A starving polar bear slammed its paw into the ice as a pod of orcas circled dangerously close. The hungry titan spotted the dark fins rising from the freezing water, and for a moment, it seemed ready to attack.
In the Arctic, two predators occupy the top of the food chain in separate domains. On the ice, the polar bear relies on strength and endurance. In the water, the killer whale uses speed and coordinated hunting strategies. For thousands of years, their territories rarely overlapped, but the shrinking of sea ice is bringing them into closer contact and changing the dynamics of Arctic predation.Resea…
A pod of orcas has been ramming and sinking yachts off Europe’s coast, and scientists say they’ve finally cracked why. For years, the attacks have baffled experts, with dozens of vessels damaged near the Iberian Peninsula.
In May 2020, a sailor crossing the Strait of Gibraltar felt his small yacht being pushed from below. Something was striking the rudder repeatedly, bending and scraping the blade that controls the vessel’s direction. When he looked over the side, a black-and-white shape roughly the length of his boat was looking back.Over the following five years, scientists recorded more than 760 similar encounter…