Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) Predation on Beaked Whales (Mesoplodon spp.) in the Bremer Sub-Basin, Western Australia

Rebecca Wellard; Keith Lightbody; Leila Fouda; Michelle Blewitt; David Riggs; Christine Erbe

doi:10.1371/journal.pone.0166670

Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) Predation on Beaked Whales (Mesoplodon spp.) in the Bremer Sub-Basin, Western Australia

PLoS One. 2016 Dec 6;11(12):e0166670. doi: 10.1371/journal.pone.0166670. eCollection 2016.

Authors

Rebecca Wellard¹, Keith Lightbody², Leila Fouda¹, Michelle Blewitt³, David Riggs⁴, Christine Erbe¹

Affiliations

¹ Centre for Marine Science & Technology, Curtin University, GPO Box U1987, Perth, WA 6845, Australia.
² Nature Photographer, Winthrop, WA 6150, Australia.
³ Marine Studies Institute, University of Sydney, Sydney, NSW 2006, Australia.
⁴ Riggs Australia Pty Ltd, PO Box 2076, Esperance, WA 6450, Australia.

Abstract

Observations of killer whales (Orcinus orca) feeding on the remains of beaked whales have been previously documented; however, to date, there has been no published account of killer whales actively preying upon beaked whales. This article describes the first field observations of killer whales interacting with, hunting and preying upon beaked whales (Mesoplodon spp.) on four separate occasions during 2014, 2015 and 2016 in the Bremer Sub-Basin, off the south coast of Western Australia.

MeSH terms

Animals
Feeding Behavior
Predatory Behavior*
Western Australia
Whale, Killer / physiology*
Whales

Grants and funding

This research was supported by the Holsworth Wildlife Research Endowment and The Australian Geographic Society. The author who received the funding was RW. The funders had no role in study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript. DR was employed by Riggs Australia Pty Ltd. which provided support in the form of salary for co-author DR, but did not have any additional role in the study design, data collection and analysis, decision to publish, or preparation of the manuscript.