A deadly new threat may be on the horizon for gray whales — a species already suffering from a mysterious decline in population.
For the first time in known history, orcas have been observed in the grays’ Mexican refuge: the warm, shallow lagoons of the Baja Peninsula, where these 40-plus-foot leviathans go to calf, nurse and mate in peace. Until now, conservationists had considered the area a shelter from shipping, fishing gear, and killer whales — the ocean’s apex predator.
According to reports from researchers and local fishermen, Laguna San Ignacio has been visited twice this year by orcas.
