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PICS: Killer whales spectacularly on the hunt for dolphins off Cape coast

Cape Town - The Simon's Town Boat Company spotted a pod of killer whales hunting some dolphins off the False Bay coast in the Mother City on Thursday. 

According to Dave Hurwitz from the Simon's Town Boat Company, the first pod of orca was spotted near Cape Point and then the second was photographed near the center of the Bay. 

He wrote on Facebook saying he experienced "10 hours of spectacular killer whale action".

Hurwitz has been working with scientists for the past few weeks, and the sighting of the animals came as a welcome one to all involved.

He said that they were lucky to have an entire film crew on board when the orca appeared.

He describes orcas as being of the smarter hunters, saying, "their hunting techniques are passed down from the elders in the pod & are prey specific, adaptable and most incredibly, adapted on the fly in real time situations."

In the sequence of images above, their hunting technique can be seen.

Hurwitz says that "in the top two pictures a killer whale approaches and passes a common dolphin, intentionally making itself very visible throughout the mock attack. The dolphin then relieved to see that it wasn’t on the killer whales menu immediately relaxed and slowed down to its normal swimming speed. Unknown to the poor dolphin, the killer whales hunting partner was approaching with intent from behind & under the water. Before the poor dolphin realized it, it was all over!"

You can view a full gallery of pics of the Killer Whales Hunting Dolphin here. 

He wrote the following on the Simon's Town Boat Company's Facebook page, posting some of the spectacular photos and saying, "I had been working offshore with the scientists for the past week in order to try and get a DNA sample from a Southern African killer whale. Today we managed to successfully get four from different animals. 

"For the film crew it was an absolute jackpot! We had two pods totaling about a dozen animals; the sea was calm & fantastic light. The killer whales certainly didn't disappoint either - we had them alongside, under our boat, riding our wake AND hunting dolphins.


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