Pictured: Sea lion pups outsmart orca

A pair of sea lion pups had a lucky escape after outsmarting a hunting Orca and leaving the giant whale stranded on a beach in Argentina.

The two pups were being pursued relentlessly by the killer whale – a pregnant female in search of her next meal – and managed to lure her onto the pebbled beach at Punta Norte on Peninsula Valdes.

The incident was captured by John Rollins, a 59-year-old wildlife photographer, who has travelled to the area five times to photograph the Orca’s hunting technique.

“The Orcas of Peninsula Valdes in Patagonian Argentina have a unique hunting strategy of intentionally stranding themselves on the pebble beaches of the peninsula in order to hunt sea lion pups in the very shallow water,” Mr Rollins said on his social media account.

“The behaviour itself is rare and there are a number of obstacles to photographing it.”

The Peninsula Valdes is a small, remote section of Argentina’s coastline bordering the Atlantic Ocean. It was made a Unesco World Heritage site in 1999 for its vast nature reserves and marine wildlife.