Macquarie Island: Orcas aka Killer Whales
Orcas are toothed whales, actually belonging to the dolphin family. Just very big, 5-10 tonne dolphins, that are the absolute top alpha predators of the sea. They always travel and hunt socially, in pods of 20-50 individuals, taking down everything from schools of fish to birds to seals to minke whales, developing elaborate team-based hunting techniques. They are also very vocal and communicate with their pod team members, not to mention the ultra sophisticated eco-location thing. There are several subtype subspecies around the world, and the ones in East Antarctica are the largest orcas in the world – Subtype A. They devour schools of fish by surrounding them, they leap out of the water and grab birds feeding above, they flip ice flows with seals on them to take them down, and they chase minke whales into ice and suffocate them under water. Sharks are wimps compared to killer whales!
