More Than 30 Orcas Hunt a Fin Whale off San Diego
On Friday, October 23, more than 30 orcas appeared off San Diego, in San Diego County, California, hunting a fin whale, and footage released on October 24 drew wide attention from ocean enthusiasts. According to boats on the scene, this Eastern Tropical Pacific population of orcas usually ranges around Baja California and the Gulf of California and feeds mainly on dolphins, but in a large group it can also take down whales far bigger than itself. The fin whale is the second-largest whale species after the blue whale, and the one hunted this time was a smaller individual. Footage shows the pod driving its prey alongside the 139-foot historic sailing vessel Yacht America, where one orca spyhopped at the rail as if observing the passengers; Captain Domenic Biagini can be heard in the video predicting a spyhop at one o'clock just before it happened. Only six days earlier, another smaller group of the same orcas had killed a larger fin whale off San Diego. Operators said several boats would head out again on Saturday, October 24, to look for the pod and keep observing it.
Source: GSM · USA (original Chinese edition)
Photo: 图：圣迭戈市中心海湾航拍。图片来源：Wikimedia Commons（自由授权）。 / Photo: Aerial view of downtown San Diego and the bay, via Wikimedia Commons (free license).
