B.C. Scientists have published a scientific report which details the never-before-seen behaviour of Orcas deliberately killing a baby of their own species.
Jared Towers, Executive Director at North Island Marine Mammal Stewardship Association, along with his colleagues Muirel Muriel Hall茅 and Gary Sutton witnessed the attack which happened in Johnstone Strait between Port McNeill and Sointula on Dec. 2 2016.
Towers was alerted to strange vocalizations, which were picked up by OrcaLab鈥檚 hydrophone station, and was able to locate the whales prior to the attack.
鈥淚t鈥檚 the world first killer whale infanticide observed and the first time it鈥檚 been committed by a male and his mom outside of humans,鈥� said Towers, who explained he and his collegues watched two orcas, an adult male and his mother, kill the infant of another non-related orca.
鈥淚t was not the kind of thing you can un-see, the image of the whales killing and passing around the dead baby are engraved in my mind,鈥� said Towers, adding 鈥淚t鈥檚 horrifying and fascinating at the same time.鈥�
Towers explained there is strong evidence to suggest that this behaviour was conducted not only to remove progeny of a competing male from the gene pool but also to force the infant鈥檚 mother into a sexually receptive state, which would also provide a mating opportunity for the adult male.
鈥淪exual conflict such as infanticide drives selection which means it can tell us a lot about why a species or population has evolved the way it has,鈥� said Towers, adding that this incidents demonstrates that, 鈥淚t鈥檚 quite likely that the mating strategies employed by killer whales are different than we previously thought.鈥�
After a year of working on the research regarding the incident, which was published in the journal Nature this week, Towers said he feels good to finally be able to share it with the public and scientific community.
鈥淚t鈥檚 kind of a dark story and I hate to see dead baby killer whales - they are the cutest animal on the planet,鈥� said Towers, adding 鈥淚t鈥檚 good to share this but is a reminder of how cruel nature can be.鈥�
