Killer whale mother and child team up to drown their fellow killer whales

The extremely rare moment when a killer whale and his son both drowned another calf of a neighboring herd was recorded for the first time by a National Geographic film crew.

The killer whale mother's act of slaughtering her young. (Video: National Geographic)

In the video, the female killer whale (Orcinus orca) and her calves begin to play with their calf, a behavior that is quite common when the two pods swim together off the coast of South Africa. However, the game quickly turned violent. The immature male killer whale pushes hard on the calf, then combines with the mother to surround the calf in the middle, and finally pushes it underwater to drown it. The film is part of National Geographic's "Queens" program about the behavior of alpha females in the animal kingdom, Live Science reported on March 19.

The act of killing their young is very rare in killer whales and was not something the film crew hoped to see. "This behavior is so rare that in fact we think this may be the first recorded case of a killer whale killing a calf," said Chloe Sarosh, executive producer of the show. "We didn't plan the recording in advance. It was just a case of the right time and place."

The act of killing young children is very rare in killer whales.

The group filmed the confrontation for several hours, according to Sarosh. A few days later, the carcass of a killer whale matching the size and description of the drowned calf washed ashore 5 miles away.

Because the confrontation took place so suddenly, the film crew contacted several scientists to ask them to decode the behavior and confirm that it was a case of infanticide. While the behavior of the female leader and her son is clear, understanding the reactions of other members of the pod and their roles will require deeper analysis.

"That's why this footage is so important, because it gives scientists the opportunity to identify fins and markings on individual individuals and their role in behavior ," Sarosh said.