May 22, 2023

"The female orca, whom scientists named White Gladis, appears to have taught the aggressive behavior to other adult orcas, whose children have begun imitating the behavior...."

"In most of the interactions, the orcas strike the rudder or hull, the underbody, of the boat.... Orcas are known to be extremely intelligent and capable of teaching one another certain behaviors, including actions that could be interpreted as violent....."

This post gets the "dolphin" tag, not the "whale" tag.

21 comments:

Temujin said...

That'll teach those boats to piss off a woman.

RideSpaceMountain said...

“They show extreme intelligence, even problem solving intelligence. Especially the big one. We bred eight, originally, but when she came in, she took over the pod and killed all but two of the others. That one...when she looks at you, you can see she's working things out."

- Robert Muldoon

gahrie said...

Killer whales are the Hell's Angels of the sea. They play with their food, hunt in packs, and apparently kill for the fun of it.

Yancey Ward said...

Day of the Orcas.

gilbar said...

whales are Villians! we should harpoon them, and USE their bio-oils!

MadisonMan said...

Should've named the Orca 'Karen'.

Martin L. Shoemaker said...

The distinction between whales and dolphins is complicated. “Whale” is used at multiple levels of scientific classification. At one level we have toothed whales (ondocentes), which includes dolphins, porpoises, and other whales with teeth. Killer whales are under the dolphin class. But at another level, whale refers to specific species which are not dolphins or porpoises. So the Whale tag is correct at the higher level.

Rocco said...

White Gladis, not White Karen?

n.n said...

The boats were deemed a "burden".

Bob Boyd said...

Killer whales pass by 2 swimmers near the beach.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Rx3kMtS2uOU&ab_channel=DanielKleynhans

BUMBLE BEE said...

Goddam whites!

Skeptical Voter said...

One bad Orca can ruin the whole neighborhood. You know that trashy couple down the street that's ruining house values. Happens in the ocean as well.

stlcdr said...

I feel like a lot (all) of these artlcles have an unwritten 'and what are we going to do about it?" or "how this reflects on the 'current thing' in human society - how bad the current target of the left is".

Maybe I'm just cynical.

madAsHell said...

Around Puget Sound, and in particular the San Juan Islands, there are several boat captains that will take you to watch the killer whales. They're not supposed to get that close.

Static Ping said...

Do they learn that this is a bad idea when they start getting shot at?

The regular problem with "maneater" animals is when they learn their mistake, they are in no position to warn anyone else that this is a poor idea.

Mark said...

First you Free Willy, then he plots the Orcan Global Revolution.

Kevin said...

White (orca) Supremacy.

Wince said...

Spot on! I saw that Dino De Laurentiis movie. Here's the trailer:

Orca (1977)

"They always remember the human that tried to harm them."

When the giant whale's pregnant mate is maimed and killed by Nolan, the whale seeks vengeance: smashing boats, attacking a seacoast village, and eventually luring his human adversaries to a final confrontation in the marine creature's own arctic turf. Charlotte Rampling, Will Sampson, and Bo Derek (in her feature film debut) also star in this seafaring epic brimming with nail-biting suspense and spectacular special effects.

Aggie said...

As a former boat owner sharing the water with other boat owners, I can understand the Orca's behavior.

rcocean said...

Hey kids, lets play the "Sink the boat, game"!

"cool mom, lets go"

Joe Smith said...

Sounds fishy.