Shots in the Dark

I’ll tell you one animal that I wouldn’t much like to see underwater: a killer whale. Ever seen those videos of them playing with their seals before chowing down? Or killing a whale calf by repeatedly forcing their way between it and its mother, then jumping up and down on the calf until, exhausted, it drowns?

Well, I have. And they’re not pretty.

And, yes, of course I cried at Free Willy. Who didn’t? Proves nothing. The point is, those critters are nasty.

Now the Daily Mail* has some remarkable photos of killer whales hunting sharks.

‘The orca will use its tail to drive the shark to the surface. They don’t even touch it. Using an up-thrust of its tail it creates a vortex which pushes the shark up on the current they create with their movements.

‘Once the shark is at the surface, the killer whale pivots and lifts its tail out of the water and comes down on top of it like a karate chop.’

(Following three words to be read in the tone of voice used by Sean William Scott in Old School, after Will Ferrell has just shot himself in the neck with a tranquilizer gun.)

Yes! That’s awesome!

Kinda makes you feel bad for the shark, doesn’t it?

The other photos, linked to above, are well worth checking out.

* The Mail loses points for referring to the sharks as “killer sharks.” Not hardly.