Coordinated Orcas Isolate Dolphins When Hunting

Continue reading for our analysis...

Animals are much smarter than we give them credit for. They don’t just merely catch food as it floats by. However, many animals in the wild can be opportunistic hunters. However, many animals, such as orcas, otherwise commonly known as killer whales, know how to hunt successfully. The orcas in the video above, use their skills as a group to effectively hunt these dolphins. 

Orca Pod Hunting For Food

The short YouTube video clip shown at the top of the blog post is an educational documentary of an orca pod. This footage was filmed by the Nature PBS YouTube page. The channel is a dedicated educational platform that focuses on wildlife in the wild. Some of their latest videos are of voles, birds, insects, and gorillas. 

Dolphins Swimming For Their Life

As the video above starts, we see an array of orcas that are mid-hunt. They have their sights set on a pod of dolphins just up ahead. The narrator starts out by sharing that dolphins are hunters of fish. According to SeaWorld, “Dolphins also feed on individual, nonschooling fishes. A bottlenose dolphin may use its tail flukes to flip a fish out of the water and then retrieve the stunned prey.”

And just as dolphins work together to hunt fish, these orcas are now hunting dolphins, which is a common prey they hunt according to American Oceans. The narrator continues by saying that orcas will coordinate to cut a single dolphin off from the pod. While orcas are indeed larger than dolphins, they know they are no match to take on a whole dolphin pod. 

Once separated from the pod, they do what’s called “tag-teaming.” Which means they chase it down until it is exhausted. Then, they will each take their turns to ram the dolphin, which, in essence, ends up killing it. 

Are Orcas And Dolphins Related?

The orca, killer whale (Orcinus orca), and dolphin (Delphinus) are both of the Delphinidae family. So, yes they are related. There are estimated to be over 30 species in the dolphin family. And of these species, the orca is by far the largest member!

Orcas weigh anywhere from 6,000 to 15,000 pounds and can reach anywhere from 23-32 feet in length. For comparison, this would be the length of a large U-Haul truck! 

Although dolphins may look big to us when we see them at the zoo or out on the water, they are only 220-660 pounds and 13 feet long. Which, in comparison to the orca, is quite small. And as we can see from the video above, this gives the orcas the perfect advantage to hunt them down successfully.