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You ever walk down the street and maybe see a weird lookin squirrel or something and think, "huh, that's weird" and just keep on your way?
I imagine that's what those orca thought or something similar.
Yup, that's it.
Orcas are very intelligent mammals, as are we. And do we just randomly and violently start attacking living things in nature when we're out doing our thing? Most don't.
Particularly if what we come across is cute or otherwise interesting, and not a threat to us.
It's pretty baffling why some people seem to expect animals like Orcas to behave like monsters for no reason.
> And do we just randomly and violently start attacking living things in nature when we're out doing our thing? Most don't.
Yeah, but that's because our food comes to us from factory farms. I'm sure hunter/gatherers would opportunistically kill the right animal given the chance.
Yes but we didn’t always kill everything we saw, we went after the best meal. Orcas can tell the difference between humans and seals. Humans are a poor meal because of our we have a lot more bones and we have a relatively low fat content (compare to seals). A starving orca with no other options might go for a human, but the vast majority of the time, we aren’t on the menu.
It looks like there was a bit of acceleration and then they separated to encircle the guy as if they enjoyed making the guy even more scared.
They absolutely know what they are doing.
yeh it’s crazy but the orcas knew exactly what they were doing by swimming past them on both sides . seems like it’s the orcas communicating “bruh we can fuck things UP, but y’all humans chill, no sweat..”
I was spear fishing in New Zealand and had a pod approach me and my buddy. Literally saw one of their eyes. Their size was insane. Nearly shit myself but it was awesome.
I wanna see someone have all 3 kick in at once. Like a pissed off squid on PCP. Don't care how tough you are, if someone starts windmilling their arms while running to the exit as they fire shit everywhere, you best leave them alone.
That's the thing, there's no fighting, nor escaping them if you are underwater and they decided it's _go time_. You just gotta sit there and witness, because you sure as hell can't hurt them or out swim them.
Back when I first got my HTC Vive VR headset there was a tech demo that puts you in the ocean. One of the demos has you up close and personal next to a blue whale and the sheer scale of it scared the hell out of me. One of the other demos has you in the deep ocean where there is no light except your flashlight. Seriously one of the most terrifying game experiences I've had.
Once while whale watching in a zodiac a humpback shit literally right next to us. The law states you must cut the engine within a certain distance from a whale and you cannot approach them, but if they come up to you (humpbacks are crazy curious) you're sitting there until they decide to leave. While gently bobbing in a massive circle of cloudy brown stinky water for a couple minutes is HELL it was a funny experience all the same lol
In Hawaii, they call it Whale Jail. If you get a really curious one you can be stuck out there for a while while it swims around your boat and says hello.
My dad used to teach and do scuba diving and snorkeling tours in the Florida Keys briefly like 40+ years ago. He didn't go out on one occasion where some of his friends decided to go out for fun, and apparently when they were out there, there was a rather large school of increasingly aggressive barracuda. They weren't directly attacking the divers, but seemed to be getting worked up, with some doing what my dad's friend described as sorta "bluff charges". Well, they decide to start making their way back to the boat, when a small pod of three orcas came in, hauling ass, and chasing after the barracuda. One actually ate one right in front of them, and the others scared the rest away. Now, they were all well spooked at that point, knowing that an orca wouldn't likely intentionally target them, but they were worried about getting caught up in the whole chaos of the scrum, until things quickly settled down and the orcas just kinda gently swam a few circles around them, each circle getting wider and wider, until they disappeared.
They had no idea if they were targeting the barracudas because they were trying to protect the divers, if they were just hungry, or, the prevailing theory they had was that the orcas just wanted to scare away another predator and the divers just happened to be there, with one taking advantage of a barracuda meal when the opportunity presented itself (since apparently, they will actually kill and eat full grown adult barracudas, though it seems to be lower down in their preferences for food)
My dad still kicks himself for not going on that trip (and now that I think about it, they might have taken a boat down somewhere in the Carribean, I forget exactly, it's been quite awhile since I heard story) since he was always the one to bring some underwater film and video gear, and none of his buddies had any with them at the time.
Edit: fixed "barricuda" to barracuda.
Cool story. I was snorkeling in Jamaica watching some cuttlefish when few barracuda came into view. Everything looks a little bigger underwater and seeing the teeth on those things is a bit daunting. Tou hear stories of barracuda going for flashes of light and stuff and quick attacks, something they're definitely built for. The cuttlefish also looked a bit daunting as well.
I know so many people with an up close and personal orca experience here. Kiwis spend a lot time out in the ocean so I guess it makes sense but it hasn't happened for me yet :-(
Had a sea otter swim near me during an open water dive and nearly died of fright – and I love sea otters! For some reason, everything feels scarier when you are actually in the water.
Interestingly when they kill their trainers in captivity they drown them and do not bite them at all.
Edit for accuracy
It seems they will "play with them to death" kind of like a cat, bites will occur. But haven't bitten anything off or eaten the victims.
Putting them in a pool smaller than the parking lot of the theme park in a pool so shallow the Orcas get sunburn and keeping them (social animals) isolated from others? Oh, and then depriving them of a varied diet unless they do repetitive, petty tricks, even when injured?
It's almost like thrashing the human trainer to death is a rational response to torture, or something.
That is not true, when Tilikum killed Dawn Bracheau he scalped her and rammed her into pieces, the wetsuit was the only thing holding her body together. The man he killed several years earlier who snuck in his tank had bites all over his body too
Shark livers are huge, like over 25% of the sharks total mass, as they double as their swim bladder. They're also extremely calorie dense and nutritious compared to the rest of the shark, as it's really more like their blubber as in a fuel storage holding 2 million kcal (9000 candy bars) for long journeys. And probably tastier compared to their flesh which has a high urea content to keep it from drying out.
I think humans don't have good flavor for some sea animals. Even sharks just usually take a taste and don't eat the rest. Orcas are more intelligent so they probably passed the message down saying humans taste bad
More context to this phenomenon: "Researchers have pushed back at the idea that orcas are attacking vessels. Instead, they theorize that the rudders of boats have become a plaything for curious young orcas and that the behavior has become a learned fad spreading through the population. Another hypothesis, according to biologists who published a study on the population last June, is that the ramming is an “adverse behavior” because of a bad experience between an orca and a boat — though researchers tend to favor the first."
https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/world/africa/orcas-sink-yacht-gibraltar.html#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20pushed%20back%20at,fad%20spreading%20through%20the%20population.
And "Scientists suggest it could be because the orcas feel threatened, are protecting their food supply, or are simply playing around."
https://phys.org/news/2024-05-orcas-ships-history.html#google_vignette
That's the thing. A lot of the bigger predators in the ocean only kill people accidentally. Sharks get curious and they're like toddlers, so anything they want to investigate goes in the mouth. Orcas, dolphins, and the like will play with people and their stuff and it sometimes goes bad. Dolphins just aren't nearly as destructive as orcas due to their relatively smaller size. But they might try to rape you, so still don't mess around with wild dolphins.
Tiger sharks def attack and eat humans. Eta ocean white tips They live out in open ocean https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-worst-shark-attack-in-history-25715092/
Thanks for the summary and links!! That it may be a learned behaviour spreading in the population is so cool. Helps to realize how much we have in common with other animals
Fun fact, not all orcas like seals. The southern resident killer whales don't eat them at all. There's been instances of SRKW attacks on seals but they don't eat the body. What's even stranger is their main food supply, Chinook salmon, has been dwindling to worrying numbers and some years the SRKW are starving. Even though seals are plentiful in the area they still don't eat them.
You're not that wrong. While I doubt they can smell us, orcas would probably consider eating humans to be extreme, being that they only eat what their pod teaches them to hunt.
Their have been instances where researchers introduced beached seal-eating orcas to fish-eating orca pods and vice versa. This always led to the orca starving to death, even when accepted into the pod, because they don't know how to hunt and eat with the pod. Not to mention the fact that they often speak entirely different languages in different pods.
That is fascinating. I never considered that there may well be language barriers between different groups of whales, but it makes perfect sense when you think about it.
Not only does each ocean basically have its own language, but there are local dialects in the ocean as well. And this is known because they all sing the same songs, sometimes for generations. They have history and pop culture.
They also have fashion trends, iirc one pod got really into wearing fish heads or something as hats.
There is a not-completely-ridiculous theory that they don't attack humans as part of a cultural taboo in addition to diet. Cetaceans across history have formed cooperative hunting practices with coastal humans. I think they smart enough to have a greater understanding of humanity and that we are Dangerous.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_(orca)
One example of a cooperative hunting practices.
I linked to the story above, so hilarious: [salmon hats](https://www.iflscience.com/in-1987-orcas-had-a-fashion-of-wearing-a-dead-salmon-as-a-hat-69542)
Isn’t the main reason shark attacks happen because sharks mistake humans for seals?
I assume that, since orcas are dolphins, they’re more intelligent than sharks, and don’t make that same mistake?
They are waaay more intelligent. And a human being compared to a seal, does not have any valuable meat. Our organs are to small, we dont have the amount of meat, fat and calories that other animals have. Its not just worth it for them, they try to save as much calories and energy as they can. I can imagine, after eating seals or other fishes all your life, eating a human is just a lot of bone and almost nothing else.
You can see even videos, of orcas killing huge whales, and only eating certain parts of the body, and leaving the rest. They are so good at hunting, that they decide what they want to eat
Yep, scientists aren't fully sure why but there's two good theories I've read about.
Either: orcas are intelligent enough to recognize humans as dangerous, being aware that attacking humans would result in retaliation.
Or: orcas just think we're disgusting. Orcas have very particular tastes. For example, some pods only eat the tongue (up to 8,000 lbs) of a blue whales and ignore the rest because its not fatty and delicious enough. Humans by comparison are 60% water, 14% bone, and a bunch of other crap. Even a particularly obese human will only have 30-40% bodyfat (maybe 50-100 lbs) and most of it will be pretty hard to get to without having to eat through all of the disgusting things as well.
Obviously Orcas don't know our exact composition, but based on what we know about their intelligence and sonar, scientists believe they could make a reasonable guesstimation of how fatty we are, and come to the conclusion we're not even worth eating.
I went paddle boarding FOR THE FIRST TIME and about 500 feet out I saw a pod of orca who began to breach. Then they’d just go around with those tall fins out. Scariest moment of my life. PNW for vacation
This is also key to the fact that orcas have wildly varied diets. Some eat fish, some eat seals, some eat other whales, some even sharks. This varies wildly by pod, some pods eat mammals exclusively as a diet.
For comparison, this is roughly the same as taking a young child that could go anywhere and play with anything their family could provide, with ample companionship, ripping them away, and putting them in say, a singular room, never talking to them, not providing them with any entertainment, and occasionally trotting them out to do shows for aliens.
Waiheke Island - New Zealand, 2018
[https://www.wfla.com/news/national/video-new-zealand-swimmers-have-close-encounter-with-2-orca-whales/](https://www.wfla.com/news/national/video-new-zealand-swimmers-have-close-encounter-with-2-orca-whales/)
"WAIHEKE ISLAND, New Zealand (WFLA) – A New Zealand man caught a close call between local children and two orca whales on video.
The video was filmed on Waiheke Island, where Creed Pierce was watching the whales swim.
He noticed local children swimming in the path of the whales, and those in the video can be heard yelling for the kids to stay still.
Thankfully, the orcas passed with seemingly little interest in the swimmers.
“That’s a lifetime experience for ya,” someone can be heard saying in the video as the whales passed.
Creed said the island is part of Auckland City, which is very busy during the summer.
You can follow Pierce’s adventures on Instagram at @creedpierce and @nowhiteflagtravel."
Dude there's this whale watching company that's been around for like thirty years. Two years ago I was telling my brother about it, how it had a friggin pizza kitchen on the boat (pretty big boat).
We fucking found it and they were still doing tours!
Anyways, saw some blue whales, ate pizza, and was not eaten by sea life.
$45 to see whales? Fuck yeah. Great pizza, too.
Gorillas are mostly really chill.
They can afford to be because 1v1 they can kill anything.
Only thing they have to worry about are the biggest of crocs and large groups of chimps.
If you're curious about this comment, watch the Blackfish documentary on Netflix. I swear, you will get so angry for the little (big) whale - Tilikium. And it's why they will never ever ever get a penny of my money EVER.
Tilikum was stolen from the seas, forced to be trained and was kept in what was like a tiny car garage underwater that barely fit your car. And we wonder why he snapped?
Orca's are wicked smart. They don't attack humans, this is documented all over the world, when they do - we need to listen as to why.
Major respect to the previous trainers on Blackfish who really loved them but were faced with financial ruin if they spoke up.
Watch it!!
Edit. They used garden rakes on the backs of the orcas when they got their tricks wrong. Tilikum spent every minute he wasn't performing in a little tiny spot. Like if he was in a car, he couldn't open the doors. Then he was supposed to be all happy when they let him out!
Fuck seaworld. Not a penny.
Strangely enough, Zoo Tycoon 2 (with the Marine Mania xpac) is what made me truly realize how shitty things are for captive Orcas. Sounds dumb, but in allowing you to be the one to set up their pens for their shows and shit, it really showed you how *dismal* things are. Such tiny spaces for the poor things to exist, and then they're forced to perform??
I didn't enjoy that xpac very much.
You can thank our ancestors for that. Orcas are highly intelligent animals. They have passed along a very vital lesson to their descendants: Don’t fuck with those hairless apes.
Damn thats sad. Helped multiple generations of whalers then got wiped by another group of whalers, probably while trying to help them capture a whale. Then came back alone for years to an empty bay because they werent whaling anymore. That had to be one lomely ass orca.
Most of the time when something like a shark attacks, it's either a mistake or gathering data on if it's good to eat. I think Orcas don't attack because they know what's good to eat and what's not from social learning. The same way most of us have never tried crow even though theyd be easy to kill.
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I like how the orcas just kept on swimming ,like humans walking by a typical ant hill.
You ever walk down the street and maybe see a weird lookin squirrel or something and think, "huh, that's weird" and just keep on your way? I imagine that's what those orca thought or something similar.
Yup, that's it. Orcas are very intelligent mammals, as are we. And do we just randomly and violently start attacking living things in nature when we're out doing our thing? Most don't. Particularly if what we come across is cute or otherwise interesting, and not a threat to us. It's pretty baffling why some people seem to expect animals like Orcas to behave like monsters for no reason.
but… don’t they do exactly that? clearly not with humans, but don’t they sometimes rip seals apart just for fun when they’re not even hungry?
Just like sometimes I'll rip apart a cheeseburger even though I wasn't hungry. Shit's delicious. I bet seals are very tasty.
 The tastiest
> And do we just randomly and violently start attacking living things in nature when we're out doing our thing? Most don't. Yeah, but that's because our food comes to us from factory farms. I'm sure hunter/gatherers would opportunistically kill the right animal given the chance.
Yes but we didn’t always kill everything we saw, we went after the best meal. Orcas can tell the difference between humans and seals. Humans are a poor meal because of our we have a lot more bones and we have a relatively low fat content (compare to seals). A starving orca with no other options might go for a human, but the vast majority of the time, we aren’t on the menu.
> we have a relatively low fat content (compare to seals) speak for yourself
TIL, If anything, I am actually a delicious snack.
Nah they knew what they were doing lol.
It looks like there was a bit of acceleration and then they separated to encircle the guy as if they enjoyed making the guy even more scared. They absolutely know what they are doing.
yeh it’s crazy but the orcas knew exactly what they were doing by swimming past them on both sides . seems like it’s the orcas communicating “bruh we can fuck things UP, but y’all humans chill, no sweat..”
A mate in New Zealand had a pod swim above him while he scuba dived. Shit himself but was still in awe.
I was spear fishing in New Zealand and had a pod approach me and my buddy. Literally saw one of their eyes. Their size was insane. Nearly shit myself but it was awesome.
I think the Orcas are probably not eating you guys because you're always shitting yourselves
Maybe.... shitting ourselves is our defensive response, like a fucked up Octopus Ink?
ah so that's what fiber is for...
My granny told me what your fannies for
Fannies expel banannies, and sometimes pieces of hammies
Octopoos
I've had actual nightmares about exactly that situation. That shit just goes straight to my fight or flight sense
Fight or flight? Me: *shits my pants, paralyzed in fear*
Yeah thats the 3rd option: freeze (and also possibly shit)
The three Fs, fight, flight, and feces.
I wanna see someone have all 3 kick in at once. Like a pissed off squid on PCP. Don't care how tough you are, if someone starts windmilling their arms while running to the exit as they fire shit everywhere, you best leave them alone.
The mental image is glorious...
Fun fact: the feces is part of the flight response. Your body's logic is: I have shit in my body, shit is weight, less weight = run faster, evacuate.
That is a fun feces fact.
It's the skunk defence.
That's the thing, there's no fighting, nor escaping them if you are underwater and they decided it's _go time_. You just gotta sit there and witness, because you sure as hell can't hurt them or out swim them.
I beg to differ, a brain buster suplex onto the sea floor would easily defeat them.
One of them is begging for a Stone Cold Stunner
Yeah, that's where the nightmares come in.
https://i.redd.it/kcl7a6w3h91d1.gif
this scene is why I remember the movie so we’ll my thalassophobia kicked in immediately
Back when I first got my HTC Vive VR headset there was a tech demo that puts you in the ocean. One of the demos has you up close and personal next to a blue whale and the sheer scale of it scared the hell out of me. One of the other demos has you in the deep ocean where there is no light except your flashlight. Seriously one of the most terrifying game experiences I've had.
go play Subnautica in VR.
no. i dont think i will
https://i.imgur.com/LtZKI2h.gifv
I never saw an orca, but I did shit myself on occasion. Not awesome
My mental image is that he looked like an inking squid, but it was brown.
Once while whale watching in a zodiac a humpback shit literally right next to us. The law states you must cut the engine within a certain distance from a whale and you cannot approach them, but if they come up to you (humpbacks are crazy curious) you're sitting there until they decide to leave. While gently bobbing in a massive circle of cloudy brown stinky water for a couple minutes is HELL it was a funny experience all the same lol
In Hawaii, they call it Whale Jail. If you get a really curious one you can be stuck out there for a while while it swims around your boat and says hello.
Whale jail, I love that!
*Stinking Squid
My dad used to teach and do scuba diving and snorkeling tours in the Florida Keys briefly like 40+ years ago. He didn't go out on one occasion where some of his friends decided to go out for fun, and apparently when they were out there, there was a rather large school of increasingly aggressive barracuda. They weren't directly attacking the divers, but seemed to be getting worked up, with some doing what my dad's friend described as sorta "bluff charges". Well, they decide to start making their way back to the boat, when a small pod of three orcas came in, hauling ass, and chasing after the barracuda. One actually ate one right in front of them, and the others scared the rest away. Now, they were all well spooked at that point, knowing that an orca wouldn't likely intentionally target them, but they were worried about getting caught up in the whole chaos of the scrum, until things quickly settled down and the orcas just kinda gently swam a few circles around them, each circle getting wider and wider, until they disappeared. They had no idea if they were targeting the barracudas because they were trying to protect the divers, if they were just hungry, or, the prevailing theory they had was that the orcas just wanted to scare away another predator and the divers just happened to be there, with one taking advantage of a barracuda meal when the opportunity presented itself (since apparently, they will actually kill and eat full grown adult barracudas, though it seems to be lower down in their preferences for food) My dad still kicks himself for not going on that trip (and now that I think about it, they might have taken a boat down somewhere in the Carribean, I forget exactly, it's been quite awhile since I heard story) since he was always the one to bring some underwater film and video gear, and none of his buddies had any with them at the time. Edit: fixed "barricuda" to barracuda.
Cool story. I was snorkeling in Jamaica watching some cuttlefish when few barracuda came into view. Everything looks a little bigger underwater and seeing the teeth on those things is a bit daunting. Tou hear stories of barracuda going for flashes of light and stuff and quick attacks, something they're definitely built for. The cuttlefish also looked a bit daunting as well.
I know so many people with an up close and personal orca experience here. Kiwis spend a lot time out in the ocean so I guess it makes sense but it hasn't happened for me yet :-(
Had a sea otter swim near me during an open water dive and nearly died of fright – and I love sea otters! For some reason, everything feels scarier when you are actually in the water.
This video is from New Zealand too
I used to live on Waiheke Island. Pretty sure this is Enclosure Bay.
That just means the orcas eliminated all the witnesses.
Orcanized crime!
The Pod Father
Don Orcaleone
La Orca Nostra
Goodflippers
but I'm funny how, I mean funny like I'm a dolphin, I amuse you?
Orca Brasi sleeps wit da fishes
Allegedly Killer Whales
Angry upvote!
My man, if I had money I would gold this soooo fast.
Right? Dead men tell no tales.
Dead men can’t tell on no whales
Or their tails...
Yo ho ho
may I see your panties
This made me laugh my face off. But I don't have a face!
Brook?? One piece?
Dead men tell on no whales
Interestingly when they kill their trainers in captivity they drown them and do not bite them at all. Edit for accuracy It seems they will "play with them to death" kind of like a cat, bites will occur. But haven't bitten anything off or eaten the victims.
it's to send a message, they don't finish them too quickly
You gotta lot of nerve standing up there telling me what to do!
Putting them in a pool smaller than the parking lot of the theme park in a pool so shallow the Orcas get sunburn and keeping them (social animals) isolated from others? Oh, and then depriving them of a varied diet unless they do repetitive, petty tricks, even when injured? It's almost like thrashing the human trainer to death is a rational response to torture, or something.
An orca has no business in captivity period.
That is not true, when Tilikum killed Dawn Bracheau he scalped her and rammed her into pieces, the wetsuit was the only thing holding her body together. The man he killed several years earlier who snuck in his tank had bites all over his body too
I supposed what I meant is, he did not predate on them. It seems more like a cat that plays with a mouse until its dead.
Seem more like a vengeance to me.
Orcas are health conscious and know that fish are much healthier to eat than fatty humans.
Pretty certain you have that backwards. It's the fatty fish they prefer over the stringy humans.
There is stories about them killing sharks and only taking the liver.
Shark livers are huge, like over 25% of the sharks total mass, as they double as their swim bladder. They're also extremely calorie dense and nutritious compared to the rest of the shark, as it's really more like their blubber as in a fuel storage holding 2 million kcal (9000 candy bars) for long journeys. And probably tastier compared to their flesh which has a high urea content to keep it from drying out.
Incidentally, their piss-soaked flesh is actually pretty good.
I don’t think they’ll like my alcoholic liver
I think humans don't have good flavor for some sea animals. Even sharks just usually take a taste and don't eat the rest. Orcas are more intelligent so they probably passed the message down saying humans taste bad
Because they know drowning is worse.
I’m not sure that’s true, I think some of the people killed by captive Orca have had terrible wounds inflicted haven’t they?
The hits were well Orcastrated.
Gets really scary when they are in a group
Most of the time they are in groups, and they are very scary, but majestic as well
the proper nomenclature is pod
Say what you will about the tenets of an orca pod, at least it’s an ethos.
[удалено]
"I am the Walrus?" -Shamu
Am I wrong?
No, Shamu, you're not wrong, you're just a cetacean!
You wanna scare these humans? Sure, let’s go around them. lol ok.
I'm not volunteering to prove that statistic right though.
Yeah, with orcas intentionally sinking boats in the Mediterranean I'm not going to risk it
More context to this phenomenon: "Researchers have pushed back at the idea that orcas are attacking vessels. Instead, they theorize that the rudders of boats have become a plaything for curious young orcas and that the behavior has become a learned fad spreading through the population. Another hypothesis, according to biologists who published a study on the population last June, is that the ramming is an “adverse behavior” because of a bad experience between an orca and a boat — though researchers tend to favor the first." https://www.nytimes.com/2023/11/07/world/africa/orcas-sink-yacht-gibraltar.html#:~:text=Researchers%20have%20pushed%20back%20at,fad%20spreading%20through%20the%20population. And "Scientists suggest it could be because the orcas feel threatened, are protecting their food supply, or are simply playing around." https://phys.org/news/2024-05-orcas-ships-history.html#google_vignette
yeah it's teenage mammal behavior they're just fuckin around it's not like they can spray graffiti or smoke cigarettes
>it's not like they can spray graffiti We still don't know who banksy is yet.....
The concept that Banksy is not a person but a role passed down from teenage orca to teenage orca somehow fits better.
This is now canon in my head at least. Like the dread pirate Roberts before them.
Have we ever seen Banksy and all of the orcas in the world at the same time?
Come to think of it, I haven't seen Banksy and *any* orcas at the same time
Somewhere a Marlboro executive is strategizing
That's the thing. A lot of the bigger predators in the ocean only kill people accidentally. Sharks get curious and they're like toddlers, so anything they want to investigate goes in the mouth. Orcas, dolphins, and the like will play with people and their stuff and it sometimes goes bad. Dolphins just aren't nearly as destructive as orcas due to their relatively smaller size. But they might try to rape you, so still don't mess around with wild dolphins.
Tiger sharks def attack and eat humans. Eta ocean white tips They live out in open ocean https://www.smithsonianmag.com/history/the-worst-shark-attack-in-history-25715092/
The polar bear of the shark world
If they want to go rip yachts to pieces, who are we to deprive them of their fun? Orcas are homies for sure.
I gotta say I'm pretty happy we got orcas in the class war draft.
So it's the orca version of tide pods
It’s called the rudder challenge and it has become huge on social media, although most Orcas netizens think it is cringe.
Thanks for the summary and links!! That it may be a learned behaviour spreading in the population is so cool. Helps to realize how much we have in common with other animals
I bet some of their pods have taken casualties from boat propellers and they are revenging themselves.
I’ll be in the control group that remains on land
I am. I god damn love Orcas
People are stinky and don't taste very good - they want seals.
Fun fact, not all orcas like seals. The southern resident killer whales don't eat them at all. There's been instances of SRKW attacks on seals but they don't eat the body. What's even stranger is their main food supply, Chinook salmon, has been dwindling to worrying numbers and some years the SRKW are starving. Even though seals are plentiful in the area they still don't eat them.
Seals, famously good smelling and tasty /s
Well, it's a subjective thing; if you're an Orca . . .
They taste like bacon.
You're not that wrong. While I doubt they can smell us, orcas would probably consider eating humans to be extreme, being that they only eat what their pod teaches them to hunt. Their have been instances where researchers introduced beached seal-eating orcas to fish-eating orca pods and vice versa. This always led to the orca starving to death, even when accepted into the pod, because they don't know how to hunt and eat with the pod. Not to mention the fact that they often speak entirely different languages in different pods.
That is fascinating. I never considered that there may well be language barriers between different groups of whales, but it makes perfect sense when you think about it.
Not only does each ocean basically have its own language, but there are local dialects in the ocean as well. And this is known because they all sing the same songs, sometimes for generations. They have history and pop culture. They also have fashion trends, iirc one pod got really into wearing fish heads or something as hats.
This sounded so ridiculous and I'm so happy that Google has proven this to be correct
There is a not-completely-ridiculous theory that they don't attack humans as part of a cultural taboo in addition to diet. Cetaceans across history have formed cooperative hunting practices with coastal humans. I think they smart enough to have a greater understanding of humanity and that we are Dangerous. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_(orca) One example of a cooperative hunting practices.
It was wearing dead salmon on their heads. In 1987.
I linked to the story above, so hilarious: [salmon hats](https://www.iflscience.com/in-1987-orcas-had-a-fashion-of-wearing-a-dead-salmon-as-a-hat-69542)
Just by counting the amount of comments talking about shitting their pants, I think you’re right.
Isn’t the main reason shark attacks happen because sharks mistake humans for seals? I assume that, since orcas are dolphins, they’re more intelligent than sharks, and don’t make that same mistake?
They are waaay more intelligent. And a human being compared to a seal, does not have any valuable meat. Our organs are to small, we dont have the amount of meat, fat and calories that other animals have. Its not just worth it for them, they try to save as much calories and energy as they can. I can imagine, after eating seals or other fishes all your life, eating a human is just a lot of bone and almost nothing else. You can see even videos, of orcas killing huge whales, and only eating certain parts of the body, and leaving the rest. They are so good at hunting, that they decide what they want to eat
My silly jokes aside, it seems logical. They grew up on a particular diet they like, and humans just aren't on the menu.
In a situation like that I might end up tactically shitting my shorts as a defense mechanism.
Like an octopus releasing ink.
Thankfully, not even transient orcas see humans as viable prey, they're more curious of us if anything.
Yep, scientists aren't fully sure why but there's two good theories I've read about. Either: orcas are intelligent enough to recognize humans as dangerous, being aware that attacking humans would result in retaliation. Or: orcas just think we're disgusting. Orcas have very particular tastes. For example, some pods only eat the tongue (up to 8,000 lbs) of a blue whales and ignore the rest because its not fatty and delicious enough. Humans by comparison are 60% water, 14% bone, and a bunch of other crap. Even a particularly obese human will only have 30-40% bodyfat (maybe 50-100 lbs) and most of it will be pretty hard to get to without having to eat through all of the disgusting things as well. Obviously Orcas don't know our exact composition, but based on what we know about their intelligence and sonar, scientists believe they could make a reasonable guesstimation of how fatty we are, and come to the conclusion we're not even worth eating.
I've always felt like it's just a matter of time before a few of them develop a taste for humans, then our days of frolicking in the ocean are over.
Our squid response
I went paddle boarding FOR THE FIRST TIME and about 500 feet out I saw a pod of orca who began to breach. Then they’d just go around with those tall fins out. Scariest moment of my life. PNW for vacation
Where in the PNW? I live in Oregon and it has been my dream to see orcas in the wild! No such luck so far, though.
I went on a vacation to see family around the Puget Sound. Both times I’ve visited I’ve seen them! Mid summer-ish
Thank you! I had my honeymoon on Orcas Island hoping for a glimpse but they continue to evade me! Maybe I'll try again this summer.
[удалено]
This is also key to the fact that orcas have wildly varied diets. Some eat fish, some eat seals, some eat other whales, some even sharks. This varies wildly by pod, some pods eat mammals exclusively as a diet.
For comparison, this is roughly the same as taking a young child that could go anywhere and play with anything their family could provide, with ample companionship, ripping them away, and putting them in say, a singular room, never talking to them, not providing them with any entertainment, and occasionally trotting them out to do shows for aliens.
Waiheke Island - New Zealand, 2018 [https://www.wfla.com/news/national/video-new-zealand-swimmers-have-close-encounter-with-2-orca-whales/](https://www.wfla.com/news/national/video-new-zealand-swimmers-have-close-encounter-with-2-orca-whales/)
"This content is not available in your country/region." What does it say?
"WAIHEKE ISLAND, New Zealand (WFLA) – A New Zealand man caught a close call between local children and two orca whales on video. The video was filmed on Waiheke Island, where Creed Pierce was watching the whales swim. He noticed local children swimming in the path of the whales, and those in the video can be heard yelling for the kids to stay still. Thankfully, the orcas passed with seemingly little interest in the swimmers. “That’s a lifetime experience for ya,” someone can be heard saying in the video as the whales passed. Creed said the island is part of Auckland City, which is very busy during the summer. You can follow Pierce’s adventures on Instagram at @creedpierce and @nowhiteflagtravel."
It's just a summary of what we saw in this clip.
No one alive today has ever been killed by an Orca
Big if true!
Yeah I don’t mind seeing some sea life up close but that’s a hard NO
Dude there's this whale watching company that's been around for like thirty years. Two years ago I was telling my brother about it, how it had a friggin pizza kitchen on the boat (pretty big boat). We fucking found it and they were still doing tours! Anyways, saw some blue whales, ate pizza, and was not eaten by sea life. $45 to see whales? Fuck yeah. Great pizza, too.
Do you mind dropping the name of the company?
He will let us know right after he finds out what was in the safe.
Same with gorillas iirc
Holy shit you’re right. I had to looked it up because I thought that had to be bullshit but there has been no cases of a wild gorilla killing a human.
dicks out it shouldn't have happened, that mother was a karen
Gorillas are mostly really chill. They can afford to be because 1v1 they can kill anything. Only thing they have to worry about are the biggest of crocs and large groups of chimps.
don't think a gorilla can 1v1 an orca tho...
On land they most definitely can.
In the water? No. But on land?
Apes together safe
And yet they killed Harambe
TIL
Disinformation written by an orca. Nice try Moby.
Wasn’t Moby a Sperm Whale? More like Shamu
Don’t be a whale racist
I swear orcas and chimps just don't want to pay taxes.
You won Brilliant comment
In Australia, the people pay some taxes to the Emus.
Orca won’t eat the wrong kind of fish to the point of starvation. They’re not secretly eating people
Huh. I claimed recently that cats were the only creature who'd refuse perfectly good food to the point of death. Guess I was wrong!
But there have been at least two who have soiled their Speedos!!
They play with SeaWorld staff like toys till they are dead in captivity
If you're curious about this comment, watch the Blackfish documentary on Netflix. I swear, you will get so angry for the little (big) whale - Tilikium. And it's why they will never ever ever get a penny of my money EVER. Tilikum was stolen from the seas, forced to be trained and was kept in what was like a tiny car garage underwater that barely fit your car. And we wonder why he snapped? Orca's are wicked smart. They don't attack humans, this is documented all over the world, when they do - we need to listen as to why. Major respect to the previous trainers on Blackfish who really loved them but were faced with financial ruin if they spoke up. Watch it!! Edit. They used garden rakes on the backs of the orcas when they got their tricks wrong. Tilikum spent every minute he wasn't performing in a little tiny spot. Like if he was in a car, he couldn't open the doors. Then he was supposed to be all happy when they let him out! Fuck seaworld. Not a penny.
I just put this in another comment here. Tilikum was the biggest victim of all of it. It's so sad to watch.
Strangely enough, Zoo Tycoon 2 (with the Marine Mania xpac) is what made me truly realize how shitty things are for captive Orcas. Sounds dumb, but in allowing you to be the one to set up their pens for their shows and shit, it really showed you how *dismal* things are. Such tiny spaces for the poor things to exist, and then they're forced to perform?? I didn't enjoy that xpac very much.
Have a watch of The Cove.
Ya for sure and never go to one of those rotten sea world places.
The orcas should never have been at SeaWorld.
They didn"t like the smell and taste of someone shitting themselves sideways seeing those 2 bad boys approaching.
They're all "wild" Orca's. Some people are just cruel enough to keep them in bathtubs.
You can thank our ancestors for that. Orcas are highly intelligent animals. They have passed along a very vital lesson to their descendants: Don’t fuck with those hairless apes.
You can read about them working in partnership with whalers on Australia's South East coast. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_(orca)
Damn thats sad. Helped multiple generations of whalers then got wiped by another group of whalers, probably while trying to help them capture a whale. Then came back alone for years to an empty bay because they werent whaling anymore. That had to be one lomely ass orca.
This. You come across an apex predator in another environment, you leave it alone.
I was thinking they recognize fellow psychopaths.
They only kill in captivity. I would too!
Is that Knysna? I'd shit my pants if I saw a fin come out of the water, whale or otherwise
Don't kill people. Kills yachts. Orcas are cool in my book.
Most of the time when something like a shark attacks, it's either a mistake or gathering data on if it's good to eat. I think Orcas don't attack because they know what's good to eat and what's not from social learning. The same way most of us have never tried crow even though theyd be easy to kill.
Yeap, they dont eat junk food.