On The Hunt

The T37A's on the hunt

One of the most interesting thing about watching Bigg's Killer Whales is the fact that they are THE apex predator of the sea - top of the food chain. We often watch them hunt for hours and hours, with varying success. One of the most common questions we hear on the boats is "What percentage of their attempts are actually successful?" After all, 90% of their day is devoted to scouting and foraging for prey. Turns out, the success rate is about 30% - 50% of the time! When you factor in how much meat a single orca has to eat per day (up to 300 lbs, or 136 kg), that's a lot of attempts! There's still nothing quite like observing this apex predator on the hunt - successful or not.

Photos by Liberty