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Only some of them. The transient orca are the ones who eat mammals and don't have large social groupings. The resident orca have larger (matriarchal) social gro

Only some of them. The transient orca are the ones who eat mammals and don't have large social groupings. The resident orca have larger (matriarchal) social groups and don't eat other mammals, just fish. It's always amazing to me that we have multiple intelligent (how intelligent is uncertain), social species right here on our own planet, and we spend such a tiny fraction of our energies as a society trying to communicate with them.

JumpCrisscross 10y ago
> The transient orca are the ones who eat mammals and don't have large social groupings. The resident orca have larger (matriarchal) social groups and don't eat other mammals, just fish. Source? Also, what does "resident orca" mean in this context?
- wcameron 10y ago
  https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale#Types https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale#Types
  - niccaluim 10y ago
    "Transients and residents live in the same areas, but avoid each other." Not so different from humans, then.
    - Roboprog 10y ago
      Or elephants? Matriarchal herd vs non-breeding "rogue" males.
- deleted 10y ago
  [deleted]
rtpg 10y ago
Out of curiosity, what are the intelligences of whales compared to, say, dogs? Do you think we'll ever reach a point where "real" communication would be possible?
- Spooky23 10y ago
  Whales are usually considered smarter than dogs. Many of the smart things that dogs do are conditioned responses -- they adapt their wiring for pack behavior to human relations and are perceptive about many emotional and other cues. I believe that whales have been observed performing more complex creative or problem solving tasks, and can probably communicate concepts between whales.
5xman 10y ago
Your comment and the parent really surprise me. Passing such moral judgements based on the diet of a species seems a bit 'youtubish'. Using the same logic one could argue that humpback whales are the real assholes since they protect those seals and sea lions so they can prey on those tiny, little penguins which are the cutest. (Seals even rape them :'( http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141117-why-seals-have-sex-with-penguins4 http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141117-why-seals-have-sex-w...)
- Dylan16807 10y ago
  > Passing such moral judgements based on the diet of a species Causing harm to social intelligent species, such as by eating them, is objective. In theory another species could eat plants and also attack mammals for fun all the time. That species would also be assholes. This isn't a judgement based on 'diet', it's a judgement based on how they interact with others. > since they protect those seals and sea lions That's not the same logic. The same logic might lead you to call seals and sea lions assholes, but it wouldn't extend to the whales.
  - dhimes 10y ago
    In theory another species could eat plants and also attack mammals for fun all the time. I think I know a species that does that.
  - 5xman 10y ago
    (Please, excuse my english) I think I agree with you 100% based on what I think your comment reveals about your ideas. The point I was trying to make is that it's too often that we judge animal behavior based on our mental constructs, when I think it makes no sense at all even for the most intelligent of the animal species. Somebody pointed out that we are not so different from animals, and so it shouldn't be a big stretch to apply our labels to animal behavior. But I think we are so far from animal behavior that it makes it very difficult to analize/understand it without a really big effort and a long time of study. Scientists get very close, but internet comments are too often narrow-minded. Orcas are not 'killers', at least not more than any other predator. They are very intelligent and gregarious, and they eat other animals. Jumping from this to 'they are assholes' was, in my opinion, not called for. In what 'interaction with others' was this based on? I think a real judge would have a hard time trying to distill intent from animal interactions. Your second point is completely right. But as a matter of fact, I think that both whales, seals, sea lions and all animals in general are all fine gentlemen. I have my doubts about that monkey pulling the legs (literally, and the tails) of two tigers, though.
buserror 10y ago
Why would we communicate with them? I mean, it's not like we're trying very hard to communicate with every single human subgroup either. And some of them we definitely NOT want to communicate with. Reverse being true; if I was a whale, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to get involve in that human business and become so bitter that I'd lose the drive to be altruist ;-)
dragandj 10y ago
Orcas are loners and don't like large social groupings? Hmmm, I think I've found my new favorite animal! :)
pvaldes 10y ago
Some cetologists think that Killer whale is not one species, but a cryptic species complex, with (at least) four very related and very similar (but not identically marked) species. Different ecotypes seem avoiding to breed with each other and are evolving independently. Both 'transient' and 'type B' eat marine mammals. Some 'type A' chase cetaceans also. The smaller of all 'Type C' eat fishes. Some species mix in a gradient and things can get very complicated. In the end we could have only one or up to nine species of killer whales here.

JumpCrisscross 10y ago

> The transient orca are the ones who eat mammals and don't have large social groupings. The resident orca have larger (matriarchal) social groups and don't eat other mammals, just fish. Source? Also, what does "resident orca" mean in this context?

wcameron 10y ago
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale#Types https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale#Types
- niccaluim 10y ago
  "Transients and residents live in the same areas, but avoid each other." Not so different from humans, then.
  - Roboprog 10y ago
    Or elephants? Matriarchal herd vs non-breeding "rogue" males.
deleted 10y ago
[deleted]

rtpg 10y ago

Out of curiosity, what are the intelligences of whales compared to, say, dogs? Do you think we'll ever reach a point where "real" communication would be possible?

Spooky23 10y ago
Whales are usually considered smarter than dogs. Many of the smart things that dogs do are conditioned responses -- they adapt their wiring for pack behavior to human relations and are perceptive about many emotional and other cues. I believe that whales have been observed performing more complex creative or problem solving tasks, and can probably communicate concepts between whales.

5xman 10y ago

Your comment and the parent really surprise me. Passing such moral judgements based on the diet of a species seems a bit 'youtubish'. Using the same logic one could argue that humpback whales are the real assholes since they protect those seals and sea lions so they can prey on those tiny, little penguins which are the cutest. (Seals even rape them :'( http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141117-why-seals-have-sex-with-penguins4 http://www.bbc.com/earth/story/20141117-why-seals-have-sex-w...)

Dylan16807 10y ago
> Passing such moral judgements based on the diet of a species Causing harm to social intelligent species, such as by eating them, is objective. In theory another species could eat plants and also attack mammals for fun all the time. That species would also be assholes. This isn't a judgement based on 'diet', it's a judgement based on how they interact with others. > since they protect those seals and sea lions That's not the same logic. The same logic might lead you to call seals and sea lions assholes, but it wouldn't extend to the whales.
- dhimes 10y ago
  In theory another species could eat plants and also attack mammals for fun all the time. I think I know a species that does that.
- 5xman 10y ago
  (Please, excuse my english) I think I agree with you 100% based on what I think your comment reveals about your ideas. The point I was trying to make is that it's too often that we judge animal behavior based on our mental constructs, when I think it makes no sense at all even for the most intelligent of the animal species. Somebody pointed out that we are not so different from animals, and so it shouldn't be a big stretch to apply our labels to animal behavior. But I think we are so far from animal behavior that it makes it very difficult to analize/understand it without a really big effort and a long time of study. Scientists get very close, but internet comments are too often narrow-minded. Orcas are not 'killers', at least not more than any other predator. They are very intelligent and gregarious, and they eat other animals. Jumping from this to 'they are assholes' was, in my opinion, not called for. In what 'interaction with others' was this based on? I think a real judge would have a hard time trying to distill intent from animal interactions. Your second point is completely right. But as a matter of fact, I think that both whales, seals, sea lions and all animals in general are all fine gentlemen. I have my doubts about that monkey pulling the legs (literally, and the tails) of two tigers, though.

buserror 10y ago

Why would we communicate with them? I mean, it's not like we're trying very hard to communicate with every single human subgroup either. And some of them we definitely NOT want to communicate with. Reverse being true; if I was a whale, I'm pretty sure I wouldn't want to get involve in that human business and become so bitter that I'd lose the drive to be altruist ;-)

dragandj 10y ago

Orcas are loners and don't like large social groupings? Hmmm, I think I've found my new favorite animal! :)

pvaldes 10y ago

Some cetologists think that Killer whale is not one species, but a cryptic species complex, with (at least) four very related and very similar (but not identically marked) species. Different ecotypes seem avoiding to breed with each other and are evolving independently. Both 'transient' and 'type B' eat marine mammals. Some 'type A' chase cetaceans also. The smaller of all 'Type C' eat fishes. Some species mix in a gradient and things can get very complicated. In the end we could have only one or up to nine species of killer whales here.