In an unusual development, an aggressive Humpback whale called Valiant has been filmed stalking and driving off a nine-strong pod of Orcas.
The incredibly rare occurrence is a reversal of the norm when Orcas will team up to attack and kill young Humpback whales.
The event took place in the Salish Sea off British Columbia and Washington State and took about 20 minutes. Observes saw the whale following the pod and then surfacing in the middle of the pod.
Environmentalist Olivia Esqueda said to CHEK News:
“The humpback whale was kind of trailing up behind them…We all of a sudden saw the next surface with the humpback right in the middle of all the killer whales.”
While the captain of the Prince of Whales whale-watching boat, Mark Malleson, stated:
“It’s apparent when it was a calf, when it was in its first year, it had had a close call. [It has] rake marks, the killer whale rake marks. It would have happened when it was with its mom.”
Apparently, this isn’t the first time Valiant has chased a pod of orcas. He was spotted chasing after a pod of whales in 2019 when he was just two years old. Many observers believe his aggression towards orcas is based on historical encounters. Valiant’s tail has some extreme scaring where he clearly was subjected to a brutal attack by orcas as a calf.
Check out the video here.
