A poonado of epic proportions may have saved some sperm whales from a fatal interaction with a pod of orcas off Western Australia’s southern coast. The highly scatological wildlife encounter was the first time this year that sperm whales had been seen in the area, and they put on a display nobody was expecting.

The perilous event was witnessed by marine biologist Jennah Tucker on board a Naturaliste Charters trip with other whale watchers and photographers. They were observing a pod of orcas when the group started surging forward in a way that indicated they were pursuing something.

The object of the hunt was a pod of sperm whales. One of the four was much smaller than the others, and the group appeared exhausted and distressed as they huddled closely. As predators in their own right, and big ones at that, it was thought at one time that sperm whales weren’t vulnerable to orca predation. However, orcas have since been spotted attacking sperm whales, seeming to favor females with young calves.

The sperm whales were thrashing their tails against the orcas' advances as the team looked on. Then, “a large dark bubble rose to the surface amongst the huddle, believed at the time to have been blood,” explained Tucker in a blog post shared with IFLScience.

That cloud was later confirmed to be whale poop based on the photos and videos that were captured during the dramatic encounter. An explosive defense mechanism that sperm whales are known for.

“Sperm whales are known to defecate when threatened, referred to as emergency or defensive defection,” explained Tucker. “The cloud of diarrhoea created when the whale waves its tail through its poo acts to deter predators and in this case, seemed to work! Given their faeces appear reddish in colour, due to their diet consisting of 90% squid, it’s no surprise it was easily mistaken for blood.”

It's no mean feat to pursue the ocean’s largest toothed predator into the shallows, and the orcas put up a good fight. Whatever dirty tactics they’re open to exploring, however, don’t seem to include getting a face full of feces.

The orcas involved in the fray were actually sighted carrying some kind of mystery meat in their mouths, but it remains unclear if their hunt was successful. They may have been stealing chunks of giant squid from the sperm whales, something that’s been documented among these animals before. 

As for the events of this fateful first return for sperm whales? The only thing that we know went down with absolute certainty is a shit-ton of whale poop.