"Orca Matriarch and Son Join Forces to Drown Rival Pod's Calf"
Originally Published 1 year ago — by Livescience.com
Heartbreaking footage captured by National Geographic shows a rare instance of orca infanticide, as a mother and her adult son from one pod team up to drown a calf from a neighboring pod. The behavior, likely aimed at enabling the male to breed with the mother of the deceased calf, is extremely rare and has only been documented once in published scientific literature. The footage provides scientists with a unique opportunity to study the roles and reactions of the orcas involved, shedding light on the power of the matriarch and the lengths she'll go to for the benefit of her pod and lineage.
