Cooperative hunting behavior, prey selectivity and prey handling by pack ice killer whales (Orcinus orca), type B, in Antarctic Peninsula waters
183 citations recorded by the source corpus.
Currently, there are three recognized ecotypes (or species) of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in Antarctic waters, including type B, a putative prey specialist on seals, which we refer to as “pack ice killer whale” (PI killer whale). During January 2009, we spent a total of 75.4 h observing three different groups of PI killer whales hunting off the western Antarctic Peninsula. Observed prey taken included 16 seals and 1 Antarctic minke whale (Balaenoptera bonaerensis). Weddell seals (Leptonychotes weddellii) were taken almost exclusively (14/15 identified seal kills), despite the fact thattheyrepresentedonly15%of365sealsidentifiedonicefloes;thewhalesentirely avoided taking crabeater seals (Lobodon carcinophaga; 82% relative abundance) and leopard seals (Hydrurga leptonyx; 3%). Of the seals killed, the whales took 12/14 (86%) off ice floes using a cooperative wave-washing behavior; they produced 120 waves during 22 separate attacks and successfully took 12/16 (75%) of the Weddell seals attacked. The mean number of waves produced per successful attack was 4.1 (range 1–10) and the mean attack duration was 30.4 min (range 15–62). Seal remains that we examined from one of the kills provided evidence of meticulous postmortem prey processing perhaps best termed “butchering.”
Subfields: Atmospheric Science, Ecology, Oceanography
View Paper: https://www.semanticscholar.org/paper/7f765da325ed59428e4c598e91d7d5ffd32ac9f9
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Citations in the corpus
- Multilevel Societies of Female Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) in the Atlantic and Pacific: Why Are They So Different? (2012, background): “Killer whales are very much creatures of habit, with each set of killer whales having a few species of clearly preferred prey, while other potentially nutritious food is ignored (Ford and Ellis 2006; Ford et al. 1998; Pitman and Durban 2011).”
- Killer whales (Orcinus orca) in the Canadian Arctic: Distribution, prey items, group sizes, and seasonality (2012, background): “Antarctic type “B” killer whales utilize a sophisticated group technique to hunt seals on ice floes in partially ice-covered waters (2–5/10 ice cover) (Visser et al. 2008, Pitman and Durban 2011).”
- Whale killers: Prevalence and ecological implications of killer whale predation on humpback whale calves off Western Australia (2015, methodology): “…body parts, e.g., the tongues, lips, and ventral grooves of baleen whales or just the breast muscles of penguins (Lowry et al. 1987; Flood 2000; Whitehead and Reeves 2005; Pitman and Durban 2010, 2012; Ferguson et al. 2012), and discard the rest of the carcass, leaving more for the scavengers.”