With roughly 45 teeth, each up to 10cm long and 4cm wide, orcas are perfectly engineered for ripping and tearing prey. These ocean killing machines don't chew – they swallow small seals and sea lions whole, and shred larger animals into manageable chunks.
Their striking black-and-white colour works as a form of camouflage. Viewed from above, their dark backs blend seamlessly with the ocean, while their pale undersides merge with the sunlight filtering from the surface, allowing them to sneak up on prey undetected.
They are highly social and intelligent, using complex hunting strategies, from beaching themselves to catch seals to creating waves that wash penguins from ice rafts.
In the hunting photos and videos below, they reveal why they are the oceans’ most formidable apex predators.
- "Raw and brutal": whale watchers look on astonished as orcas kill humpback whale in South Africa
- Killer whales filmed hunting with dolphins and sharing prey for first time
Brutal killer whale videos and photographs
- Can any animal kill an orca?
- “No other predator is able to challenge them” – this deadly, intelligent ocean killer works in a team to stun, submerge and launch at its prey
- Ocean's most powerful, ruthless killers: The world's top 9 marine predators that rule the waves
- “Utterly spectacular”: incredibly rare 'pack ice' killer whale filmed swimming in Antarctic snow
- “I've been thinking about this possibility for 15 years": Killer whale experts make new discovery off North American coast
- Wild killer whales filmed offering food to humans – here's what scientists think it means
- Scientists capture first-ever footage of killer whales making seaweed grooming 'tools'
