20-Foot Male Killer Whale Shows Off Hunting Tactic by Catching 6.5-Foot Sea Lion [Photos]

A photographer witnessed a rare hunting encounter between a killer whale and a sea lion. The incident happened on the Valdes Peninsula of Argentina.

Killer Whales Vs. Sea Lion

Emyr, a 20-foot male orca, was caught swimming to the shore to capture a 6.5-foot sea lion. The encounter was an impressive demonstration of hunting tactics used by apex predators, Newsweek reported.

Vanessa Prigollini, the photographer who witnessed the incident, captured some shots and shared them on Instagram. She told Newsweek she had mixed emotions while watching the killer whale go after the sea lion.

Prigollini said she felt awed, astonished, stunned, delighted, happy, apprehensive, and grateful for the opportunity to observe such a rare and difficult-to-see event in nature. She understands that part of her wants the sea lion to flee, but a different part recognizes that orcas are the ocean's top predators, which is how nature works.

In many locations, it is uncommon to witness orcas swimming close to the coast, but according to Prigollini, it frequently happens on the Valdes Peninsula.

She claimed that some orcas in Argentina had evolved this method of hunting. She observed a group of five orcas approaching the sea lion colony and pausing to see the pups as they entered the ocean.

Prigollini observed the orcas and examined their behavior for eight to nine hours on the beach. According to her, she had wanted to witness this population of orcas in Argentina hunting sea lions for a long time.

It was a matter of being in the right place at the right time, so she considered herself quite fortunate to see it. She waited for this for several days and hours in various challenging weather situations. She added that when it comes to nature, patience is a virtue.

Prigollini uses photography to educate people about powerful predators like killer whales or orcas' culture and traditions. She added that she wanted the people to understand that orcas belong to the wild and not in aquariums.

She wants to demonstrate how inappropriate and unethical it is to have the ocean's top predator play dumb tricks on spectators in a marine park by demonstrating behaviors like the one in the picture. Prigollini stressed that the killer whales' conduct in the wild has NOTHING to do with their behavior in captivity.

How Smart Are Orcas?

In a previous report from Science Times, two orcas went on a shark-killing spree earlier this year. The duo - Port and Starboard - massacred 17 sharks in 24 hours in South Africa in February.

The pair feasted on the liver of the whale sharks because it is abundant in squalene. The killer whales extracted the livers with surgical precision.

Port and Starboard worked together by pushing sharks toward the surface before flipping their belly and biting into their stomach to extract the oil-rich liver, leaving the other organs intact.

While many died at the hands of Port and Starboard, an 11-foot great white shark survived the gruesome attack. However, it had a huge scar across its body, which appeared like tooth rake marks from an orca.

Check out more news and information on Sharks in Science Times.