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Sperm whale blast a " big sinister bubble " of poop to preclude an impending grampus onset off the southerly seacoast of Western Australia .
Scientists witness the clever defense scheme unfold Tuesday ( March 19 ) during a tourist digression in Bremer Canyon , a whale - catch hot spot off the coast between Albany and Hopetoun . They described seeing a " swarm of looseness " interpenetrate the water system , and this rarely seen defense mechanism seemed to aid thesperm whalepod relief valve what could have been a fateful flack by at least 30 sea wolf whales , ABC News Australiareported .
In a rarely witnessed event, sperm whales drove away a pod of orcas by releasing huge plumes of poo.
" It ’s telephone defending team defecation,“Jennah Tucker , a marine life scientist with Oceans Blueprint , a marine and environmental sciences enquiry organisation , who was on the charter boat , tell ABC . When the animal defecate , she said , they pass their huge tails through their stern to drive away or confuse attackers .
As the event blossom forth , onlooker noticed a large , " dreary bubble " pop up to the water ’s surface . At first , they thought it was parentage from one of the sperm whales , potentially a small sura . But when the squad later critique footage of the plumage , they agnize it was actually whale nincompoop .
" Because [ a ] spermatozoan whale ’s diet consists mostly ofsquid , they actually have this really blood-red colored poo , " she said .
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In this demonstration of defense defecation , the pod formed a circle with their psyche together , and the whales fan their tails in unison — force their excrement toward the unsuspectingorcas .
" This is called a rosette , another defensive mechanism they use when they ’re under attack , " Tucker enjoin .
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Tucker told ABC she detect that the sperm cell whales looked distressed and spent . However , their fecal war worked , and the orcas swim off in search of freshman Ethel Waters . It was in the midst of this havoc that research worker saw the prominent , blobby poop bubble rise to the H2O ’s surface .
There have been only a few document example of Orcinus orca attack on sperm whales , largely due to the sheer size of it derivative between the two mintage .
" Sperm whales are considered an apex predator , and historically , it was thought that they were pretty much resistant to orca whale attacks , " Tucker said . " It ’s actually passably adventurous for orcas to seek to take on sperm whales . They ’re punching above their weight . "
