What Is Wave Washing: How Killer Whales Hunt Seals

Killer whales rarely risk hunting leopard seals - Antarctica's second-top predator.

**More info & videos below**

“Expedition Killer Whale“ premieres February 12, 2025, at 8|7c on PBS and YouTube.

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Nature is a production of The WNET Group for PBS. Throughout its history, Nature has brought the natural world to millions of viewers. The PBS series has been consistently among the most-watched primetime series on public television.

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Killer whales rarely risk hunting leopard seals, Antarctica's second-top predator. But when reinforcements appear, this group of killer whales has a technique for capturing this aggressive predator: wave washing.

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[amandah]

Now that seal knows what it's like for his penguin victims!

[Systm]

Imagine being hunted for 2 hours… like how terrifying would that be

[stevebennett]

Imagine if you were that leopard seal and they were trying to catch you. That would be terrifying.

[Abelson-voly]

that penguin thought the weather is not weathering well

[stephenturley]

One Orca should hang around at the edge of the ice while the others create the wave, so when the seal falls off and before it can get back on the ice again that one orca can grab it.

[kunalsinghal]

How scary it is for the seal seeing 4 orcas trying to throw it away and it is just matter of time you will slip of the temporary shelter

[AcceleratorxLastorder]

What a beautiful picture thank you for this

[arcotSAM]

This was not hunting to satisfy hunger, but it was hunting for adventure thrill

[ExtremelyRadiant]

I am rooting for the Seal!! 😢 I am a teacher, but, Nature can break my heart. ❤️‍🩹

[tomak]

This could simply be both entertainment, physical training, teamwork, and sport!

[dylangeltzeiler]

0:29 Looks like I was right about this being a Leopard Seal when I 1st saw the preview. It isn’t everyday that Orcas AKA Killer Whales go after one of those seals. I think this is what I call “Only 1 thing intimidates a Predator, a BIGGER One.”

[richardzheng]

A lot of times when I see killer whales hunting I thought they’re to overpowered or a least they are portrayed as so. But seeing them hunting nonstop for 2 hours really makes me realize their lifes aren’t that easy, especially considering the amount of energy spent hunting vs the energy they got from that one seal.

[CoreyMillionaire]

The lord of the ice had FINALLY met their match!

[jac]

I legitimately believe if whales had to means to create tools, we'd be having diplomatic meetings with them.

[TwoGems]

Misread this and thought PBS was talking about wave dashing 😂

[las]

The seal could have bolted to the shore when the whales passed by.

[Patton]

That seal could easily have swam to a safer iceberg

[ShoehornBundy]

Which killer whale was smart enough to figure out that water was strong enough to move things.

[ONoo-yk]

The seal doesn't think it's going to be amazing! 😢

[MastaT_]

Say that was a person stuck out of the ice like that, would they try to do the same?