The other day we were in a hurry and I asked my son (12) to get his shoes on and let’s go. And he said “there’s a snake in my shoe” — I told him to stop joking and let’s go only to walk over and see this neat little ring neck.
This fascinating event, which took place as part of a larger predation attempt, was observed by Monterey Bay Whale Watch:
>"We had an absolutely crazy morning on the bay today with a pod of beloved killer whales known as the CA140Bs, led by matriarch CA140B “Louise”. The pod is comprised of Louise and her four female offspring; CA40B1 “Stinger”, CA140B2 “Bee”, CA140B3 “Buzz”, and CA140B4 “Bumble”! Male CA50B “Jimmy” was also in the area more out west in the morning and then reunited with the pod during our 1:30PM trip. The all female pod was very busy hunting Long-beaked common dolphin this morning! This is something we rarely see here as the common dolphin are not frequently seen in our area. The pod took down several adult dolphins, but the fascinating (yet heartbreaking) part of these encounters was the presence of a very, very young common dolphin calf. Although hard to believe, the CA140Bs did not hunt and kill the dolphin calf, and the young one stayed with the pod from around 10:30 in the morning when the hunt first started, until around 3:30PM when the CA140Bs seemed to be too fast for the common dolphin calf to keep up with, and the little dolphin was left behind. It is very hard to know exactly what was going on in these intelligent cetaceans minds today, and why they didn’t seem to end up hunting the calf, but it was an intriguing (yet sad) thing to encounter and study. Rare behaviors documented during encounters like this are valuable for our colleagues at the California Killer Whale Project!"
Looking at these photos, I'm reminded of the behaviors of the Icelandic orcas who have aggressive interactions with pilot whales, while also pair-swimming with pilot whale calves. Yet another glimpse into the complex social dynamics, empathetic capabilities, and brilliant hunting techniques of the ocean's top predator!