A necropsy of an orca whose body washed ashore in Russia’s far eastern Bering Strait revealed the killer whale had eaten seven sea otters by simply swallowing them whole, with the last one getting caught in the beast’s esophagus, Live Science reports citing a recent study of the 2020 death.
“It is very unusual because orcas don’t normally eat sea otters,” study author and Moscow University marine biologist Olga Filatova told Live Science adding that the killer whales “normally don’t swallow prey whole – they usually tear it apart and eat only the best (most fatty) parts.”