[imagesource: BBC Earth]

The great white sharks of the Western Cape can attest to the fact that orcas, or killer whales, are very skilful predators.

Historic footage released in July showed for the first time orcas killing and eating a nine-foot (roughly 2,75-metre) great white.

Alison Towner, a senior white shark biologist at the Dyer Island Conservation Trust, called it “probably one of the most beautiful pieces of natural history ever filmed”.

On September 11, the first episode of Frozen Planet II aired in the UK and viewers were treated to more landmark footage.

This via PetaPixel:

 [It] featured an incredible orca hunt that was filmed with drones for a never-before-seen perspective.

What the BBC calls “lightweight drones”, allowed the documentary crew to film a pod of killer whales “wave-washing” a seal off a sheet of ice, a technique that is only utilized by 100 orcas living in the Antarctic peninsula.

The only other time the wave-washing method was filmed was featured in the original Frozen Planet series and this is the first instance of the intelligent hunting move being filmed from above.

Orcas involved in the hunt actually calculate the size of the wave they need to produce based on the number of seals on the ice, how many orcas are present, and how far away the seal is.

The fresh perspective is further elevated by the narration of the one and only Sir David Attenborough:

[source:petapixel]