The Brief

Killer whales are known for their intelligence and power, even an inclination to sink yachts. Now, research is showing how they take down prey that few other animals can.

Orcas in Mexico's Gulf of California are hunting whale sharks using a highly specialized set of strategies to attack them. Generally, whale sharks have few predators to worry about, being the largest fish species on the planet. The gentle giants, which eat tiny plankton, can grow as long as a school bus. Still, killer whales have developed a way to take them down, which researchers documented in video footage.

"They are super smart," says Erick Higuera, one of the authors of the study. "They organize the hunt, the ambush. They're like snipers. They're specialists in their hunting tactics."

A male in the killer whale pod known as Moctezuma was spotted in multiple attacks, along with other family members working together.

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James Moskito

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The findings add to a growing body of evidence showing that killer whales take the title for the ocean's top predator, using cunning and coordination in their close-knit family groups to hunt everything from blue whales to great white sharks.

"They're capable of predating on the ocean's largest creatures so I think there's no doubt about their apex predator status at this point," says Salvador Jorgensen, marine ecologist at California State University Monterey Bay, who was not involved in the research.

A coordinated attack

As a marine biologist and cinematographer, Higuera has followed one pod of killer whales for years off the coast of Mexico's Baja California Sur. He's observed them eating other species of sharks and rays. One day, he received a tourist video documenting something he'd never seen.

In it, a male killer whale is swimming around the body of a bleeding whale shark. Later, three more videos showed similar scenes, where a group of killer whales worked together to attack other whale sharks. All the whale sharks were juveniles, though still 15 to 20 feet long.

"My surprise and my amazement is that they are definitely specialist hunters," Higuera says. "When we saw the video, we got excited."

Here's how the killer whales do it, which Higuera and his colleagues published in the journal Frontiers. First, the killer whales work together to ram the whale shark, stunning it and preventing it from diving deep, one of the whale shark's only defenses.

"It's a huge animal that has very tiny teeth," says Francesca Pancaldi, a marine biologist at Centro Interdisciplinario de Ciencias Marinas and a co-author on the study. "It's relatively slow compared to other sharks and it cannot defend itself, other than dive down. The whale shark is a great diver."

At the same time, the killer whales flip the whale shark onto its back. When sharks are upside down, they can go into a trance-like state known as "tonic immobility." Then, the killer whales begin biting the soft underbelly of the whale shark, causing it to bleed profusely.

The orcas coordinate their attack to ram the whale shark and keep it from diving, the whale shark's primary defense mechanism.

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Kelsey Williamson

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That could also give the killer whales access to eating one of the most nutritious parts of a shark – its liver, something that killer whales have been documented eating in other types of sharks.

"Sharks in general, they don't have a lot of fat," Pancaldi says. "The only fatty part in the body of a shark is the liver."

Killer whales are known for these highly coordinated attacks, where techniques are taught in multi-generational families, led by the matriarch.

"They have a tradition," Higuera says. "They have a culture that's unique to this family. There is definitely a cultural learning that has gone through generations."

Even great white sharks should worry

Orcas around the world specialize in different types of prey, each with their own unique hunting strategies. Some killer whales only eat fish, while others prey on marine mammals.

Orca families are highly specialized in their favorite prey, honing their techniques over generations.

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Kelsey Williamson

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Some orcas have been documented hunting seals by using waves to break the ice the seals are resting on, washing them into their waiting jaws. Off Australia, they've been seen using coordinated attacks to hunt the largest animal on the planet, a blue whale.

Off California's coast, even great white sharks avoid orcas. One study found that white sharks fled when killer whales appeared, leaving their seasonal feeding grounds for as long as a year. Killer whales have been documented hunting white sharks off South Africa, going after their livers as well.

"When orcas come around, it creates this landscape of fear that white sharks, for example, are able to detect and respond to," Jorgensen says. "We've been seeing killer whales going after sharks and particularly larger sharks, which is the more surprising part of this, around the world."

As the ocean's top predators, killer whale families have developed the skills to take their pick. "They eat all the best stuff in the ocean," Jorgensen.

MEXICO CITY — The Mexican army killed the leader of the powerful Jalisco New Generation Cartel, Nemesio Rubén Oseguera Cervantes, "El Mencho, " in an operation Sunday, a federal official said.

The official, who requested anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly, said it happened during a military operation in the western state of Jalisco.

It followed several hours of roadblocks with burning vehicles in Jalisco and other states. Such tactics are commonly used by the cartels to block military operations.

Videos circulating social media showed plumes of smoke billowing over the city of Puerto Vallarta, a major city in Jalisco, and sprinting through the airport of the state's capital in panic. On Sunday afternoon, Air Canada announced it was suspending flights to Puerto Vallarta "due to an ongoing security situation" and advised customers not to go to their airport.

The U.S. State Department had offered a reward of up to $15 million for information leading to the arrest of El Mencho. The Jalisco New Generation Cartel, known as CJNG, is one of the most powerful and fasted growing criminal organizations in Mexico and was born in 2009.

In February, the Trump administration designated the cartel as a foreign terrorist organization.

It has been one of the most aggressive cartels in its attacks on the military—including helicopters—and a pioneer in launching explosives from drones and installing mines. In 2020, it carried out a spectacular assassination attempt with grenades and high-powered rifles in the heart of Mexico City against the then head of the capital's police force and now head of federal security.

The DEA considers this cartel to be as powerful as the Sinaloa cartel, one of Mexico's most infamous criminal groups, with a presence in all 50 U.S. states where it distributes tons of drugs. It is one of the main suppliers of cocaine to the U.S. market and, like the Sinaloa cartel, earns billions from the production of fentanyl and methamphetamines.

Since 2017, Oseguera Cervantes has been indicted several times in the United States District Court for the District of Columbia.

The most recent superseding indictment, filed on April 5, 2022, charges Oseguera Cervantes with conspiracy and distribution of controlled substances (methamphetamine, cocaine, and fentanyl) for the purpose of illegal importation into the United States and use of firearms during and in connection with drug trafficking offenses. Oseguera Cervantes is also charged under the Drug Kingpin Enforcement Act for directing a continuing criminal enterprise.
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Hermon — Some shoppers heading into Fresco Market were lost in their phones, but when they momentarily looked up, they were greeted by a flap of brilliant green feathers and a cheery squawk. Phones were put away.

“Pepe! Hey Pepe! So good to see you!”

Perched on the shoulder of T.J. Gonzalez, Pepe the Parrot was in full greeter mode. Wide-eyed and seeming to almost smile as he surveyed the parking lot and his approaching public, Pepe did what he naturally does: make people happy.

A common sight at the Hermon market, near where they live, Gonzalez and Pepe can also be found at community centers, farmers’ markets and local events. They often take the Metro into downtown Los Angeles, Long Beach and other locations.

There’s no money asked, stressed Gonzalez, adding that Pepe simply adores the attention. “People want to see and talk with him more than me,” he joked as he cracked a nut and placed it in his mouth. On cue, the bird reached around Gonzalez’s mouth to retrieve it.

Michael Eagle-Hall of El Sereno is delighted to meet Pepe outside of the Fresco Market in Hermon.

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Brenda Rees

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A mail carrier for 37 years before he retired, Gonzalez found Pepe, a red-crowned Amazon (flocks are often seen in Northeast L.A.) in July 2021. The chick had fallen out of a nest and was flailing on a busy street in San Marino. “He was like roadkill,” said Gonzalez, who watched cars drive over (without striking) the bird.

Gonzalez retrieved the parrot and looked for help, but wildlife rehabbers said they’d euthanize the bird since it had a broken wing. Gonzalez instead brought him to a vet and christened him Pepe.

Since Pepe could not fly, Gonzalez started walking him around the neighborhood. He soon discovered how kids and adults enjoyed interacting with the parrot. Pepe is also a social media darling, with more than 8,600 followers on Instagram.

Pepe is more of a squawker than a talker, but Gonzalez has learned how to art-direct photos of people and the bird, instructing them on how to hold their hands and arms best. “We just want that smile because that’s all that Pepe wants from you,” said Gonzalez.

Crews have now recovered the bodies of all nine backcountry skiers who were killed in an avalanche in Northern California earlier this week. It marks an end to what authorities on Saturday described as an agonizing five-day search and recovery operation complicated by intense winter storms northwest of Lake Tahoe.

"While we wish we could have saved them all, we are grateful that we can bring them home," said Nevada County Sheriff Shannan Moon during a Saturday news conference.

Until Saturday, authorities had not confirmed the death of a ninth victim, a skier who had been missing and presumed dead. Officials say their body was found near the eight other victims that have now been recovered. Authorities said avalanche hazards and weather conditions were too dangerous most of the week to search for the remaining victim or recover the bodies.

Four of the bodies were recovered on Friday, and the rest of the bodies were recovered on Saturday, all in the Castle Peak area where the avalanche – one of the deadliest in California history — struck. Six people from the group of 15 skiers survived Tuesday's disaster, the last day of a three-day backcountry ski trip. One guide and five travelers were among the survivors.

Helicopters with the California National Guard as well as the California Highway Patrol were used to hoist the remaining bodies from the mountain, officials said at the press conference.

On Friday, officials were able to use specialized techniques with the help of Pacific Gas & Electric to reduce the avalanche risk.

The ski trip was organized by Blackbird Mountain Guides, an outdoor tour company based in Truckee, Calif. Moon confirmed the identities of the victims. Three guides were killed: Andrew Alissandratos, 34, from Verdi, Nev.; Michael Henry, 30, from Soda Springs, Calif.; and Nicole Choo, 42, of South Lake Tahoe, Calif. The other victims, who had signed up for the group trip, are: Carrie Atkin, 46, of Soda Springs; Lizabeth Clabaugh, 52, of Boise, Idaho; Danielle Keatley, 44, of Soda Springs and Larkspur, Calif.; Kate Morse, 45, of Soda Springs and Tiburon, Calif.; Caroline Sekar, 45, of Soda Springs and San Francisco; and Katherine Vitt, 43, of Greenbrae, Calif.

The Sierra Avalanche Center classified the avalanche between a D2 and D3 on the avalanche danger scale.

"A D2 would take down a person. A D3 would take down a house, so it was right in between those. It was described by them as a football field length of a path of the avalanche," Sheriff Moon said on Saturday.

Multiple agencies are investigating.

"We are investigating the incident to determine if there were any factors that would be considered criminal negligence," Ashley Quadros with the Nevada County Sheriff's Office said in an email to NPR on Sunday. "It is a standard investigation. It is too early to know if criminal charges will be applicable, as the investigation is preliminary and remains active and ongoing."

The area will be closed to visitors for several weeks.
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