It begins with a chase: Twelve orcas swimming down their quarry until it grows tired. When their target finally slows, more orcas join in, 20 sets of teeth raking and biting into flesh. A few minutes later, the predators work together to force their prey underwater. It doesn’t come back up.

This is no average hunt. The scene, observed off Bremer Bay in southwestern Australia, is the first time humans have documented orcas, also known as killer whales, successfully hunting and eating an endangered blue whale, the largest animal that has ever lived.

In all, scientists describe three blue whale killings, in March and April of 2019 and March of 2021, in a