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Great White Sharks hunt seals near shore. The seals, in turn, hunt fish that often finds them going to sandy beaches where rivers meet the ocean. Humans like to

Great White Sharks hunt seals near shore. The seals, in turn, hunt fish that often finds them going to sandy beaches where rivers meet the ocean. Humans like to swim and surf on these beaches. This forces contact between humans and the sharks. Are there similar pressures to force Orca-human interactions?

teamhappy 9y ago
> Great White Sharks hunt seals near shore. Orcas do that too.
- kurthr 9y ago
  Are Oraca commonly found in water that won't cause hypothermia (eg death or unconsciousness) in less than an hour? That would be warmer 50F==10C. Anecdotally, I have only seen or heard of people seeing Orca in the PNW and Arctic where swimming without a wet/dry suit is not only uncomfortable, but deadly. Great White shark populations OTOH are concentrated in some of the most popular and temperate swimming areas in the world. Certainly, they are everywhere I have ever been swimming/diving. http://voices.nationalgeographic.org/files/2013/02/1104_072911sharks.gif http://voices.nationalgeographic.org/files/2013/02/1104_0729...
  - thewayfarer 9y ago
    Orcas do have large populations near Antartica, Norway, and Alaska, but they also have large populations along the American West Coast, Mexico, and Australia. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility has some good maps of observation recordings around the world for these two species. Orcas - https://www.gbif.org/species/2440483 https://www.gbif.org/species/2440483 Great white sharks - https://www.gbif.org/species/2420694 https://www.gbif.org/species/2420694
  - runeks 9y ago
    Good question. But according to this map[1] there should be plenty of beaches where orcas and humans might encounter each other. Given that orcas are able to learn how to drown white sharks, and catch birds by baiting with fish, couldn’t it just be that they have learned not to hunt humans, as they’ve experienced retaliation in the past? I’m pretty sure pre-historic humans would somehow retaliate if an orca grabbed a child from the beach and, because of that, it would make sense if orcas have simply learned not to do this. [1] https://dailyzooniverse.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/killerwhalerangemap.jpg https://dailyzooniverse.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/killerwh...
  - frankmcsherry 9y ago
    There is a surf spot in Morocco (Killers) named for the Orcas spotted there. They apparently show up periodically. Water is plenty warm.
  - nikofeyn 9y ago
    orcas, with humans, are one of the most widely distributed mammals. they live nearly everywhere.
thewayfarer 9y ago
Yes, orcas also hunt seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals that live on beaches. Orcas will even beach themselves in order to hunt these. And they've even been observed in freshwater rivers [1]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtF3FPyRVIw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtF3FPyRVIw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks40worW_gQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks40worW_gQ https://youtu.be/HY-mefETVZ8?t=3m44s https://youtu.be/HY-mefETVZ8?t=3m44s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkZKM47igpA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkZKM47igpA [1] http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=84 http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=84

teamhappy 9y ago

> Great White Sharks hunt seals near shore. Orcas do that too.

kurthr 9y ago
Are Oraca commonly found in water that won't cause hypothermia (eg death or unconsciousness) in less than an hour? That would be warmer 50F==10C. Anecdotally, I have only seen or heard of people seeing Orca in the PNW and Arctic where swimming without a wet/dry suit is not only uncomfortable, but deadly. Great White shark populations OTOH are concentrated in some of the most popular and temperate swimming areas in the world. Certainly, they are everywhere I have ever been swimming/diving. http://voices.nationalgeographic.org/files/2013/02/1104_072911sharks.gif http://voices.nationalgeographic.org/files/2013/02/1104_0729...
- thewayfarer 9y ago
  Orcas do have large populations near Antartica, Norway, and Alaska, but they also have large populations along the American West Coast, Mexico, and Australia. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility has some good maps of observation recordings around the world for these two species. Orcas - https://www.gbif.org/species/2440483 https://www.gbif.org/species/2440483 Great white sharks - https://www.gbif.org/species/2420694 https://www.gbif.org/species/2420694
- runeks 9y ago
  Good question. But according to this map[1] there should be plenty of beaches where orcas and humans might encounter each other. Given that orcas are able to learn how to drown white sharks, and catch birds by baiting with fish, couldn’t it just be that they have learned not to hunt humans, as they’ve experienced retaliation in the past? I’m pretty sure pre-historic humans would somehow retaliate if an orca grabbed a child from the beach and, because of that, it would make sense if orcas have simply learned not to do this. [1] https://dailyzooniverse.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/killerwhalerangemap.jpg https://dailyzooniverse.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/killerwh...
- frankmcsherry 9y ago
  There is a surf spot in Morocco (Killers) named for the Orcas spotted there. They apparently show up periodically. Water is plenty warm.
- nikofeyn 9y ago
  orcas, with humans, are one of the most widely distributed mammals. they live nearly everywhere.

thewayfarer 9y ago

Yes, orcas also hunt seals, sea lions, and other marine mammals that live on beaches. Orcas will even beach themselves in order to hunt these. And they've even been observed in freshwater rivers [1]. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtF3FPyRVIw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AtF3FPyRVIw https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks40worW_gQ https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Ks40worW_gQ https://youtu.be/HY-mefETVZ8?t=3m44s https://youtu.be/HY-mefETVZ8?t=3m44s https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkZKM47igpA https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AkZKM47igpA [1] http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=84 http://marinebio.org/species.asp?id=84