During the shooting of a documentary in arctic Norway, photographer and filmmaker David Gonzalez Buendia got up close with killer whales. Rather than ferocious killers, orcas are gentle and inquisitive, at least when it comes to human encounters. Hundreds of orcas and humpback whales gathers in the Tromsø region in the period of November to January, to feed on the overwintering herring.
This one minute video resumes what the photographer and filmmaker David Gonzalez Buendia (buendiaphotography.com) captured in one single week, in the making of a documentary about orcas in the wild using the expedition sailing vessel Barba as a platform.
The killer whale or orca (Orcinus orca) is a toothed whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family, of which it is the largest member. Killer whales have a diverse diet, although individual populations often specialize in particular types of prey. Some feed exclusively on fish, while others hunt marine mammals such as seals and dolphins.
They have been known to attack baleen whale calves, and even adult whales. Killer whales are apex predators, as there is no animal that preys on them. Killer whales are considered a cosmopolitan species, and can be found in each of the world’s oceans in a variety of marine environments, from Arctic and Antarctic regions to tropical seas.
Killer whales are highly social; some populations are composed of matrilineal family groups (pods) which are the most stable of any animal species. Their sophisticated hunting techniques and vocal behaviours, which are often specific to a particular group and passed across generations, have been described as manifestations of animal culture