“Nothing like this has ever been recorded.”

Killer whale behavior could hold the key to solving some climate-related mysteries.

What happens?

In the South Pacific off the coast of Chile, a group of these amazing mammals were caught killing and feeding on a dusky dolphin – a first for researchers, Inside Climate News reported.

“Nothing like this has ever been recorded in Chilean waters,” said marine biologist Ana García-Cegarra, who has studied five of the animals in the area for six years.

The scientists at the University of Antofagasta had assumed that the orcas only ate sea lions.

“It’s a fascinating discovery,” Josh McInnes, a marine biologist at the University of British Columbia who is not affiliated with the research, told the outlet. “The more we know about their behavior and diet is important because they are in a place where a lot of things are changing.”

Why is this important?

The area in question contains the cold waters of the Humboldt or South Pacific Current. Despite being “one of the richest marine ecosystems on Earth,” it is heavily polluted with mining waste and plastic, according to ICN.

The warmer temperatures also force fish such as anchovies and sardines to find new habitats and lead to algae blooms that deprive the water of oxygen, kill fish and other aquatic life and throw the food web out of balance.

If the killer whales change their diet due to the pressures of their warming world, they could be at great risk. García-Cegarra and Co. have documented the accumulation of heavy metals in porpoises, and these “alarming concentrations of copper, arsenic and lead” would only be greater in the orcas.

ICN noted that the population of killer whales in the eastern North Pacific has declined from 22 to seven since the Exxon Valdez disaster in 1989.

What is being done to protect orcas?

The research, published in Frontiers in Marine Science, is a good first step toward understanding the fascinating whales, which are notoriously intelligent and elusive. With more information about their eating habits and other behaviors, scientists can recommend more precise protection strategies.

It could also lead to more knowledge about how orca pods are connected. There is only one species of whale, but it is divided into ecotypes based on characteristics such as the diet of certain populations and their physical, acoustic and genetic characteristics.

This group, called the Menacho group and led by a female named Dakota, is part of one of the five ecotypes of the Southern Hemisphere. During the winter, a larger group from the Northern Hemisphere – home to five other ecotypes – settled off the coast of California for weeks.

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