Orcas Take Turns Head-Butting Smaller Dolphin in Brutal Video

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Nature can be brutal. Shane Wiese is a diver and photographer formerly based out of southern California. On one trip off the coast of San Clemente, Wiese stumbled across an incredible scene—orcas hunting smaller dolphins. Honestly, it seems like these orcas are playing with their food.

In the video, you see an orca repeatedly leaping out of the water, either throwing a smaller dolphin up out of the water with it or ramming into the small dolphin as it tries to escape. While it could be the same orca leaping multiple times, Wiese infers that there were several orcas in the water around him. Orcas are social animals that live in pods and coordinate their hunting efforts as a group, so it’s likely there are multiple orcas ganging up on this smaller dolphin.

“It was an incredible experience to witness Orcas hunting dolphins,” Wiese wrote in his caption. “I’ve never seen anything like it before in my life!”

In reality, orcas are dolphins (the largest members of the dolphin family), so this is a case of big dolphins vs. little dolphins. Orcas are top predators in the ocean, and they typically hunt marine mammals like seals and sea lions. However, these opportunists might also hunt other dolphins, whales, and even sharks.

Watch orcas head-butting/hunting a smaller dolphin here:

We can’t fault predators for being predators, but oof, this is brutal.

Source: https://outdoors.com/orcas-take-turns-head-butting-smaller-dolphin-in-brutal-video/