Bizarre moment humpback whales ‘harass’ pod of 15 orcas in rare ‘battle’

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This is the spectacular moment two humpback whales clashed with a pod of 15 killer whales in a rare "battle".

The encounter was spotted by a group of whale-watching tourists at the Salish Sea just off Vancouver in the Pacific Ocean.

Mollie Naccarato, who organises excursion trips at Sooke Coastal Explorations, said she cried three times on the boat when she saw the whales get into a "fight" with the orcas.

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Video posted by Gary Neumann from Pacific Whale Watch Association shows the two full-grown humpback whales slapping their tails and breaching water in the foggy sea.

Right in front of them is the pod of orcas, identified as Bigg's killer whales, breaching water and blowing air out through their blowholes.

The humpback whales come incredibly close to the orcas while the tour group safely watch from a distance on their boats.

Molly told CNN: "I've loved whales my whole life, so I cried three times yesterday on the boat.

"Even doing this every day, things like that just truly take your breath away.

"There is definitely a lot of harassment of each other – so the orcas in the area are known as the Transient orcas and they are known to eat seals, sea lions, and go after humpback calves."

Researchers have identified the humpback whales as "Hydra" from Hawaii and "Reaper", which was born near Mexico.

Erin Johns Gless, executive director for Pacific Whale Watch Association, said it's not the first time that humpback whales acted aggressively toward orcas.

She explained: "There have been a few occasions in recent years that our naturalists have seen humpback whales come to the rescue of other animals, like sea lions, that were being chased by orcas."

The extraordinary sighting lasted about three hours before the humpback whales disappeared in the fog.

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