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

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 inter...

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Bibliographic Details
Published in:	PloS one Vol. 11; no. 12; p. e0166670
Main Authors:	Wellard, Rebecca, Lightbody, Keith, Fouda, Leila, Blewitt, Michelle, Riggs, David, Erbe, Christine
Format:	Journal Article
Language:	English
Published:	United States Public Library of Science 01-12-2016 Public Library of Science (PLoS)
Subjects:	Animal behavior Animals Aquatic mammals Biology and Life Sciences Cetacea Delphinidae Dolphins Earth Sciences Ecology Ecology and Environmental Sciences Ecotourism Feeding Behavior Fish Hunting Marine mammals Medicine and Health Sciences Megaptera Mesoplodon Offshore Oncorhynchus tshawytscha Orcinus orca Physeter Population Predation Predatory Behavior Pseudorca crassidens Science Thunnus thynnus Western Australia Whale, Killer - physiology Whales British Columbia Canada Canada Australia Western Australia Australia Japan
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Summary:	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.
Bibliography:	ObjectType-Article-1 SourceType-Scholarly Journals-1 ObjectType-Feature-2 content type line 23 Conceptualization: RW CE. Funding acquisition: RW. Investigation: RW KL. Methodology: RW. Project administration: RW CE. Resources: DR KL. Visualization: RW KL. Writing – original draft: RW CE LF MB. Writing – review & editing: RW CE LF MB KL DR. Competing Interests: DR is employed by Riggs Australia Pty Ltd. There are no patents, products in development or marketed products to declare. This does not alter our adherence to all the PLOS ONE policies on sharing data and materials.
ISSN:	1932-6203 1932-6203
DOI:	10.1371/journal.pone.0166670