Seagulls attacking whales

It's like a Hitchcock movie made real--attack of the birds. I wonder if whales are as scared as I was when I saw "The Birds" as a boy.

Seagull attacks are a new threat to endangered right whales off Argentina. In 1974 only 1% of whales were attacked, but the number of victims has increased to 74% today.

Roger Payne from the Ocean Alliance said “You see big open sores, which we thought were pock marks of infection. Some are half a metre across and the edges look like thousands of bites."

The gulls are driving the whales crazy as they try evasive manuvers to avoid getting pecked to death while on the surface to breathe. Especially at risk are mother-calf pairs, the preferred target of the gulls.

hat tip: zooillogix

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