令人敬畏的动物 Awesome Animals

Orcas, or killer whales, are among the most iconic creatures of the sea, revered for their high intelligence, deep emotion, and playful spirits. But don't underestimate what these guys will do to keep themselves fed. Nick said, there's an orca with a white shark in its mouth. And I went, whoa. Now new research delves into the hidden lives of these extraordinary creatures. We think we're seeing killer whale evolution. Seems the ocean's cleverest predators. They breach with it. Are getting even smarter. The world is beautiful, unpredictable, and awe-inspiring. My name is Dave Salmoni. And for the last two decades, I've come face-to-face with untamed nature. Now I'll be your guide to some remarkable creatures, from the largest apex predators to the world's tiniest warriors. In the wild, they all command respect. Welcome to Big, Small, and Deadly. I'm Dave Salmoni. I've spent years tangling with some of the world's fiercest predators, from tigers to bears to sharks. And nothing in the water compares to the so-called wolves of the sea. Their hunting technique rivals that of wild dogs and wolves, some of the most successful hunters on the planet. They don't have razor-sharp teeth or vicious claws. They don't even have a sense of smell. But there is no more creative hunter on the planet than the killer whale. Killer whales aren't really whales at all. They're actually the largest members of the dolphin family and live in groups called pods, with up to 40 individuals living together and hunting together. Killer whales are by far the largest apex predator on the planet today. And there probably hasn't been anything even near their size since dinosaurs roamed the Earth 60 million years ago. There's nothing that even comes close to them. At an average of 12,000 pounds and 25 feet long, they zip through the water at more than 30 miles an hour in search of prey. But it's not just their size that makes them such formidable hunters. Behind this grin is one of the largest brains ever evolved, weighing up to 15 pounds. They're amazingly well-wired for navigating the vast oceans with an incredible capacity for learning. Orcas have figured out how to hunt different prey wherever they go, adapting to new challenges with the kind of logic and innovation you normally don't see in the animal kingdom. Years of studying orcas has revealed how little we actually know about these complex creatures. Marine biologist Ingrid Visser has spent her career trying to understand the mind of the orca. Oh, just right underneath the front of the boat. The moment that they really look at you, and you can see them. You know, the eye swivels in their head, and they're looking right at you. I wonder what it is that they're thinking, because I'm so fascinated in them. Are they fascinated in us? Each March, Ingrid travels to Patagonia, Argentina to revisit one exceptional pod. There's a blow right out there. This is the season when sea lions arrive to have their young. The beach and shallows are supposed to be safe from big predators. This is also the season when Ingrid's pod does something killer whales aren't supposed to do. There's a whole lot of pups in the water. Go hunting on land. Pretty impressive to watch. This rare behavior raises all sorts of questions. How did these orca learn this risky method of attack? Does the whole family join in? Do they all share in the feast? Ingrid patrols the shore in search of answers. And the orcas don't disappoint. Watching the dorsal fins going by, a lot of people describe it almost like sinister. Obviously, you know that there's the suspense of the attack. But I don't find it evil or sinister at all. It's just a predator and a prey, and it's phenomenal to watch what's going on. Further down the beach, the sea lions show no sign of alarm. They think they're perfectly safe on the sand. Little do they know that a killer whale in the shallows is watching them. There's Mel. And devising a plan. Mel is an older male Ingrid's been studying for years. He's easy to recognize. He has just a slight bend to his fin, and he's also got a scallop out of the trailing edge of his fin. And the overall height of it, he's definitely the biggest male in the area. In the wild, orcas can live 80 years or longer. At the ripe age of 50, Mel is in his prime. He's 30 feet long, as big as a school bus. Each year, he returns to this beach to feed on another generation of sea lion pups. Like any youngsters, these pups learn through play. And the shoreline is their schoolyard. Eventually, each young sea lion has to get into the water. Nothing is more vital than learning to swim. Low tide is the perfect time to practice their technique. Protected by the shallow reef, they can be carefree. But when the tide comes in, so do the orcas. Having never known danger, the unsuspecting pups play on. Mel's heading out over the reef at the moment. It's almost as if he's checking to see if the water's deep enough to hunt over there. He's meticulous in his approach, taking a few practice runs, testing the angle and firmness of the beach. If you're an orca and you're coming up onto the beach to take a pup, there's a number of things that they must have to consider. One, of course, is that they don't want to get stuck on the beach, because they can die from that. Finally, confident in his planning, he begins his ambush for real. You can just see Mel's fin now. The mother seal, she's just seen them. If you were an orca, you've got a very, very small window of opportunity, because you have to line the pup up. You've got to have enough water. And then the moment comes that they say, right, I'm going for it. There he goes. He's in for the attack. Again and again, he strikes with incredible power. Mel targets only the defenseless pups. And they're very picky about how they kill things. They don't just rush in and bite and rip things apart. There's a chance that something will turn around and take out an eye. And if you're going to live to be 60 or 80 years old, losing an eye is a big thing. So they're very careful. Mel's sneak attacks succeed only because of his cunning and explosive speed. In the blink of an eye, he surges 45 feet onto the shore, leaving the seals absolutely bewildered. When they see the fin coming through the water towards them, they just don't understand. And sometimes they'll just sit there and watch this big orca coming right into them. And then just at the last minute, realize and you can just see the fear on their faces. This time, the terror is short-lived. And that is Mel. Catching a meal is the hard part. What comes next is strange pod behavior that still has scientists scratching their heads. Welcome back to Big, Small, and Deadly. I'm your host, Dave Salmoni. It's the plight of the predator. Kill or die. A tall order for a giant carnivore that requires 150 pounds of meat per day just to survive. Killer whales are one of the only members of the porpoise family that hunts other mammals, which requires speed and cunning. In Patagonia, Argentina, there is an orca pod that's developed an extraordinary technique for hunting on land. And no one does it in more dramatic fashion than a giant male called Mel. That ultimate moment when they grab the pup, it's almost an adrenaline rush while you're watching. You sort of want the pup to get away, but then you also want the orca to have its lunch. His meal in tow, Mel has to get off the beach immediately, which poses a serious challenge for a six-ton creature that doesn't have legs. Maneuvering all that heft on the sand is a feat in and of itself. A lot of people think that it's very easy for the animals that they can just back up, but they don't have a reverse. So they've got to actually sort of wiggle themselves around. And you see them thrashing their heads up and down with or without a pup in their mouths. They have to be very careful as well because of the waves pushing them on their sides. And if they do it wrong, they can get stuck on the beach and then they die. Mel takes the risk, but not just for himself. The rest of his pod is waiting just offshore. Like humans, orcas have strong family bonds, which last a lifetime. In many pods, sons and daughters stay with their mother for the rest of her life. You're traveling with your mother and your brothers and sisters, and it's like human beings. You tend to look out for your family members more. So when they kill something cooperatively, they divide it up cooperatively. A seal pup isn't much of a meal to a full-grown orca, which is why Mel has to go back and forth repeatedly. This time, Mel's catch goes to his closest companion, a female named Sol, believed to be his younger sister. She's usually further offshore. We've never seen her come up onto the beach, but if Mel misses a pup and the pup gets scared into the water, Sol will come in and grab it from the water and then her and Mel will food share the pup. There it is. The pup's at the surface now. It's still alive. Scientists can only guess why orcas seem to play with their food. Baby Mel is teaching Sol to sharpen her own hunting skills. Their visit to the beach has been a wake-up call to the local sea lions. You see the mother and she'll be calling out for the pup and she'll go and wander up and down the beach, sometimes for hours on end. Just calling out for her pup. And it's really heart-wrenching, but you've got to understand that this is the natural world happening and the orca have to eat as well. Today's raid has brought a special bonus for Ingrid. High-speed video shot at 500 frames per second gives Ingrid a chance to study her star player in action. You can see Mel coming and he's coming in for this pup here. It's hard to tell with all that white water if he's got it or not. No, it looks like the pup's got away. Mel swings over and he managed to grab the other pup. That's incredible. Doesn't matter how many times you see it, but to see it like this in slow motion puts a whole different perspective on it. Watching Mel attack may explain how he got the wounds on the side of his face. We think it's got something to do with the way he comes up onto the beach. He's got really big pectoral fins, which are the ones on the side. And when he's on the beach, he uses those to help himself lever off the beach. And you can see the whole shoulder blade just sort of bending in here. That's that dark patch in the shadowy area. And these muscles are linked up to the edge of the jaw. Now, if he's got a pup in his mouth, the teeth, which would normally fit together like a zipper, are now open. And then that flexing is allowing the teeth to misalign. And then they're causing infections in the jaw. And then we get that as open wounds. The wounds are a small price to pay for a prized meal. And while the night lasts, Mel will have a chance to heal and rest. Dawn brings the promise of another onslaught. For the 17 orcas in Mel's pod, it's a season for feasting and learning. Mel seems to teach the younger whales his technique. Two adolescent females, Marga and Valen, are Mel's protégées. But they've added their own twist to his technique, hunting as a team. Marga usually comes in first. And she's got a very dramatic way of hunting. She's right up on the beach. And then Valen sort of almost comes in from behind in a coordinated attack, and then picks up any pups that get scattered. Their teamwork is spectacular, but not foolproof. One lucky pup has learned the waves have teeth. The orcas' ability to innovate and pass on acquired knowledge has helped them thrive all over the globe. It doesn't matter where you go in the world, orca hunt differently. If you have different types of food that you eat, then you need to have different strategies on how you hunt. So yeah, you've got to be a smart predator to be an orca. And the more researchers study orca hunting strategies around the world, the more surprises they uncover. Like the battle playing out off the coast of South Africa, where killer whales are trying to outwit a species just as fast and intelligent as they are. This is Big, Small, and Deadly. I'm your host, Dave Salmoni. Other than humans, orcas are the most widespread mammals on the planet. They live in every ocean. They can survive in tropical water or ice-cooled seas. Many pods live off fish or seals. Others have also been known to prey on sea turtles, birds, whales, even moose swimming between islands in Alaska. But when hunter and hunted match wits, it's a whole other ballgame. Port Elizabeth, South Africa, just offshore, is one of the richest ocean realms in the world. Rumor has it, orcas rule these waters too. But no one knows why they're here or what they're after. Naturalist Rainer Schimpf has a theory, and he's about to test it. We're covering an area of thousands of square kilometers. It's a needle in the haystack to find the orcas. But if you don't try, you will never succeed. To find the killers, he must first find their prey, or what he thinks they're eating, their very own family members, dolphins. Since orcas are really giant dolphins themselves, it may seem shocking that they would hunt their smaller cousins. And it can't be easy. Dolphins share the orcas' high intelligence and blazing speed. Still, local fishermen swear they've witnessed killer whales dining on dolphins. And Rainer is eager to see it for himself. It's no mystery why dolphins have come here. Every winter, cold, nutrient-laden currents from Antarctica fuel a massive plankton bloom. Then, out of the great blue, countless sardines arrive to feed on the plankton in massive schools, which can cover four square miles, slowly migrating up the coast. Rainer follows the gannets' cries and finds the action. Driven to the surface by frenzied hunters below, the sardines form a giant bait ball, which attracts even larger predators. It's so enormous and intense that the water is boiling around the boat when you get to the actual sardine run. The birds are falling down onto the water and splashing all over. And it's so active, and it's so an amazing and extraordinary experience to be there and to witness that. Before long, the feeding frenzy lures in the one predator Rainer is waiting for. Common dolphins track the sardine run in huge superpods. We're talking about 1,000 dolphins here. And they chase the fish up and down the coast almost all time of the year, but particularly during the sardine run. If Rainer is right, these hunters are now the bait for orcas. Orcas are specifically coming here to hunt for common dolphins. Nowhere else in the world is it known to happen. Dolphins are more agile than orcas. It's hard to believe they can't elude their bigger cousins. A new day, and still no orcas in sight. Suddenly, there's news. Can you give me the GPS position of your sighting, please? A report from one of the fishermen in Rainer's network. Roger that. He spotted something big in the water. 11 o'clock. It's not orcas, it's dolphins. But something isn't right. Here we've come upon a group of common dolphins. They've probably been separated from a much bigger group. And they seem to be kind of exhausted because they swim very slowly. What chased these dolphins so far from their giant pod? Look at that in the distance. It looks like a very big fin. Indeed, it's an orca. Look at that, amazing. So we've got five orcas. And they're on a mission. Look at this dolphin in the front there. They seem to be hunting them. As the dolphin tries to get away, an orca comes up from below. They breach with it. I've never seen that before. This is no longer a battle of brains. It's a test of endurance. They dump the one dolphin down again and again to take his breath. Oh, yeah, it's badly hurt. The orca's strategy here isn't complicated. The family works together to simply wear the victim down. Their assault is relentless. This is extraordinary. This is really rare to see this. And another breach. The ultimate predator wins again. The orcas couldn't win this battle with speed and intelligence alone. It took a carefully synchronized plan. So how do orcas coordinate their hunting strategies? Turns out, they're talking all the time. Welcome back to Big, Small, and Deadly. I'm your host, Dave Salmoni. Most people know killer whales from their favorite TV shows and feature films. But it's in the wild where we get to see the real brilliance of this predator, their clever minds, their well-honed hunting skills. And just when we think we know what this animal's capable of, they go and surprise us again. Like humans, killer whales thrive around the world by adapting their skills to a specific environment. We share many of their vital traits, intelligence, sociability, and especially communication. Eavesdropping on orcas in the Pacific Northwest, environmental scientist Scott Beers is learning just how talkative killer whales can be. There goes hydrophone number four. Unspooling an array of underwater microphones, Scott can hear orcas up to 10 miles away. Killer whales are very chatty. And whether they're just one pod by themselves, talking amongst themselves, or many pods, they are very social. And they seem to talk a lot about each other. Like humans, orcas don't all speak the same language. Each pod uses a different set of sounds, a different set of calls. So they're in what's called an acoustic clan. They all have a culture that's an acoustic culture. And pods that live in different regions have different accents. It's really quite amazing that you can pick up these differences. If you listen to the sounds of different populations of orca, you can hear distinct calls. So for instance, the New Zealand orca have a Kiwi twang to them, just like I do. And they've got a real wang to their call. And if you listen to the British Columbia orca, they've got these long, fluid calls. And you listen to Antarctic orca, it's almost as if they're on helium, and it's all wang, wang, wang, wang, wang. The orcas may look alike, but who they are and where they've come from is so distinct. It's as if they do have a language and a culture. Their behaviors and their language, they're often quite specific to the prey they're after. Perhaps the most amazing example of orca communication comes from one of the harshest places on earth, Antarctica. All of the species crowded onto the shores of this frozen continent have evolved elaborate survival strategies, including tactics to avoid being eaten by orcas. To overcome these defenses, orcas have to come up with a clever strategy and communicate seamlessly. For some killer whales, seals are a favorite meal, but this one doesn't seem concerned, thinking it's well out of reach on a big, solid ice flow. Orcas search for prey using a behavior called spy hopping. When one locates a potential meal, it tells the rest of the group. What happens next shows just how intelligent and collaborative orcas really are. Ingrid was one of the first people to film this rare behavior. These orca were so clever about how they went with this coordinated attack. You could see that they'd done this before. At first, they seemed to swim away, but then on cue, they turned back in unison. One holding position in the middle and two on each side coming at full speed. And at exactly the same moment, they dove underneath the iceberg. It was mind-blowing to watch. The orcas assessed the problem, worked out a plan, and executed it perfectly. A full-size seal is one thing, but there's evidence that orcas today may be taking on an even bigger challenge. Is it possible the most notorious of all ocean predators is on their menu? Welcome back to Big, Small, and Deadly. I'm your host, Dave Salmoni. In 2017, a horrifying mystery gripped South Africa as the shredded carcasses of great white sharks started washing ashore, one of them a hulking 16 feet. Overnight, this once shark hotspot turned into a ghost town. Either something was scaring off all the great white sharks or something had killed them all. Only one suspect could turn this deadly apex predator into prey, the orca. Great whites are some of the most finely-tuned killing machines on the planet. The white shark's been an apex predator in the oceans of the world for longer than trees have been in existence. So, you know, there's a lot of time there for evolution to perfect the innate skills of a shark. Like the orca, the great white has few natural predators. So what would happen if the killer fish and the giant mammal went head-to-head? Just like South Africa, the Farallon Islands near San Francisco are prime shark territory. Biologist Peter Pyle has been studying great white shark behavior for 10 years. Though the waters here are packed with prey, orcas always seem to steer clear. It always puzzled us why they never came close to the Farallons, because there are so many seals and sea lions to eat. And I think one of the reasons might be that the white sharks were here. And so it almost seemed like the white sharks and the orca had their territories, their turf. That's the way it seemed to be up until this event occurred. On that day, deep-sea tour guide Mick Manegaz was following his usual route. We saw a splash and then nothing. And then a minute or two after that, the orca came up next to the boat holding this white shark in its mouth, showing it off to us. It was like a cat with a mouse, just showing off, look what I got. Mick said, you better get out here. There's an orca with a white shark in its mouth. And I went, whoa. What Peter observed was a clever strategy for outmaneuvering very dangerous prey. The orca knew exactly what they were doing, how to grab it, how to flip it upside down. They knew that that would immobilize the shark and they knew that if they held it for that length of time, that the shark would drown. Flipping a shark upside down induces a state called tonic immobility, leaving the shark stunned and unable to move. Ultimately, the killer fish is no match for the ingenuity of the giant mammal. And once the orca has developed a new skill, that knowledge gets passed around the entire pod. Considerably smaller and outnumbered, the shark's only hope is to flee. Orcas have evolved as the ultimate predators. They're fast and strong. They live and learn in families. They communicate and coordinate, outsmarting their prey in a whole host of creative ways. Like humans, they adapt to a changing world and pass their knowledge onto the next generation as a part of a constantly evolving culture unique to each pod. Ultimately, these different cultures mean that the killer whales that practice them are moving off in different direction. And this is a process whereby different species are formed. And we think we're seeing killer whale evolution. Scientists have already identified several distinct subspecies of orca. And as pods continue down their individual paths, more subspecies may eventually evolve. In one corner of the globe, this evolution seems to be happening in plain sight. This is Kaipara Harbour in New Zealand, Ingrid Visser's home waters. The resident pod seems to know Ingrid almost as well as she knows them. His name is Bean. What makes this pod truly unique is what they hunt and how they do it. Suddenly set up. Chasing something. Yeah. These orcas have a taste for a dangerous animal, one that puts their hunting skills to the test. Spike. And he's in water so shallow that he can't survive. They're hunting for stingrays on the shallow sand banks. It's something no other orcas do anywhere else in the world. Stingrays grow eight feet across and wield a deadly weapon. Halfway down that whip-like tail is a poisonous barb, dangerous even to an adult orca. Kill a whale, they lose an eye or possibly even die from a well-placed finger. They have to be careful about what they do. So why risk it all for such a small meal? Why? I don't know. You know, maybe they just taste good. I guess you could say it's a bit like orca chocolate. They just absolutely love these rays. And so they've come up with several creative tactics for hunting them down. In a muddy bottom, they might try and pin it down to the bottom. And then another orca will come in and grab it. If it's in a sandy bottom, they might roll underneath it and blow some bubbles and you'll see all these bubbles coming up and the ray will take off. But how do orcas avoid that deadly barb? To find out, Ingrid wants to take a closer look. And that means getting into the water with these consummate hunters. Welcome back to Big, Small and Deadly. The world's most successful predators are constantly weighing risk versus reward. The orca's superior intelligence allows them to push the boundaries further than most predators would dare. But it's the lowly stingray that is the most surprisingly dangerous prey of them all. There's been at least one case of an orca washing ashore with a deadly barb in his throat. So technique is critical. And Dr. Ingrid Visser is determined to get a closer look. Orcas kill and eat great whites. They'll even dine on their own dolphin cousins. So how will this hunting party react when Ingrid, a defenseless and good-sized meal, drops into the water? I'm very aware that they're a top predator. I've seen them hunting dolphins. I've seen them hunting whales. I've seen them hunting sharks. They can come from below, and if you dive down, they can come from above you, from the left, from behind. And so you've got this feeling that they could be anywhere. It's amazing. The orcas are hungry, but their interest in Ingrid isn't at all predatory. They'll come up and they'll open their mouths at you, but it's very clearly not a lunge at you. And you just don't feel any aggression about it. I don't know whether it's because I'm not on the menu. You know, there's no records of humans being eaten by killer whales. Orcas are taught by their families to hunt specific prey. So if you're not on their list, chances are you won't end up in their stomachs. Stingrays, however, are definitely on this pod's menu. And Ingrid is down here to answer a question. How do orcas snatch up the rays without falling victim to those dangerous barbs? To Ingrid's surprise, the orca doesn't avoid the tail. Instead, it goes straight for the tip. The orca almost seem to like these tails as if they're handles. And they'll very carefully pick up the ray by the end of the tail and lift it up. And then another orca will come in and bite the head. And sometimes they'll take the ray and they'll flick it upside down. And the ray will just go limp and lie there. And you'll see the orca carrying the rays around on their faces and pushing them around until another orca can come up and bite them. Look at this ray. This is the remains of an eagle ray. And you can actually see the teeth marks from the orca. They've had their teeth jammed right in here. And they've just ripped one of the wings completely off. So the whole body would have been in here and the head would have been here. So all the way across, it was pretty big. When they've eaten their fill, the orcas relax and play, a pastime common to all intelligent animals. They'll just sit there and they'll wait for the waves. They'll ride over them. I think they're just doing it because it's fun. And they're scratching their bellies on the sand and they're playing and they're tail lobbing. It's almost as if when they're in the waves, as if they're just doing this high five to each other and woohoo, you know, great day out there, guys. It's wonderful to look at a creature so foreign to us and recognize so much that we share. The joy of play, the strength of family, the spark of intelligence. Yet it's these same qualities that empower the orcas deadly side. A ruthlessly efficient, endlessly adaptable ultimate killer.