ORCA Attack Human?

[archman]

An additional concerning point: ORCAs that prefer to eat pengunis have refined the act of peeling the outer skin/feathers off (in a single piece) and eating the juicy inside. I suspect a wetsuit might be removed in a similar fashion.

I guess you were watching the same TV show I was, with the silly computer "modeling" that didn't really do anything. That video of the penguin "husk" floating to the bottom was absolutely great, however.

 

[Nay]

NO ONE wants to hear about penguins being peeled like a banana!!!!!!

:butnhome: + enguin2: = :15a:

La La La La La La La I can't hear you!!!!!

 

[Otter]

Nay, the seal throwing footage shows up in all the ORCA documentaries. I saw it Blue Planet and the latest one (the one with Pengun peeling). As I had mentioned earlier, their findings suggest that WHAT the Orca eats is largely social == they called it culture. Certain pods eat only fish, others only penguins, others whales...etc.

I thought it interesting that they only use Orcas that eat fish at Sea World et. al. Part of it, I am sure, is its easier to feed em fish than hunt down seals etc.. The other may be safety to the trainer. From that documentary, seems like the biggest risk to humans are from the rogue Orcas which seem to like the mammals, pinipeds (sp?)...I think before I dove in the water with an Orca, I wouldn't want to know what it eats...if its fish, I'd go...anything else...hmmm....I don't think so.

 

[Delta_P]

There are a number of cases of captive Orcas that have injured trainers. Usually bored or angry animals expressing themselves in one of very few ways available.

Early 1990's, Victoria, B.C. - a trainer was dragged under and held til she drowned.

After that incident and the demise of Sea Land at that site one the whales was sold down to Florida, where several years later a man was discovered drowned in its tank. No witnesses, so no one knows exactly what happened. It is assumed the deceased was an citizen of Planet Fluffbunny and had entered the tank to do the Vulcan mindmeld with the animal.

Years ago the head trainer at the Vancouver Aquarium told us a story about why they quit entering the tank and riding the animals during shows. The last time he did it he called one of the animalsl over to the platform and got on its back. Instead of following commands the whale swam to the centre of the pool, stopped, and slowly sank out from underneath him, leaving him treading water. The dominant whale in the group swam underneath him, grabbed his leg and pulled him under, releasing him almost immediately to pop back to the surface. It then nosed him back to the side of the tank and threw him out of the water onto the platform.

They didn't need an animal psychic to figure out the message.

 

[Otter]

So you are suggesting that diving with Orcas in the wild might not be too smart?

 

[archman]

I thought it interesting that they only use Orcas that eat fish at Sea World et. al. Part of it, I am sure, is its easier to feed em fish than hunt down seals etc.. The other may be safety to the trainer.

It's also a heck of a lot easier to survey, track, and select out candidates from the resident pods. A lot more whales to pick from, and you can set up predetermined capture points along their regular routes. Transient pods... ugh that's a much more time expensive method to procure a young killer whale. Leasing a properly equipped boat is usually the single greatest expense in these endeavors; the shorter the cruise the better.

 

[alaity47]

Ever seen the video of the pilot whale grabbing the snorkeler and dragging her down, while the other whales watched? THAT'S CREEPY.

Ooooh... that sounds cool! What video?