Sometimes, nature can be brutal. Take this video of a male orca in waters off Victoria, in British Columbia, which was seen punting a harbour seal about 30 metres in the air, as Discovery News reported. Mike Walker of Roll.Focus. Productions captured the stunning footage while shooting a promotional video for East Wing Whale Watching Tours.
The cetacean in question is named T69C. While orcas are known to stun seals by hitting them, flinging them into the air is a rare occurence. "Brett Soberg - owner of Eagle Wing - mentioned to us that it's only the fourth time he's seen an orca do that in about 20 years," Walker told The Huffington Post.
After the orcas hit their prey, they don't often eat them, Cetacean researcher Chris Parsons of George Mason University told Earth Touch News Network. But when they hit Dall's porpoises, another of their prey, "they do it to eviscerate them. They hit them so hard that their entrails pop out, which they leave behind after eating the muscle and blubber," he said.
While orca puntings are rare, they're not unheard of. In August 2014, a killer whale in Ketchikan, Alaska, was seen tossing a sea lion 7 metres into this air, as The Huffington Post reported.
This article was originally published by Business Insider.
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