This Is Why Orcas Are Called Killer Whales

when it comes to ruling the sea bigger isn't always better surprisingly some of the largest ocean creatures aren't dangerous at all the blue whale is the largest animal on the planet weighing as much as 33 elephants and all it eats is krill it's like eating a one centimeter piece of pizza and the whale shark despite its menacing name and 40 foot length only eats plankton and small fish so what does it really take to be at the top of the ocean's food chain specialized hunting skills a ferocious appetite and few if any natural predators oh

and sharp teeth don't hurt either when you think of the top ocean predators you probably think of sharks that's wrong the true ruler of the sea is the killer whale surprisingly they're not whales they're dolphins it's hard to believe that a cute animal like a dolphin is ruling the ocean right anyway we're going to explain this in the next minutes of the video killer whales are apex predators which means they have no natural predators they hunt in packs much like wolves which are also at the top of their food chain most often come across resident

killer whales which feed predominantly on salmon but we occasionally spot transient orcas which eat everything from fish to seals to sharks and even other whales gluttonous thing if you have any doubt about the killer whale's apex status consider this wildlife watchers off the coast of california witnessed an orca attacking a great white shark of course the orca won no contest interactions between the two typically do not end well for the shark in 1997 the first recorded interaction between a great white and orca was documented two orcas killed a great white shark and ate its liver

removing the liver and leaving the rest of the body is quite consistent behavior for orcas in 2017 five great whites washed ashore in south africa with similar signs the livers had been removed with incredible precision and orcas are believed the most likely culprit oh it's absolutely terrifying orcas are highly intelligent animals and work in groups when they hunt their very presence even when brief can have a huge impact on the surrounding ecosystem when the great white sharks flee and do not hunt in an area for up to a year the numbers of their prey do

not decline as they normally would which affects other areas of the ecosystem in turn it seems that orca whales can be considered the true apex predator of the ocean now why are orcas called killer whales are they swimming in the ocean with guns and killing everyone no let's explain why dolphins and whales are closely related orcas were given the name killer whale by ancient sailors observations of groups of orcas hunting and preying on larger whale species they called orcas assassina bayenas or whale killer a term that was eventually flipped around to the easier killer whale

their latin name or sinus orca also reflects this observation of orcas feeding on large whales or sinus means of the kingdom of the dead an orca refers to a kind of whale we know that orcas are top predators yes but not the vicious whale killer that the ancient mariners thought them to be if you could give orcas another name what would you call them let me know in the comments below killer whales look cute and have a friendlier image than great white sharks perhaps because of their respective portrayals in movies jaws too even begins with

the beached carcass of a half-eaten orca we mentioned a lot about the great white sharks so let's take a look at them too they can smell a single drop of blood floating in 10 billion drops of water they can detect movement from as far away as 820 feet and with powerful streamlined bodies and razor-sharp teeth great white sharks are as scary as it gets but don't worry they generally don't eat people and most attacks on humans aren't fatal anyway nevertheless i recommend you to be sure that you're not bleeding if you're gonna get in the

ocean great white sharks prefer to gobble up sea lions seals dolphins small toothed whales sea turtles sea birds and even the rotting flesh of dead animals they can reach speeds of 43 miles 69 kilometers per hour which allows them to surprise their prey and subdue it with a single bite great white sharks can even leave the water completely breaching like whales when attacking prey from underneath let's take a look at another animal that tire up in the food chain polar bears polar bears are land mammals is it hard to open your eyes in the water

buddy they spend much of their life at sea they're incredibly strong swimmers who have been spotted hundreds of miles from land polar bears mainly eat seals but also munch on belugas narwhal bow head whales walrus and sometimes fish look at that big bodies they need to be filled up so in summer when the sea ice melts and they don't have easy access to marine prey they may scavenge carcasses or search for bird eggs and berries seals are their preferred meal though and polar bears will wait for days for a seal to service at a breathing

hole when the seal finally pops up for air the polar bear swipes at it with its mighty paw and crushes it with a single bite from its powerful jaws polar bears are apex predators in the arctic but they do occasionally back down from a fight with a walrus another predator after the polar bears leopard seals leopard seals are quite cute until they open their mouths their jaws are wide and powerful and are lined with long razor sharp teeth they have no trouble ripping apart penguins and seal pups their favorite meals leopard seals are one of

the antarctic's most ferocious hunters take their penguin eating habits for example after they grab a penguin they thrash the bird back and forth until the skin peels away then they consume the carcass and feet and weighing up to a ton leopard seals have a virtually insatiable appetite and spend the majority of their time searching for prey they'll eat almost anything including fish squid crustaceans and even krill one leopard seal captured near sydney had eaten a full-grown platypus lastly there is one more animal that should not be forgotten in this list sea lions ah look at

that cuteness but this cuteness has three main predators to be careful of they include killer whales sharks and humans of course humans pose the biggest threat to them both in the water and on land than those other types of predators while we don't know too much about the interactions with sea lions and killer whales or sharks we definitely know plenty about their interactions with humans many researchers believe that the sea lion can easily swim faster than killer whales and sharks do you see this speed it's like they're the flash of the seas however it is

often the element of surprise that results in them being prey for these predators also the very young or those that are sick won't be able to move as fast so they're easier for these predators to capture sea lions can often sense when killer whales or sharks are close by their biggest defense to this is to get to the edge of the water and onto land sometimes these predators can jump up and still capture them though if they don't move far enough away from the edge of the water see you in the next video