Dying orca's final moments after 'desperate' effort to stay afloat captured in 1st of its kind footage

After a 50 minute struggle to stay at the surface, the orca (Orcinus orca) started sinking into the depths. (Image credit: Pierre Robert de Latour/Orca Norway)

The final moments of an adult orca's life have been recorded in what is believed to be the first footage of its kind.

Whale-watchers spotted an orca (Orcinus orca) — a roughly 35-year-old male known to researchers as Hunchy after his hunched back — behaving strangely in waters north of the island of Loppa in Norway on Nov. 6. Two younger orcas huddled close to Hunchy, seemingly holding him at the surface so he could breathe, Pierre Robert de Latour, the author of "Frère des Orques" (Glénat, 2019) who has been diving with orcas in Norway for over 20 years and was on the whale-watching expedition, told Live Science.