In unprecedented footage, orcas have been filmed ramming one of the world\u2019s heaviest fish so hard that it explodes. It\u2019s thought that the bizarre behaviour could be a type of feeding strategy – or alternatively, maybe orcas just like blowing things up.<\/p>\n
Under the heat of the midday sun, a pod of\u00a0orcas\u00a0loitered in the sun-drenched waters off the coast of Baja California Sur, Mexico. Then researchers witnessed something incredible.<\/p>\n
The pod had recently killed an enormous sharp-tail sunfish. Now an adult female held the carcass in her mouth by its tail fin. Without warning, an adult male accelerated towards the scene, belly-up, and as the female released the fish, the male torpedoed into it. The sunfish exploded into smithereens.<\/p>\n
The behaviour, reported in\u00a0Frontiers in Ethology<\/em>, had never been witnessed before, but less than a year later, it was seen again.\u00a0\u00a0A second, identical event was recorded around 100 miles away, in the Gulf of California.<\/p>\n Researchers aren\u2019t sure what to make of it. Orcas are smart, social apex predators. They hunt in coordinated family groups called pods, where they use a variety of techniques to bring down their prey. This can include strategic drowning, deliberate beaching and wave-washing, where pods create waves to knock seals off ice floes.<\/p>\n