Animal Encounter #3 ~ A mother orca teaching her young to hunt Aug 18, 2016

This encounter was quite something to watch - a school lesson. A mother teaching her young the basics of how to hunt & forage for food. Quite a special event to witness, right? Unless you like harbour porpoise... then you aren't going to enjoy this post. But eh, I've said it once and I will say it again.

This is the natural world at its most raw & beautiful - its a balance between predator and prey.

---

---

I came across a pod of Bigg's orca (mammal hunting killer whale) behaving in such a way that suggested they were on the hunt. This instantly makes me keep my distance and out of their way to ensure they can continue to hunt efficiently.

Never interfere - we are only here to observe them in their natural state.

---

a little one pushing the porpoise with its head.

---

Before long their surface behaviour changed and it suggested they found something, which they did... a harbour porpoise. Since the pod had young juveniles and calves in it, the females will typically hunt prey that pose little to risk of injuring her little ones. Porpoise are tiny and lack any major teeth or major aggressive behaviour that might hurt the juveniles.

---

Most times when a grown orca comes across a porpoise it is usually over in a split second, as they just need to chomp down once and its game over for the porpoise and a small tasty snack for the predator. However, this time around the female was slowly chasing it and pushing the porpoise in front of the her kids. She was teaching them how to hunt a porpoise. It seemed as if the little ones saw it as being a game, playing with the porpoise, lifting it onto their heads and pushing the animal towards their other sibling. Every time the porpoise seemed to get away, mum would speed up, grab it and push it back in front of the kids.

---

After a few moments of this almost 'cat and mouse' interaction. Mum decided it was over, grabbed the porpoise, chomped down and that was that. They shared their lunch with one another before continuing along the coastline swimming side by side. Just another awesome wild encounter with a family of orca going about their day.

Arching their backs suggests deeper dive - most probably to retrieve their lunch aka harbour porpoise.

---

Thanks for reading and all the support, Steemit!!

All stories & photographs are of my own work unless noted under the picture in question.

For more stories and photos check out my Instagram feed: https://www.instagram.com/thomas_mitchell2912/