Overview
- Two detached dorsal fins with fresh blood and tooth-like rake marks were found on Bering Island in 2022 and 2024.
- Genetic testing identified both as southern resident, fish-eating killer whales, with the findings published Feb. 24 in Marine Mammal Science.
- The authors consider mammal-eating Bigg’s orcas the most plausible attackers, raising the prospect of orca-on-orca predation.
- External experts say scavenging of carcasses could explain the fins, though Filatova argues fresh whale bodies usually sink quickly.
- The study suggests resident whales’ large matrilineal groups may serve as collective defence, a claim tempered by reports that such events appear rare.