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And why do killer whales never kill humans in the wild?
by sunstone 7y ago
And why do killer whales never kill humans in the wild?
- elbrian 7y agoWhy? (Is this a setup for a joke?)
- rabidrat 7y agoThey were named 'killer' for some reason, but the only known attacks on humans are from Orcas in captivity. They're not innocuous and sweet, of course, but they got a bad rep for a couple decades and so weren't a 'charismatic' species to save, and their populations suffered greatly as a result. See "Blackfish" the documentary.
- telesilla 7y agoWhalers called them Killer Whales, perhaps originally Whale killers, from observation of their behavior
- JackFr 7y ago'Blackfish' was an excellent documentary, and I came away from it fully believing that we shouldn't hold orcas in captivity. A chilling (and fascinating) point in the movie is that when one of the orcas nearly kills a trainer, the killer whale doesn't bite or buffet the trainer, but instead holds him underwater to drown him.
- golover721 7y agoIt’s incorrect to say that the only attacks have been in captivity. There have been a couple of documented “attacks” on humans in the wild. One which required extensive stitches. It is true that there there have been no documented deaths from Orca attacks in the wild. Scientists believe the attacks are just a case of mistaken identity and that is why the damage has been minimal. As soon as the Orca realized that it was not a seal or something else they like to eat, they backed off.
- senorjazz 7y agoHuman beings don't really share the same habitats with orcas? Maybe we don't taste good?
- sunstone 7y agoThey eat deer and moose swimming by (transients), not to mention sea lions. There are a lot of divers in their waters world wide.
- pvaldes 7y agoThey can do it, in fact.
- sunstone 7y agoTrue enough they can, but they don't.
- pvaldes 7y agoWe had discussed this here before, killer whales are a complex of species, comprising maybe four or five different species. Some species eat fish and other eat mammals. Killer whale species that eat fish are smaller and either ignore people or will shown curiosity about people. They spy, play, snoop or even steal fish from people. They live in the coast. Killer whale species that eat mammals are bigger, they hunt dolphins, seals, sea lions and fin whales. They can attack, and most probably they will attack people if they have the slighest opportunity. They gladly hunt polar bears that are bigger than any human and have much stronger fangs and claws They are pelagic or live in arctic regions so if you fall to the water you are dead yet in any case.
- sunstone 7y agoThe population of mammal eaters is growing quickly now around Vancouver. Stay tuned.
- golover721 7y agoBecause humans tend not to be the ice cold water that Orcas tend to inhabit?
- sunstone 7y agoJust one example, there are probably hundreds of divers in the ocean between San Francisco and Alaska every day, and there also hundreds of Orca in those same waters every day. And yet the record stands. And that's just one coast line.
- Bendingo 7y agoOrcas have also been know to cooperate with humans https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whales_of_Eden,_New_South_Wales https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whales_of_Eden,_New_Sou...