"Sperm Whales' Unconventional Defense: Using Giant Poop Clouds to Thwart Orca Attacks"
Originally Published 1 year ago — by Newsweek
A group of sperm whales off the coast of Western Australia defended themselves from a pod of orcas by using a rare defense mechanism - they expelled a giant cloud of reddish-colored diarrhea, a tactic known as defensive defecation. The orcas, known for their diverse diet and cooperative hunting, were initially pursuing the exhausted sperm whales, but were deterred by the unusual defense tactic and the whales' close clustering in a rosette formation. This behavior, rarely observed, surprised marine biologists and onlookers, as sperm whales are typically considered apex predators and are rarely targeted by orcas.