This Is Why All Whales Are Afraid of Orca

The lion is the true king of the land,  but it, too, can be killed by hyenas. The eagle can be considered the king of the  air, but at night it’s absolutely defenseless against owls. And if we talk about the underwater  world, it seems that orcas simply have no equal here.

. . But this is not entirely true.

Today  you will learn why orcas need a whale's tongue, why they use other animals to play, how they storm  the shores, and who has a chance to kill the king of the oceans after all. Let's go! I don’t think I need to explain what orcas  are.

They are huge, black and white, predatory, and just devilishly smart. No kidding. To understand how powerful orcas are as hunters, it’s enough to say that  they have a thoughtful plan for each hunt.

Depending on what exactly is the future dinner,  orcas (and they almost always hunt in groups) choose a certain strategy. For example, they  need to disorient a shark to eat it. For a school of small fish something like a carousel of air  bubbles will do.

And when it comes to whales. . .

It's better to see with your own eyes. The attack  follows a brutal, but working scheme: orcas take turns ramming, biting and pulling the whale by  the pectoral fins and, as a rule, exhausting their prey. Even despite the size difference, one gets  tired of such a thing.

Imagine being bitten by several medium-sized dogs at the same time. . .

And  then they also try to drown you. Yes, orcas block the whale's breathing hole, and after a chase that  can last for hours, the exhausted giant drowns. Whales, of course, come in all sorts of ways,  too.

Some of them, especially the young ones, aren’t much bigger than orcas themselves. But  what about the blue whale? It is said to be the largest creature that has ever existed on our  planet.

It weighs over 190 tons! "That's what we're going to eat! " — orcas must have thought. 

And they rammed it. And now think about it: several orcas, which are actually just toothed  dolphins, turned a blue whale to flight. .

. Even a giant like that prefers not to mess with them. But the most common prey of killer whales are baby whales.

It’s so common that whales even protect  the offspring of other species if they can. For example, humpbacks were once seen guarding  a small gray whale, and it was already dead. They simply didn’t allow the killer whale  to finish what they started.

. . Probably, because they know what happens with the prey,  because orcas are suchgourmands.

Humpback whales' calves are one of their favorite dishes, and orcas  often eat only their tongues, and leave the rest of carcass for scavengers. Why? Well, apparently,  it's very tasty.

By the way, the same thing happens with sharks: orcas eat only their liver,  because it contains useful substances. In short, sharks are kind of like vitamins. And you know, here I am talking about how orcas prey on different types marine animals.

. .  Can't anyone stand up to them?

Just so long as it doesn't come down to the sperm whale.  Orcas hunt females and calves of this species, but try to stay away from the males: the heavy and  powerful tail of the sperm whale has the potential to deliver fatal blows. The exact force of such  blows is unknown, but an adult sperm whale weighs about ninety tons.

That's about ten times the  size of a classic Routemaster double-decker bus. Orcas wouldn't stand a chance. .

. if the sperm  whale were a little more aggressive. And smarter Most whales are huge, but they’re really  not that intelligent.

Apparently, all that they have are their tails. What if that same  sperm whale was as smart as a human? Hey, you, yep, on the other side of the screen, what  would you do if you were a sperm whale suddenly attacked by an orca?

Surely you would turn around  faster aaaand. . .

Hit it with a tail! Or maybe you could use your teeth? Each of them weighs 2.

2  pounds, it would be nice to start using them! Another predator that can fight orcas back is  the great white shark. You know, the creepy one, with the killer eye.

Orcas are considered the  only natural enemies of great white sharks, and if the shark manages to bite first, the  rows of razor-sharp teeth can pierce even the thickest skin. I think it's the species that  can win this fight if it attacks first. If not, a special hunting strategy will come into play,  as I've already mentioned.

The killer whale pushes the shark to the surface with its broad tail,  then stuns it. . .

And then the killer whale, as if having some knowledge of shark biology, flips the  prey, disorients and paralyzes it. Bon appetit. So who can beat an orca anyway?

I thought of  stingrays, but they're just part of the menu. Sea crocodiles have incredible biting power  and a thick skin that no killer whale would bite through. .

. But the jaws just don't open  wide enough to bite off anything important. Maybe you have some ideas?

Write them in the  comments and we'll be sure to read them. As I said before, orcas have many well-honed  hunting techniques that they use depending on their prey, the landscape. .

. I don't know,  maybe depending on their mood too. Or they check their horoscope.

But one technique in  particular struck me. Watch the hands. .

. Or fins. Seals often get out of the water on the ice floes  to take a break.

Nothing threatens them there, which means they can safely chill while bobbing  on the waves. Orca is too heavy to climb on the ice floe and eat a seal. But it can always call  its bros.

Several predators line up, accelerate, and then brake right in front of the ice floe,  creating a wave that just washes the prey away. All the orcas have to do is to catch it in the  water. There’s nothing difficult here, they do it all the time.

Sometimes, however, the prey manages  to climb back onto the ice, and then the huge wave attack is repeated. Again. And again.

And  again. No one's in a rush here, you know. As you've probably figured out by now, orcas are  intelligent, ruthless predators that.

. . And what's that?

Oh, another one. Maybe it means something. .

.  Yes, in addition to their other qualities, orcas are known for their rather strange playfulness.  And they play like real psychos, literally.

No, seriously, look at this: instead of just eating  a poor seal, orcas use it instead of a ball. And again. And again.

Sometimes it's a kind of  practice, just to keep their killer skills up. Sometimes it's a demonstration for the younger  generation. And sometimes the game remains just a game.

Orcas kill because they’re bored.  Hey, Steve, what should we do tonight? Let's throw other animals until they die! 

By the way, it's not just seals that suffer: sometimes it can be a stingray, a turtle,  or even a penguin. God, it's a bird! you, because if an orca decides to eat someone,  it will reach its goal.

Seals that are about to make it ashore look like a challenge. . .

or the  perfect prey to play with. And what else would you call this way of hunting, when an orca almost  jumps ashore to grab its dinner running away? As if there weren’t enough other prey in the sea, for  the sake of which it’s not necessary to break the laws of nature and get on land.

However. . . 

Look at it. What laws! It.

Wants. A seal. Sometimes this desire can turn into serious  problems for orcas.

You can find tons of videos online of these predators who got too carried away  hunting, missed the tide and. . .

Yep, that's right. They got trapped. I can literally hear the seals  laughing in the distance.

In such a situation, the orca has only one option for salvation: to get  help from people and wait for the tide to return to the sea. Of course, no one will drag a huge  animal weighing three to five tons into the water on their own. Well, and in case there’re no people  around.

. . Well, natural selection in action.

I can't say that the population of killer  whales would diminish without human help, but several dozens of these marine predators  certainly owe their lives to people. Maybe that's why they sometimes play so happily  with us. Fortunately, not as much as they do with seals.

. . at least not usually.

It all  looks pretty innocent, even funny. Even cute! For example, this orca named Lunalostits  family and is so used to people that it acts like a playful puppy.

A multi-ton sea puppy. Looking at how orcas play with people, somehow  you forget that they’re cruel predators, and they have no equal in the sea. And if you've seen  Free Willy, you probably can't help but get the feeling that you're being shamelessly deceived. 

And it's true: Hollywood is the chief deceiver. Even those orcas that perform in aquariums, aren’t  the sweet, good-natured creatures. The best and most horrifying example is Tilikum, a trained male  involved in at least three human killings.

The first was Keltie Byrne, who slipped and fell into  a pool where Tilikum and two other orcas were. They tossed the girl between them with their jaws,  submerged her in the water and prevented her from surfacing. Keltie drowned.

The second victim was  a man who sneaked into Tilikum's pool after the aquarium closed. But the third human attack was  the worst. The orca dragged an experienced trainer Dawn Brancheau into the water by the hair  right at the beginning of the show.

In front of an astonished audience, Tilikum played with  the victim as if she were a toy. . .

By the time the people could get Dawn, she was already dead.  What about the killer? Well.

. . it soon went back to performing Don't let the money go to waste.

The most recent tragedy occurred at SeaWorld Orlando amusement park, but orcas aren’t only  kept there. I think they are in every SeaWorld aquarium, and they don't seem to forget their wild  habits anywhere. They are predators that have no equal in the ocean, they’re strong and intelligent. 

Why not hunt in the middle of the pool? So at SeaWorld San Diego orcas don't just attack when  they see something edible in front of them, they use bait to get the birds to come closer. And they  do so quite deliberately, tossing pieces of.

. . what is that, fish?

So, pieces of fish closer,  and then they wait. And it works! Orcas probably hunt birds just for the sake of hunting.

They're  playing. But you know. .

. Maybe from Tilikum's perspective all the vics were part of the game  too? I would prefer to stay as far away from orcas as possible.

Especially if they are kept  in captivity and are already too used to humans. What if to them we are just skinny hairy seals? See you later!