I don’t think it would be a stretch to say that this seal got pretty lucky.
In the video, the seal has beached itself up on the shore to escape two killer whales, who appear to be living up to their name based on this wildlife encounter.
Whether or not the seal had narrowly avoided a gruesome death by some sort of high speed aquatic chase in unclear, but it does look like the seal outsmarted the whales that pursued it.
Killer whales, also called Orcas, are known to eat all kinds of marine wildlife. Their diet depends on where they are located, with most of them eating various types of fish while others snack on sharks, stingrays, seals, and even other whales.
It is hard to tell from the video, but it look like the mammal seeking shelter and safety on the shore is an elephant seal. Based on the sheer size comparative to the two whales, it is very likely that this seal is a part of a group that makes up the largest seals in the world.
In the video, the two whales are swimming side by side when they seem to have been stumped by the land laying seal. It is completely normal for the two whales to be together, as they often time hunt and survive in coordinated packs.
However, it doesn’t look like this hunt was very “coordinated” considering that the seal outsmarted the two killer whales. Plus, can you even call them “Killer” whales if they don’t actually kill what they are after?
These two look like a couple of “Loser Whales” to me.
The whales give the old “western movie stare down” to the seal before turning and swimming away to their next adventure. I don’t speak whale, but I think they said something to the effect of “we’ll be back” to the seal.
I also don’t speak seal, but I would imagine a little laughter or even a “better luck next time” was probably communicated to the pair of whales.
Watch the footage (courtesy of Scary Underwater on Twitter) below:
