orcas and sea lion pups

I was just trying to unwind in my utterly boring motel room, flipping channels, when I stumbled across an Animal Planet show about the coast of Patagonia. This features, first, elephant seal bulls fighting over a harem until the water runs red, and then the winner kills the loser's pups by sitting on them until they suffocate.

And then we had orcas hunting sea lion pups. These particular orcas know exactly when the sea lion pups are learning to swim, and they show up at the nursery beach at that time every year. They come right up on the beach to catch the pups, and the sight of the huge dark mass of the whale looming up within a wave is one of the creepiest things I have ever seen. There is some video here, although it isn't as creepy as what I just watched. Once they catch a pup, they don't kill it right away, but carry it out into deep water and play with it for half an hour or so. They toss it back and forth using their mouths, and use their tails to hurl it 30 feet into the air. Eventually they get bored and eat it.

Nature. Shudder.