An iconic marine predator has been caught on camera demonstrating a curious way to play with its prey. Scientists have captured orcas, fittingly known as killer whales, engaging in some macabre ...

Gray whales are experiencing a “catastrophic” die-off as their food supply in the Arctic dwindles, according to experts who say this year’s stranding deaths are already on pace to be among the worst ...

It’s like Lucy holding a football for Charlie Brown in the classic comic strip “Peanuts” — except they’re killer whales, and they obliterate the ball. Scientists have now documented two instances of ...

While one orca holds the tail of a sunfish, another orca rams into it, smashing it to bits. Researchers say the orcas might be playing a game. The heaviest bony fish on the planet, these large, ...

How hard do you have to ram a fish to make it explode? Ask an orca. Barreling into large, heavy fish with enough force to blast them into instant chum is a previously unknown collaborative feeding ...

Marine biologists in Mexico captured video of a strange maneuver that killer whales used to shred their meal. By Alexa Robles-Gil Ocean sunfish are the largest bony fish in the world — some species ...

Orcas are known to be smart and ruthless hunters. They've been observed hunting a variety of prey, with some species, such as whales, larger than themselves. They use a wide range of strategies to ...

There have been numerous accounts in recent years of orcas ramming boats—and sometimes sinking them. Scientists believe this may be a form of culturally learned behavior passed down through ...

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A new study documents two incidents of orcas breaking sunfish into pieces. Screenshot via Héctor Franz. Ayres et al., Frontiers in Ethology, 2026, under CC BY 4.0 A female orca gripped the back end of ...

Researchers in the Gulf of California have documented a dramatic orca behavior never described before. In two separate encounters, one orca gripped a dead sunfish by the fin while another charged into ...

Orcas have been known to slap around stingrays, punt seals into the air and otherwise play with their food. But killer whales don’t just toy with live prey. Some also seem to enjoy destroying the ...