Orcas our buddies in the Sea, we treat so bad.

I have been always fascinated with these creatures. Apex predators of the Sea, living in all Oceans of the world, but have never attacked human in the wild. They seem to have complex, but peaceful societies, very complex language with possible separate local languages and dialects. Also recent studies of Orca brains have resulted into scientist questioning that the emotion part of human brain is the most complex among the mammals.

I wonder does anyone share my interest with these cetaceans?
Here are couple videos of one my favorite animals in action:







and couple more sad ones:

http://m.youtube.com/watch?v=YpBJIcC9W9Q

;)

Nice photoshop. What is weird is that actually it should happen all the time but they dont do it. They kill and eat pretty much everything in the Sea, but not us.

Orcas and dolphins fascinated me as a kid.

I still enjoy reading articles about their intelligence. I wouldn't call myself fascinated, more curious, mostly wondering how smart they really are and if they can match us.

I will assume you have seen Blackfish, right? Fantastic documentary, a real shame what they do to those orcas.

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

I will assume you have seen Blackfish, right? Fantastic documentary, a real shame what they do to those orcas.

Yes i have. It is simply tragic how we humans can behave. :(

That BBC document about Luna i posted in my first post is also example how tragic interaction between them and us can be, but in very different way then in Blackfish, which only shows too well the dark side of humans.

i i heard a story in australia about how a pack of orcas were helping whalers catch other whales by somehow driving them into a bay every now and then. as a reward they crew would afterwards give the tongue of the whale to the orcas. one time though there was a big storm and in their hurry to get home safely the captain decided to leave before giving the tongue to the orcas. that was the end of their deal, after being shown that the humans could not be trusted, the orcas never helped them again.

i dont know if its true, or just a local myth, but its a nice story :P

Originally Posted by The Stranger

i i heard a story in australia about how a pack of orcas were helping whalers catch other whales by somehow driving them into a bay every now and then. as a reward they crew would afterwards give the tongue of the whale to the orcas. one time though there was a big storm and in their hurry to get home safely the captain decided to leave before giving the tongue to the orcas. that was the end of their deal, after being shown that the humans could not be trusted, the orcas never helped them again.

i dont know if its true, or just a local myth, but its a nice story :P

Proof, orca's are NSB'ers ;)

Originally Posted by The Stranger

i i heard a story in australia about how a pack of orcas were helping whalers catch other whales by somehow driving them into a bay every now and then. as a reward they crew would afterwards give the tongue of the whale to the orcas. one time though there was a big storm and in their hurry to get home safely the captain decided to leave before giving the tongue to the orcas. that was the end of their deal, after being shown that the humans could not be trusted, the orcas never helped them again.

i dont know if its true, or just a local myth, but its a nice story :P

Interesting story. I will look into it, if i can find something concerning it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_...den,_Australia
http://www.wildaboutwhales.com.au/Wh...of-twofold-bay
http://www.nytimes.com/2005/11/05/ar...mart.html?_r=0


it doesnt say anything about the end of the cooperation, but there seems to be truth to the story i heard :P


i also found this

http://www.pbs.org/wnet/nature/episo...er-whale/1045/

Legend has it that when a local resident killed a beached orca — in essence breaking the pact with the orcas — the killer whales also left the waters around Eden. Clode, however, doesn’t believe that’s the reason the orcas left. “It’s tempting to conclude that the killer whales started leaving after the death of Jackson [the beached orca]. And there was a loss of that trust that had built up between humans and killer whales. But it’s hard to exclude the fact that the food supply was declining; the number of whales being caught was declining dramatically.”

Wow! That is pretty amazing. 90 years of cooperation between humans and Orcas. So basically it has been at least couple generations of Orcas of same pod that continued the cooperation. These creatures never stop amazing me.

yea atleast 2 generations i guess, possibly 3.

it also gives pause to think about how our current way of living makes the aforementioned cooperation impossible. Even for people who would not want to live that way, they are the victim of it because others do and don't care, in the broadest sense.

Originally Posted by The Stranger

yea atleast 2 generations i guess, possibly 3.

it also gives pause to think about how our current way of living makes the aforementioned cooperation impossible. Even for people who would not want to live that way, they are the victim of it because others do and don't care, in the broadest sense.

You are absolutely right. If you have not yet watched the BBC document from my starting post about Luna, who got lost from his pod and tried to make friends with humans. You should. It is an good example how hard it is for Orca to survive in habitat crowded with humans, even if there was no malice towards it.

I have found them fascinating since I saw the BBC documentary where they were filmed playing 'tennis' with a seal pup by hitting it into the air with their tails. Made me think they are more similar to us humans than we realise, in ways that we might not like to admit...

I couldn't find that clip, but check this out and thank your lucky stars that they don't consider us prey:

http://youtu.be/hPge_0lea3o

Thanks for sharing that. Orcas everywhere seem to have the habit to play with their food and it can be gruesome. We should make no mistake that these animals are Apex predators and can kill pretty much anything at the ocean. At least some of the "playing" seems to be the elder teaching the young ones hunting tactics as around the world Orcas have developed very different kind of ways to hunt.

One clear difference they seem to have compared to humans is that in nature there has never been a recorded incident of Orca killing another Orca.

weve found the superior species :P

I went on a orca watching tour in a zodiac type boat when I was in British Columbia a number of years ago. It was awesome to see them at a relatively close distance. One orca broke regs and approached the boat too close. It wasn't scary at all. We just got an even better look at this majestic creature. It was an amazing couple of hours.

Originally Posted by Gregoshi

I went on a orca watching tour in a zodiac type boat when I was in British Columbia a number of years ago. It was awesome to see them at a relatively close distance. One orca broke regs and approached the boat too close. It wasn't scary at all. We just got an even better look at this majestic creature. It was an amazing couple of hours.

@Gregoshi. I envy you my friend. I have been considering to go to Norway next winter to an similar viewing of the local resident Orcas, but in that tour there is also included an breathtaking opportunity that you can snorkel with them:

http://www.tysfjord-turistsenter.no/...erwhalesafari/

Kage, that looks so cool. Do it. You won't regret it.

The boat looks similar to the one I was on but they didn't allow us in the water. There were also Canadian regulations that the tour boats could only get so close to the orcas - something like 20 meters I think. But as I mentioned above, one orca decided to venture in closer to us before the boat operator could do anything about it. I don't think anyone on the boat minded at all.

Originally Posted by Andres

Orcas and dolphins fascinated me as a kid.

I still enjoy reading articles about their intelligence. I wouldn't call myself fascinated, more curious, mostly wondering how smart they really are and if they can match us.

Smart enough to know they are looking at theirselves in a mirror, pretty damn amazing that they get that.

Originally Posted by Gregoshi

Kage, that looks so cool. Do it. You won't regret it.

The boat looks similar to the one I was on but they didn't allow us in the water. There were also Canadian regulations that the tour boats could only get so close to the orcas - something like 20 meters I think. But as I mentioned above, one orca decided to venture in closer to us before the boat operator could do anything about it. I don't think anyone on the boat minded at all.

Im sure i will go next winter. Tysfjord is pretty unique as the Orca come eat the large herring schools that arrive around November and the number of Orcas is staggering. About 700 each winter.

EDIT: Gah! The video was cut in half. Here is similar fishing from Alaska.

Why bust on SeaWorld? They went so far as to use the staff itself for feeding. Not their fault the orca wanted mackerel.....




[sick humor, not intended for under-age consumption]

Originally Posted by Hooahguy

I will assume you have seen Blackfish, right? Fantastic documentary, a real shame what they do to those orcas.

Be careful when watching things like that. It's primary purpose is to push an agenda. The facts are often secondary to that. They make some good points, but they also distort quite a bit in service of the agenda.

Watch with a skeptical mind, ask questions and do some research- don't just accept everything at face value.

@Xiahou.We are drifting dangerously close to turning into a backroom thread and im not sure that is what i wanted when i started this one. Maybe you should have a different thread concerning the motivations behind documentaries thread in backroom and leave this one for Orcas? There should be lot of good examples concerning such thread and lot to talk about..

Originally Posted by Gelatinous Cube

Honestly, given the nature of the thread title, this was an environmental activism thread to begin with, and was always a backroom thread. That its still in the frontroom perhaps speaks to the one-sided nature this argument would take, but there's always someone willing to play devil's advocate. Apparently Xiahou has some thoughts on the Orca-loving hippy agenda, and I'd like to read them.

@Gelatinous Cube. I never made any other initial claim other then that i am fascinated by the Orca and i cant find much controversy from that claim. If you go strictly of the title of this thread. Humans have been witnessed to mistreat and kill these animals also, so it should not be controversial either. But if the consensus is such that you want to expand the issue and make it political. Lets go for it. I have just seen for so many years the political partisanship of BR that i would rather leave myself out from it together with this thread as my focus is to talk about the animals not humans and what humans do. That is exactly why i suggested for those who would like to talk of such angles a new thread they can start.

Originally Posted by Gelatinous Cube

Honestly, given the nature of the thread title, this was an environmental activism thread to begin with, and was always a backroom thread. That its still in the frontroom perhaps speaks to the one-sided nature this argument would take, but there's always someone willing to play devil's advocate. Apparently Xiahou has some thoughts on the Orca-loving hippy agenda, and I'd like to read them.

i'd go humans over orcas 10/10. Its a cold and cruel world, a Man's world, some would say.

The orca's can stand up for themselves, but they dont have legs. I know the left would blame this on me and the wealthy white middle class guy, but damnit, we already took the wrap for the dolphins. IM NOT PAYING REPARATIONS FOR THIS TOO!

TSVG

Originally Posted by phonicsmonkey

I have found them fascinating since I saw the BBC documentary where they were filmed playing 'tennis' with a seal pup by hitting it into the air with their tails. Made me think they are more similar to us humans than we realise, in ways that we might not like to admit...

I couldn't find that clip, but check this out and thank your lucky stars that they don't consider us prey:

http://youtu.be/hPge_0lea3o

Cats are also similar to us then =p

This basically sounds like they're our partners in crime in killing other animals.

I wonder what baby seals think about our praise for killer whales or about getting clubbed once vs. getting torn apart alive.

Originally Posted by Husar

This basically sounds like they're our partners in crime in killing other animals.

I wonder what baby seals think about our praise for killer whales or about getting clubbed once vs. getting torn apart alive.

And think what seals do to fish? And fish to plankton? It is a killing and eating fest out there.