There's a reason orcas are commonly called killer whales, and last month, three fishermen witnessed it firsthand.
In late September, Richard Baker and his 12-year-old son, Jackson, were fishing in New Zealand's Hauraki Gulf when they saw a pod of orcas swimming near their boat, according to New Zealand website Stuff.
Jackson grabbed a camera and began filming the magical moment, but what he caught on camera instead was a deadly chase.
The orcas, as seen in the clips below, were hunting a dolphin for their next meal.
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Orcas, which are actually not whales but members of the dolphin family, are one of the ocean's top predators, thanks to their sheer power and killer hunting techniques.
It's not uncommon for them to feed on other species of dolphin, as well as several species of whale, sea lions and even the ocean's supposed apex predator -- great white sharks.
"They can take pretty much whatever they want," John Ford, a research scientist and adjunct professor with the University of British Columbia's Marine Mammal Research Unit, said in a 2011 interview with Nature.com.
Orcas pursue their prey in pods of up to 40 individuals, although they have been known to frequent the Hauraki Gulf, where Jackson's video was filmed, in pods of five to 15.
They also use a cooperative hunting technique, according to National Geographic.
"Each whale has a role," Tiu Similä, a biologist and expert on orca hunting, told National Geographic of the orca hunting strategy.
"It's like a ballet, so they have to move in a very coordinated way and communicate and make decisions about what to do next," Similä said.
Several weeks before Baker and his son witnessed the animals, another fisherman named Kasey "Ox" Coghlan filmed a similar attack in the same gulf.
"This [is] nature laid out cold and bare," Coghlan told Newsflare.com.
Watch Baker's and Coghlan's videos below, and behold the awesome power of Mother Nature's hierarchy.
Baker's video:
Coghlan's video:
