Orcas: Apex Predators Or Marine Park Stars?

Short Wave

NPR

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4.7 • 6.5K Ratings

🗓️ 1 March 2022

⏱️ 14 minutes

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Summary

NPR science correspondent Lauren Sommer joins Short Wave host Emily Kwong to talk about a team of researchers who were the first to document a pack of orcas attacking a blue whale. Their work shows that killer whales, while stars in marine parks and movies, are also the ocean's top-- and often vicious-- predators. Humans' complex relationship with them may say more about humans than about the orcas.

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Transcript

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0:00.0	You're listening to Shortwave from NPR.
0:06.1	Picture the top predator in the ocean.
0:09.3	At the tip, be top of the food chain.
0:11.2	What do you see?
0:12.2	A great white shark?
0:13.8	Well, NPR Science correspondent Lauren Summer is here to tell us that's wrong.
0:18.4	Yep, way wrong.
0:20.4	And here's one reason why.
0:22.4	It starts off the coast of Western Australia.
0:26.4	It was a stormy morning a few years ago, and John Tutterde was on a boat with some students.
0:31.4	He's lead researcher for the Citation Research Center in Australia.
0:35.2	They spotted some black and white shapes in the water.
0:38.4	It was a group of killer whales.
0:40.0	Then we saw a lighter, gray, blue animal, much larger.
0:45.7	Then they saw blood in the water.
0:48.6	Within seconds, we realized, oh my god, they're pack of killer whales, they're taking a blue
0:53.1	whale.
0:54.1	The blue whale was around 70 feet.
0:56.9	And this next part might be a little hard to hear just to warn everybody.
1:01.2	The blue whale was still alive, fighting back, but the killer whales, which were only
1:06.4	about a third as big, were making coordinated attacks working together.
1:11.1	There was a good 10, 12 that were active in keeping this animal harassed, wearing it down,
	...

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