Smart mammals
No doubt playing to their recent newsworthiness, the Discovery Channel had a special on killer whales that I watched this weekend. One scene shows a group of whales trying to get a seal. The seal was on an chunk of ice floating. So, the whales lined up in a row and swam rapidly toward the ice. This created a wave which knocked the seal in the water. You can see it here at about 1:58. And I’m thinking Wow, you guys filming this are on a boat. They tell me that the killer whales haven’t ever attacked and eaten people. At least in the wild. Later, one of the women in another scene got in the water with the whales. And they just seemed curious about her and weren’t aggressive. And they’re kinda like cats in that they play with their food.
Odd creatures.
March 9th, 2010 at 11:59 am
“They tell me that the killer whales haven’t ever attacked and eaten people”
Uh huh. Kinda like those “Wolves have never killed people” statements I’ve heard. When you eat the evidence, it kinda makes it difficult to prove. I saw one film clip of a seal on the beach, and the KWhale jumped right out of the water up onto the beach, snagged the seal, and then drug it back into the water.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:16 pm
In _The Worst Journey in the World_ about the ill-fated polar expedition of Scott’s crew, Cherry-Gerard describes killer whales circling and trying to bump-over ice on flows that the men were on.
March 9th, 2010 at 1:51 pm
They’re also just giant dolphins, Flipper on steroids.
March 9th, 2010 at 2:06 pm
Some groups of killer whales eat only fish, and mammals like seals are safe swimming alongside them. Other groups of killer whales eat only mammals and the fish are safe. So far it appears that this is a cultural difference rather than a physical difference.
I keep this National Geographic article at home. My favorite takeaway: “What do they do when they meet a great white shark? Lunch, according to witnesses.”
March 9th, 2010 at 5:37 pm
People are too bony for Orcas to eat and not enough fat.
Actually, most sharks don’t like to eat people either, same reason, too bony. Shark attacks are usually accidental, the shark was surprised in murky water, or mistook a human for a seal.
We have Orcas right in front of our house on occasion. Some of the locals paddle out in kayaks to see them up close. Nobody’s ever been attacked.
March 9th, 2010 at 6:52 pm
Middle of the night Northern Edge one year in Ketchikan. The Navy had their dolphins out looking for our scout-swimmers, who were going in to plant a simulated mine on a ship. All of a sudden we hear boats roaring around, fortunately none came near the swimmers.
When we got done with the op, thinking we finally beat the dolphins (you can’t beat the dolphins) we found out that the boats were the Navy going to recall their dolphins, orcas had been spotted in the area and they wanted them out of the water.
Apparently it costs more to acquire and train a Navy dolphin than it does a recon Marine. =/
March 9th, 2010 at 7:36 pm
A LOT more, according to my friend who works with them. When I asked how much, she just said, “You don’t want to know”