humpback whale fluke

Orca Pod Helps Tangled Humpback Whale

It’s not every day that you see a pod of killer whales help a tangled humpback whale. In most cases, a humpback whale in distress is a meal for a pod of killer whales like orcas. A few lucky onlookers got to witness something amazingly different on the Western Australian coast near Bremer Bay.


Those aboard the Whale Watch Western Australia were able to witness how the orca helped the whale. In the video clip one of the orca comes and circled the humpback. The onlookers thought they were going to witness a massacre.Instead, were ecstatic when they saw that the whale was free from the rope it was dragging.

Instead of attacking the weak humpback whale afterwords, they left it alone. Those on the boat watching the whales believe the orca understood that the humpback was weak and malnourished. They did not want to have a bad meal with little meat. This is also the first time they have seen orca help tangled humpback whale. There have been times when the whales helped humans but never another species.

Another thing that is strange is that the humpback was in Australian waters in January. This time of the year the whale is usually in Antartica. The whale could have been disoriented fighting off the rope it was tangled in or perhaps it was searching for help. One thing we know is that the ocean is vast and we only know a small percentage of it. We don’t know everything that happens in our waters, especially under the surface. Maybe whales helping other species of whales is a regular occurrence, it’s just not recorded or witness on a daily basis.

Another thing to note is that there is a 60-80% chance for a humpback whale to get tangled at least once in its lifetime.


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