Upon hearing this, everyone looked towards the humpback whales.
Sure enough, the humpback whales that were previously playing in the water were now all looking behind the fishing boat. The humpback whale with the most aggressive temper even began to slap the sea surface with its huge tail, creating huge waves.
After a while, the humpback whales seemed to have finally confirmed that there were killer whales over there, and immediately they rushed towards that direction like oversized torpedoes.
Xiang Yang narrowed his eyes and looked at the killer whales behind the blue whale.
Killer whales are extremely smart. If nothing unexpected happens, the group of killer whales will run away after seeing these four adult humpback whales.
But Xiang Yang guessed wrong.
The group of killer whales did not run away. In fact, they no longer hid their bodies in the water and swam even faster.
Soon, the group of killer whales caught up with the blue whale, and a battle was about to break out.
“Huh.”
Xiang Yang suddenly exclaimed, "What happened? The group of killer whales didn't attack the blue whale. They bypassed the blue whale and continued on their way?"
“Could it be that their target is this group of humpback whales?”
Xiang Yang looked at the group of killer whales with some disbelief.
When the group of killer whales passed the blue whale, they suddenly split to both sides, with three on the left and four on the right, seemingly surrounding the blue whale from both sides. But soon, the eight whales began to move forward in unison, while the seven killer whales did not even have the intention of attacking the blue whale. Instead, they were swimming forward faster.
Soon, the seven killer whales swam ahead of the blue whale.
The blue whale swung its huge tail and used its head, which was bigger than a locomotive, to slam into the largest killer whale in the group, but the killer whale dodged it nimbly.
Xiang Yang frowned and looked at the sea behind him. There, there was only a humpback whale the size of a calf floating on the water, at a loss.
"not good."
Xiang Yang reacted instantly, "The target of that group of killer whales is not the blue whale, nor the four adult humpback whales, but the humpback whale calf in front of our fishing boat."
A long time ago, Xiang Yang read a research report.
The research report wrote: Killer whales and humpback whales are mortal enemies. Whenever adult humpback whales encounter killer whales attacking other marine life at sea, the humpback whales will travel thousands of miles to drive away the killer whales.
When killer whales encounter humpback whale calves, they will risk being killed and attack the humpback whale calves at all costs.
Xiang Yang stared at the group of killer whales. Now, these killer whales, which were all black and white and looked like dolphins, looked as if they were ready to die.
"It seems that a fierce battle is inevitable today. Four adult humpback whales against seven adult killer whales. I don't know if these four adult humpback whales can save the humpback whale calf from the mouths of the seven adult killer whales." Xiang Yang was not the only one on the ship who had read the research report. A crew member whispered beside Xiang Yang.
Xiang Yang raised his eyebrows. "It's hard to say. If it's a head-on battle, the seven killer whales are not enough to defeat the two humpback whales. They are definitely no match for the four adult humpback whales. But killer whales are smart creatures. They may use some of their strength to entangle these humpback whales, and then use the rest to bite the humpback whale calf to death."
The battle between killer whales and humpback whales can almost be regarded as the most magnificent natural showdown on the planet.
This was not the first time Xiang Yang had seen such a horrific fight.
The last time, Big Head and Two Head had a battle royal with a group of killer whales after rescuing a baleen whale.
The sea was rough at the time, and a group of killer whales were swimming around two humpback whales. They were huge and agile, each about 8 meters long. They kept looking for opportunities and biting the two humpback whales with their powerful upper and lower jaws full of sharp teeth.
The two humpback whales were even more terrifying, knocking killer whales weighing more than five tons out of the sea several times.
That struggle between life and death still shocks Xiang Yang whenever he recalls it.
Xiang Yang took out his cell phone and prepared to record what happened next.
On the one hand, the reasons why killer whales hunt humpback whales and the frequency of attacks on humpback whales are not widely known until today. Xiang Yang wants to take pictures of this precious information.
On the other hand, biologists and scientists also don't know how humpback whales generally respond to attacks by killer whales.
The first time scientists recorded a killer whale attacking and killing a humpback whale calf was on December 5, 2014.
At that time, scientists published their research results in the journal Marine Mammal Science, which attracted widespread attention from ocean enthusiasts around the world.
The juvenile humpback whale that was killed in that magazine article was not a passive victim. It had been fighting back from the beginning and even called on adult humpback whales to help fight off the killer whales.
"Brother Yang, it's already this late, how come you're still in the mood to take pictures?" Fang Youqun couldn't help but said anxiously when he saw Xiang Yang didn't go to help but took out his mobile phone to take pictures instead.
Xiang Yang shrugged and asked, "How do you want me to help you? Drive the boat over and ram the group of killer whales, or get the humpback whale calf onto the boat?"
The first method is definitely a no-brainer.
Given the rarity of killer whales, if Xiang Yang dared to drive a boat to hit one, it would be fine if it didn't kill it. But if it did, he would definitely be in big trouble.
As for the second method, it is even more unrealistic.
At this moment, both the humpback whales and the killer whales were almost in a frenzy.
If Xiang Yang dared to intervene at this time, or directly target the humpback whale calf, the consequence might be that the humpback whale and the killer whale would attack Xiang Yang together.
Fang Youqun scratched his head and said, "I don't know how to help, but we can't just stand by and watch, right?"
"Okay, don't worry about it."
Xiang Yang shook his head. "This humpback whale calf is not alone. This group of killer whales probably cannot kill it."
Xiang Yang explained: "The humpback whale group is a very strange race. Not only do they have the habit of driving away killer whales at all costs when they encounter killer whales, they also have the habit of protecting their cubs."
"Protecting cubs? Isn't this a habit of all animals? What kind of habit is this?" Fang Youqun asked puzzledly.
"The guard cub I'm talking about is not the guard cub you're thinking of." Xiang Yang shook his head.
"The meaning of humpback whales protecting their calves is that as long as an adult humpback whale encounters a humpback whale calf in danger, all the humpback whales in the surrounding waters will come up to help." Xiang Yang said.