Humpback calf survives Orca attack as we met a little one today carrying fresh scars from a battle that it was successful in escaping while the midday tour observed many boisterous bachelor males. The calf had miraculously escaped the jaws of the Orca, likely an attack having taken place in the waters off Exmouth no more than a week or less ago. The mother whale was travelling with a male escort and we wondered if he had been with them at the time of the attack as often these escort males will help the females protect and defend their calves. It had been a very close one though as Orca teeth rake marks could be seen on the flukes and dorsal fin, thankfully this little male calf survived the attack. It certainly hasn’t diminished his confidence, perhaps increased it as today he marched through the sighting grounds collecting little bits of seaweed as he swam past eyeballing everyone onboard.
The mother whale certainly will have her pectoral fins full raising this fearless youngster and it always makes us smile to see the incredible resilience of these remarkable whales. The fin wounds will heal fine and there didn’t appear to be any damage to his jaw, spine or pectoral fins thankfully. Our midday tour observed many pods moving through the sighting grounds and plenty of reactive surface language. Seeing so many other whales in the area it was clear the other pods were doing their best to maintain a good reactionary distance from one another. One female launched into powerful tail lobs and inverted tail slapping to clear the area around her while another pod tried to encourage attention their way with a few breaches and pec slapping. Further pods converged and as they did the local Bottlenose Dolphins came charging over to say hello with much excitement. Two bachelor pods merged together and formed a pod of five big, boisterous males who spent some time showing off to each other and trumpeting which is always wonderful to hear. A special and busy day out with the Humpback Whale migration and fantastic to see these whales looking in good health and high spirits.
