PREVIEW

A group of sperm whales off Western Australia's southern coast unleashed an unusual defence on an attacking orca pod - a "cloud of diarrhoea".


Their poo-clear deterrent thwarted the orcas’ hunt at the Bremer Canyon, a marine life hotspot about 50 kilometres off the coast, on Tuesday (19March2024).

Jennah Tucker, a marine biologist with whale watching group Naturaliste Charters, whose boat filmed the incident, said that watchers thought they initially could see blood in the water - but later confirmed the whales had defecated to stop their attackers.
“What was originally thought to have been a bubble of blood exploding on the surface, has since been confirmed as faeces. Sperm whales are known to defecate when threatened, referred to as emergency or defensive defection,” she said.
“The cloud of diarrhoea created when the whale waves its tail through its poo acts to deter predators and in this case, seemed to work! Given their faeces appear reddish in colour, due to their diet consisting of 90% squid, it’s no surprise it was easily mistaken for blood.”
To defend themselves the sperm whales tightly huddled in a circular formation, heads to the centre and fanning their tails out. Then a massive dark bubble rose to the surface.
The whales’ disgusting defence mechanism was successful in warding off the attack from the killer whales.
Orca attacks on sperm whales are rare even without witnessing the unusual response.
“Historically, it was thought that sperm whales, due to their size, herding behaviour and strong toothed jaws were not vulnerable to killer whale predation,” Tucker added. “However, killer whales have since been known to attack sperm whales, often targeting females and calves rather than males, which are typically more aggressive.”