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Sperm whale blasted a " big dark bubble " of poop to prevent an impending orca attack off the southern glide of Western Australia .
Scientists witnessed the cagey defence mechanism strategy unfold Tuesday ( March 19 ) during a tourist excursion in Bremer Canyon , a whale - watch hotspot off the slide between Albany and Hopetoun . They delineate seeing a " cloud of diarrhea " permeate the water , and this rarely seen defense mechanism seemed to serve thesperm whalepod escape what could have been a fateful attack by at least 30 killer whale whales , ABC News Australiareported .
In a rarely witnessed event, sperm whales drove away a pod of orcas by releasing huge plumes of poo.
" It ’s holler defense force defecation,“Jennah Tucker , a marine biologist with Oceans Blueprint , a marine and environmental sciences research formation , who was on the charter boat , told ABC . When the animals defecate , she say , they glide by their immense tail through their poop to drive away or confuse attackers .
As the effect unfolded , onlookers noticed a big , " dark house of cards " pour down up to the H2O ’s surface . At first , they thought it was blood line from one of the spermatozoan whales , potentially a small calf . But when the squad later on reviewed footage of the plume , they realized it was actually whale poop .
" Because [ a ] spermatozoon heavyweight ’s diet consist mostly ofsquid , they actually have this really cherry colored poo , " she said .
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In this demonstration of defence defecation , the seedcase imprint a circle with their heads together , and the whale winnow their tails in unison — squeeze their excrement toward the unsuspectingorcas .
" This is call a stem canker , another defensive mechanism they use when they ’re under attack , " Tucker said .
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Tucker told ABC she noticed that the sperm giant look distressed and exhausted . However , their fecal warfare worked , and the orcas swam off in search of freshman waters . It was in the midst of this mayhem that researchers regard the bountiful , blobby poop house of cards rise to the water system ’s surface .
There have been only a few documented example of killer whale attack on sperm whales , largely due to the vapourous size differential between the two metal money .
" Sperm giant are considered an peak predator , and historically , it was thought that they were somewhat much immune to killer giant flak , " Tucker said . " It ’s actually somewhat adventurous for orcas to try out to take on sperm cell whales . They ’re punching above their exercising weight . "
