shari
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Posts: 13048
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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orca attacks on gray whales...new data
I just read a really fascinating article on Orca attacks on gray whales...of course we all know that Killer Whales love eating baby gray whales but
what I didnt know is that after drowning them, they take the carcasses to a secret place to store them for future meals.
Near Asuncion is a valley where there are many petrified whale bones and I often wonder why there are so many whale skeletons in one spot....this may
be why. I had heard it was possibly a kill zone but it makes more sense now reading this article that is was where the whales were brought to be
devoured by big sharks like megaladons.
Very interesting article.
https://mail.google.com/mail/?ui=2&view=bsp&ver=ohhl...
The team of scientists from Alaska, Washington and British Columbia also watched killer whales actually transporting their dead prey for miles along
the shore -- apparently with the goal of storing tons of blubber and muscle in shallow water so they could return later and continue to feast. The
predators gathered at dozens of carcass sites, revealed at the surface by oil slicks and a ripe smell.
It was the first time any whales have been documented caching food, a behavior common among terrestrial predators as dissimilar as bears or
alligators, but reported only once before for a species of marine mammals, Antarctica's Weddell seals.
The annual gathering of killer whales to ambush gray whales traveling along the Pacific Rim sends ripples through the local ecosystem -- forcing gray
whales to hug the coast, concentrating birds and scavengers, attracting enormous sleeper sharks from the abyss and drawing brown bears to beaches when
hunks of reeking flesh wash up high and dry.
It shows, the scientists said, how the ocean's top predator might play a "central role" in the structure of the North Pacific's marine community.
These "killer whales have developed a unique set of culturally transmitted social and foraging behaviors that appear to be shaped by the behavior and
distribution of their marine mammal prey," the scientists wrote.
"The carcass-storing behavior described here relies on shallow depths around Unimak Island and provides a way for killer whales to utilize a greater
proportion of prey carcasses than they would in a single feeding bout, increasing the benefit of preying on large and potentially dangerous species."
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shari
Select Nomad
Posts: 13048
Registered: 3-10-2006
Location: bahia asuncion, baja sur
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Mood: there is no reality except the one contained within us "Herman Hesse"
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yesterday was a big whale day...spouts everywhere and it seems like we reached the turnaround point with many whales now heading north again...still
some southbounds too. The whales were happy with calmer seas and I saw several breaches.
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vgabndo
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Location: Mt. Shasta, CA
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Mood: Checking-off my bucket list.
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To think that this eye may have seen the result of her not being able to defend her baby from the Killer Whales, and it rises up out of the depths and
stares at me with the apparent intention of interacting peacefully with me.
I'm glad I'm not her enemy.
Undoubtedly, there are people who cannot afford to give the anchor of sanity even the slightest tug. Sam Harris
"The situation is far too dire for pessimism."
Bill Kauth
Carl Sagan said, "We are a way for the cosmos to know itself."
PEACE, LOVE AND FISH TACOS
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Skipjack Joe
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Registered: 7-12-2004
Location: Bahia Asuncion
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| Quote: | Originally posted by shari
I just read a really fascinating article on Orca attacks on gray whales...of course we all know that Killer Whales love eating baby gray whales but
what I didnt know is that after drowning them, they take the carcasses to a secret place to store them for future meals.
Near Asuncion is a valley where there are many petrified whale bones and I often wonder why there are so many whale skeletons in one spot....this may
be why.
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Good reasoning.
That sounds plausible to me.
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Cypress
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Posts: 7641
Registered: 3-12-2006
Location: on the bayou
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Mood: undecided
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shari, Thanks for sharing the info.
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jahImpala3
Junior Nomad
Posts: 80
Registered: 12-6-2007
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Very interesting, thank you
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