I saw humpback whales save a seal from death by killer whale

Robert Pitman, marine ecologist

Scott Hansen

By Joshua Howgego

You first saw humpback whales behaving strangely in 2009. What happened?

We were doing killer whale research in Antarctica and had the BBC on board filming Frozen Planet. We saw some killer whales interacting with some humpbacks and thought it could be an attack. We went over to have a look and the humpbacks were a little agitated, but it wasn’t a full-on attack and the killer whales ended up going away. We weren’t quite sure what was going on, but when we looked at the BBC footage, we saw there was a Weddell seal between the two humpbacks. So we thought maybe the seal was trying to escape and found refuge.

We followed the killer whales and soon they started attacking a crabeater seal on an ice floe, creating waves to try to wash it off. A few minutes later, the two humpbacks we had left behind came charging in and chased after the killer whales, slapping their flippers and making a nuisance of themselves. This was different because the humpbacks were on the offensive. But we figured it was just mobbing behaviour, like when garden birds mob a predator to try to get rid of it.

This orca was all set for an easy meal — until the humpback appeared

Kathryn Jeffs / NaturePL

Read more: Why do they do it? Animals save the lives of other species

When did you realise the whales were doing more than just driving a predator away?

Well, a couple of days later we saw some killer whales attacking a Weddell seal on an ice ...