KILLER WHALE

Otago Daily Times, Issue 27212, 15 October 1949, Page 4

KILLER WHALE

MARAUDING IN HAURAKI GULF

HIGHLY FEROCIOUS TYPE PA AUCKLAND. Oct. 14. A killer whale is marauding among the islands outside Waitemata Harbour. It was seen twice yesterday near Rangitoto and last week nearer Waiheke Island. No attempts have been made to catch it. The killer, a ferocious “ black sheep ” of the cetacean family, was first reported by a fishing party off the _ northernmost end of Waiheke Island last week. At first it was mistaken for a sunfish, but a closer look soon identified it clearly. It is about 22 feet lorn;,, is dark in colour, and is topped by an erect triangular fin. about four feet high. Yesterday morning launchmen saw the whale off the Rangitoto wharf, and in the evening it was seen cruising' about in the Motuihe Channel. Killer whales have been seen in the Hauraki Gulf before. In the spring and summer many of them migrate northwards from their home on the fringe of _ the Antarctic icecap, often congregating in numbers in Cook Strait. The killers feed on. fish, porpoises, seals, penguins and other whales.

One killer, caught and opened during an expedition in the Antarctic, had 14 seals and 13 porpoises in its stomach. The seals and penguins are caught by the killer bumping and breaking ice floes and knocking its prey into the water. Mr Herbert Ponting, the celebrated photographer on Captain Scott’s lar t expedition, nearly suffered the same fate. He was attacked in this way, but was able to jump to safety as the ice broke up under his feet.