A shift of power is taking place at the top of the world. The Arctic is undergoing a dramatic change, and with this change one iconic Arctic hunter may soon have to give way to another as solid ice turns to open sea. The polar bear, once king of the North, needs ice to stalk its prey. Killer whales, or orca, on the other hand, are unable to hunt in an ocean locked in ice. As the ice increasingly disappears, the tables have turned. Polar bears are struggling to survive while the now open ocean provides bountiful new hunting grounds for the whales. There appears to be no stopping these voracious predators, whose fearsome presence has been formerly unknown so far north in Canadian waters. Hunters and hunted in this once frozen world must now make way for the arrival of the most successful ocean predator of them all.
Invasion of the Killer Whales presents information gathered by research scientists and a film crew documenting the movements and behavior of the Arctic killer whales and their impact on predator and prey. Augmenting their work are reports and reflections provided by Inuit hunters, who have long had first-hand experience with polar bears and the prey animals polar bears once survived on – seals, narwhal, belugas and bowhead whales – which are longtime food sources for the Inuit, as well.
