Silent Stalkers of Dark Ocean Waters: Killer Whales Hunt Marine Mammals at Night in Near Total Darkness

Dec. 3, 2013 — The mating roar of a male harbor seal is supposed to attract a partner, not a predator. Unfortunately for the seals, scientists have found evidence that marine-mammal-eating killer whales eavesdrop on their prey. The researchers will present their work at the 166th Meeting of the Acoustical Society of America (ASA), held Dec. 2 -- 6 in San Francisco, Calif.

Previous research had shown mammal-eating killer whales are nearly silent before making a kill, neither vocalizing nor using their echolocation. The likely reason, says Volker Deecke, a researcher at the Centre for Wildlife Conservation at the University of Cumbria in the U.K., is the excellent hearing of the seals, porpoises, and other animals the whales stalk.

Continued