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Watch a Pod of Whales Hunt Down a Shark
| By Lauren Boudreau
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In an incredible, rare stroke of luck, a drone caught footage of a pod of four false killer whales hunting down a juvenile shark.
The footage was caught by Bruno Kataoka when he was operating his drone off the coast of Cronulla in Australia. It shows the shark straining to outrun the whales as they approach closer and closer. For a moment it looks as if the shark might be quicker, but then one of the whales cuts him off as they’re turning and dives down. The whale resurfaces with the shark in its clutches.
Kataoka told 7 News it was amazing to witness such an event.
“National Geographic guys [would be] waiting months to get such a thing, and we just happened to be there at the right moment, at the right time,” he said.
Rare scenes captured off Cronulla show sharks being hunted by whales. @AdeneCassidy7 #7News https://t.co/wv7z7BWglR
— 7 News Sydney (@7NewsSydney) May 10, 2016
Marine biologist Georgina Wood was equally as impressed saying, “That kind of footage is just so rare to catch.”
They don’t usually see false killer whales, especially during the winter months.
“We generally see a lot of action from humpbacks here in Sydney, especially during these winter months, and they can get up to around 14 to 15 meters (45 to 49 feet) long,” she said. The whales in the footage were much smaller, she pointed out.
Adult false killer whales only reach to about 16 feet.
Nothing was said on why the whales went after the shark, but they are known to eat fish and squid, and sometimes attack other marine mammals.
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