Photo: Contributed
A video footage shows the five-year-old humpback BCX1773 Valiant in the middle of a large group of Bigg killer whales (T34, T37 and T65B). Credit Pacific Whale Watch Association
A daring hunchback, aptly known as Valiant, escaped what could be a violent attack by a group of nine transitional killer whales in the Salish Sea, using his own form of aggressive behavior.
The dramatic scene takes place on Tuesday afternoon for about 20 minutes in the South Strait of Georgia, directly in the lane of the ship BC Ferries, departing from Tsawwassen.
Whale-watching ships called, including a boat from Victoria’s Prince of Whales, and the ferry changed course.
The five-year-old Valiant, whose gender has not yet been determined, was seen by whale watchers, surrounded and harassed by nine Big Killer Whales in two hunting families, said Erin Glass of the Pacific Whale Watch Association.
But the back was able to repel the pods by rolling and trumpeting each time it emerged, “humpback whale aggression behavior,” according to a naturalist aboard one of the two boats on the scene.
This is not Valiant’s first documented encounter with Big’s killer whales. At the age of two, on July 11, 2019, Valiant was seen “chasing” a group of big killer whales in the Juan de Fuca Strait while the killer whales left the area.
On June 26 last year, Victoria-based Eagle Wing Tours watched the Big T125A killer whale, a large male, push Valiant while some younger killer whales tried to climb to the top of the whale, but Valiant turned sharply and went on the offensive, chasing group off.
Glass said Valiant’s “extreme scars” suggest that the whale may have survived a brutal killer whale attack in just a few months.
“Did this initial meeting shape the way Valiant interacts with killer whales today?” The message is pretty clear – don’t mess with Valiant, “Glass said.
Transitional killer whales – the largest species in the dolphin family – eat seals and sea lions and will hunt and eat younger whale calves, Glass said.
Scientists have shown in studies on both coasts of North America that killer whales are also known to harass adult backs – and even quickly grab a piece of meat from them.
Killer whales seem to have the advantage of excellent speed and teeth. Humpbacks, who are balit whales, have no teeth. Instead, they use balin – a series of fringed plates – to filter krill and other food from the water.
But backs aren’t repulsive, Glass said.
Adult backs weigh between 30 and 50 tons, some up to 15 meters in length, Glass said.
The tail of the humpback is extremely powerful, and its pectoral fins are the largest of any whale, reaching five meters in length.
Often inlaid with sharp shells, fins are another deterrent to killer whale attacks, Glass said. Aggressive trumpeting or short, sharp bursts of breathing are also seen in the breeding area when males fight for females.
Glass said that based on documented tails on the tails of the backs of the Salish Sea, at least 25 percent have encountered killer whales at some point in their lives, usually at a young age.
But even as the backs get older and heavier, killer whale attacks happen, she said.
Humpbacks consider killer whales a sworn enemy, Glass said.
“There are many documented cases around the world of backs that protect other species of whales,” she said.
“Ours [whale-watching] members have also seen backs to stop killer whales.
Gless said whether the backs are trying to help other mammals or acting aggressively for self-preservation, it is not known.
In 2016, a team of researchers from Oregon State University discovered 30 cases from around the world in which humpback whales attack killer whales while chasing whales and other mammals.
“The humpback whale is, as far as we know, the only cetacean that deliberately approaches to attack killer whales that feed on mammals and can repel them,” said Dr. Robert Pittman, a marine ecologist and co-author of the report.
“We speculate that the evolution of the humpback’s massive pectoral fins may have given it an advantage over killer whales and may have changed the balance of power in their interactions.
The Oregon document says that the great appendages of the humpback, when used in conjunction with flukes, “allow humps with front and rear, offensive and defensive weapons – an ability that is unique among living whales.
The incident comes this week after whale watchers reported a record number of sightings of killer whales and backs in the Salish Sea last year.
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