A pod of killer whales was discovered trapped in drift ice off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan./FNN YouTube capture
About 10 orcas were captured in the frozen sea with only their faces barely visible, trapped between drift ice.
According to Japan’s NHK and Asahi TV on the 6th, a pod of killer whales was discovered trapped in drift ice on the Rausu coast of Hokkaido’s Shiretoko Peninsula this morning.
In the related video, about 15 killer whales can be seen barely breathing with only their faces sticking out through cracks in the broken ice.
The killer whales sometimes appeared to be trying to escape by moving their bodies up and down or sinking into the sea and then jumping up loudly. It is known that a killer whale’s diving time is only a few minutes.
Asahi TV said, “Killer whales, which are mammals, breathe through their noses,” and “among them, there are baby killer whales.”
A pod of killer whales was discovered trapped in drift ice off the coast of Hokkaido, Japan./FNN YouTube video capture
The pod of killer whales was first discovered by nearby fishermen around 8 a.m. on the same day. It is said that they reported to a shipping company at the time, “It appears that the killer whale is trapped in the drift ice.”
Afterwards, marine life expert Seiichiro Tsuchiya filmed the pod of killer whales with a drone. He said, “The hole was small, so it seemed like the whole group of killer whales stood up vertically, sticking out their heads and breathing hard.”
The Coast Guard responded to the report and attempted to rescue the killer whale, but failed. Because the entire ocean is covered with hard and thick drift ice, it is not easy to even approach a pod of killer whales.
An official said, “We are considering countermeasures, but we have no choice but to wait until the ice collapses and we can swim on our own.”
Every year, large quantities of drift ice from Siberia, Russia flow into the Laus coast. Officials said that although the amount of ice has decreased in recent years due to climate change, the lack of wind in recent days has maintained the ice.
Experts estimate that a group of killer whales came to the surface to breathe for a while and then became trapped among the ice floes.
Kikoko Tajima, a researcher at the National Science Museum, said, “The movement of the drift ice may have been beyond the killer whale’s expectations,” and added, “It appears that other killer whales were trapped together while caring for a calf that was not good at swimming or breathing.”
Previously, in 2005, 12 orcas were trapped in drift ice and rescue efforts were conducted here, but several of them died.
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2024-02-06 22:39:56
