witness Machu Yoshida told Yahoo! News Australia. She said watching nature unfold was 'bittersweet.' 'I felt mixed emotions,' she told Yahoo! News Australia. 'I love blue whales so it was sad to watch its life being taken by the orcas, but they were all so intelligent, it was incredible to watch them do it. "The blue whale would feed all the orcas and feed other animals under the water too, like sharks and fish, and also birds get the scraps." 'We witnessed an incredible and rare event yesterday as multiple pods of orcas successfully hunted a blue whale in Bremer Canyon,' the whale-watching charter stated on Facebook. 'The intense ordeal lasted less than 40 minutes from when we first saw the blue at the surface to when the battle was over. 'As the blue whale's fate was sealed, orcas celebrated with breaches and tail slaps. 'This is only the fourth recorded instance of orcas hunting a blue whale here—an extraordinary reminder of their role as apex predators in the ocean.' The first such sightings occurred between 2019 and 2021 off Australia, according to Smithsonian magazine. In each attack, between 50 and 75 orcas took part. 'This is the biggest predation event on the planet,' Robert Pitman, cetacean ecologist at Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute, told Science News. 'We haven't seen things like this since dinosaurs were here, and probably not even then.' Orcas are known to stalk and feed on gray whale calves off Southern California, and in one instance, a pod of killer whales attacked an adult gray whale, though the gray whale survived 'bloodied and bruised, but not broken.' Photos courtesy of Allan Cronin/Naturaliste Charters Whale Watching. This article originally appeared on For The Win: In rare sighting, 60 orcas attack the largest creature on the planet
USA Today
10-04-2025
- Science
- USA Today
In rare sighting, 60 orcas attack the largest creature on the planet
In rare sighting, 60 orcas attack the largest creature on the planet Five families of orcas joined forces to hunt down and feed on a blue whale, the largest creature on the planet, in what was an extremely rare sighting off Australia. More than 60 orcas worked together to attack the blue whale, only the fourth such recorded instance of its kind, according to Yahoo! News Australia. Video of the attack was posted on the Facebook page of Naturaliste Charters Whale Watching, which also posted a series of photos. 'There were five families of the orcas around the blue whale and they all started to hunt it,' witness Machu Yoshida told Yahoo! News Australia. She said watching nature unfold was 'bittersweet.' 'I felt mixed emotions,' she told Yahoo! News Australia. 'I love blue whales so it was sad to watch its life being taken by the orcas, but they were all so intelligent, it was incredible to watch them do it. "The blue whale would feed all the orcas and feed other animals under the water too, like sharks and fish, and also birds get the scraps." 'We witnessed an incredible and rare event yesterday as multiple pods of orcas successfully hunted a blue whale in Bremer Canyon,' the whale-watching charter stated on Facebook. 'The intense ordeal lasted less than 40 minutes from when we first saw the blue at the surface to when the battle was over. 'As the blue whale's fate was sealed, orcas celebrated with breaches and tail slaps. 'This is only the fourth recorded instance of orcas hunting a blue whale here—an extraordinary reminder of their role as apex predators in the ocean.' The first such sightings occurred between 2019 and 2021 off Australia, according to Smithsonian magazine. In each attack, between 50 and 75 orcas took part. 'This is the biggest predation event on the planet,' Robert Pitman, cetacean ecologist at Oregon State University Marine Mammal Institute, told Science News. 'We haven't seen things like this since dinosaurs were here, and probably not even then.' Orcas are known to stalk and feed on gray whale calves off Southern California, and in one instance, a pod of killer whales attacked an adult gray whale, though the gray whale survived 'bloodied and bruised, but not broken.' Photos courtesy of Allan Cronin/Naturaliste Charters Whale Watching.
Yahoo
09-04-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Tourists witness incredibly rare event off Aussie coast: 'Bittersweet'
The brutality of nature was on full display along the Aussie coast this week as a boat full of tourists was treated to the sight of more than 60 orcas successfully hunting a blue whale — an encounter so "rare" it's only the fourth recorded instance of its kind. Photographer Machu Yoshida was aboard the Naturaliste Charters Whale Watching boat on Monday when the five pods of orcas "changed their behaviour" in the water around Bremer Canyon, off the southern coast of Western Australia. "We were following the killer whales [orcas] that day and then they changed their behaviour, they started surging," Machu told Yahoo News. Surging is when orcas lift their bodies above the surface of the water while moving at speed, allowing them to breathe clearly and not slow down while approaching prey. It was at that moment the boat full of people quickly realised what was under them. "There were five families of the orcas around the blue whale and they all started to hunt it," Machu said. The more than 60 orcas in the water were "working together" to attack one of the largest animals in the world. It only took them 90 minutes. Machu explained watching the encounter unfold was "bittersweet". The brutal attack would have been important to the orcas as it successfully scored them a hefty meal. "I felt mixed emotions. I love blue whales so it was sad to watch its life being taken by the orcas, but they were all so intelligent, it was incredible to watch them do it," she said. "The blue whale would feed all the orcas and feed other animals under the water too, like sharks and fish, and also birds get the scraps." It's not the first time a commercial whale-watching vessel has witnessed a fatal encounter between orcas and a blue whale along this part of the WA coast, with a few successful attacks documented since 2019. 😲 Photographer captures remarkable underwater sight: 'Never thought I'd see it' 🥹 Tourists 'in awe' over extremely rare sight off coast: 'Tears in our eyes' 🧐 Whale accused of 'mugging' tourists off Aussie coast There were juvenile orcas among the pods preying on the blue whale on Monday and Machu's colleague Jennah Tucker, who is a marine biologist and also witnessed the attack, told the ABC there was a one-month calf present. "They are involved from a young age — this calf has no teeth but stuck by mum's side," Jennah said. Do you have a story tip? Email: newsroomau@ You can also follow us on Facebook, Instagram, TikTok, Twitter and YouTube.
