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+--- Thread: Orca - Killer whale (/topic-orca-killer-whale)
RE: Orca - Killer whale - AndresVida - 11-05-2022
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the size of bull orca's dorsal fins is truly astonishing when you proportionally compare it to female's ones
RE: Orca - Killer whale - AndresVida - 11-14-2022
Reposting some feasts of the alpha predator of the modern oceans
Lone Orca attacks and tears apart an unlucky grey whale
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Lone Orca (adolescent) attacks and finishes off an adult elephant seal bull
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Another subadult killer whale preying on a same sized subadult elephant seal
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Lone orca preys successfully on an adult humpback whale
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RE: Orca - Killer whale - AndresVida - 11-14-2022
March of 2019, researchers at the Cetacean Research Centre in Western Australia were conducting annual surveys when they spotted orcas attacking an adult blue whale. The blue whale was between 60 and 70 feet long, while orcas top out at 30 feet. As the scientists recorded the scene, at least 12 orcas brutalized the blue whale, with female predators “leading the way.” A month later, the researchers witnessed another group of orcas kill a blue whale calf. A third incident, in which orcas killed a blue whale yearling, took place in March of 2021. The researchers detailed the three attacks in a paper published this week in Marine Mammal Science.
“This is the biggest predation event on this planet—the biggest apex predator taking down the biggest prey,” Robert Pitman, a marine ecologist at Oregon State University’s Marine Mammal Institute, told National Geographic. “We don’t have dinosaurs anymore, so for me as a whale biologist and a zoologist, it’s an amazing thing.” .”
Amazing—and brutal. During the first attack, the researchers observed teams of orcas tearing chunks of skin and blubber from the blue whale as well as biting off its dorsal fin. After hours of relentless assault, three killer whales lined up and rammed the blue whale onto its side while two orcas attacked its head. Meanwhile, a third orca swam inside the mouth of the blue whale and began eating its tongue, which is apparently a nutritionally dense organ.
Pitman says these coordinated attacks are perfected over many years. “Killer whale groups live for human life spans or longer, and so they hunt together cooperatively for decades and decades,” he said. “You can learn a lot about how to work together when you practice together as a team.”
In the course of six hours, more than 50 orcas arrived to feed on the blue whale carcass, according to the paper’s authors, as well as hundreds of seabirds, including at least one albatross. “We visited the kill site for six days after the attack, and for the first few days, there was a large slick on the surface where oil was emanating from the carcass on the seafloor,” the researchers wrote.
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RE: Orca - Killer whale - Matias - 03-07-2023
First account of apparent alloparental care of a long-finned pilot whale calf (Globicephala melas) by a female killer whale (Orcinus orca)
Quote:Abstract
Interactions between killer whales (Orcinus orca (Linnaeus, 1758)) and long-finned pilot whales (Globicephala melas (Traill, 1809)) have been documented on numerous occasions, usually involving predation events and pursuits. Here, the first documented account of a long-finned pilot whale calf seen in echelon position with one killer whale in a group of three killer whales is described, along with one further interaction of the same killer whale group with other long-finned pilot whales. Behavioral, locational, and photographic data were recorded and analyzed for killer whales between 2011 and 2022 and for long-finned pilot whales between 2019 and 2022 off West Iceland. The data were used to obtain background information on the killer whale group involved in the apparent alloparental behavior. The described event also presents the first documented account of epimeletic behavior of a killer whale toward a non-conspecific. The movements of the same killer whale group in conjunction with other killer whales during a subsequent interaction with a group of long-finned pilot whales do not fit any previously observed behavioral patterns described for interactions between these species and may represent an active effort to obtain another long-finned pilot whale calf. Long-finned pilot whale and killer whale interactions might be more complex than previously thought and influenced by multiple drivers.
RE: Orca - Killer whale - hibernours - 07-05-2023
I have always been impressed by the power (and not only its power of course) of this animal and i have a 2 quite simple questions:
1. Is there any study on the bite force of this animal?
2. Has anyone ever evaluated the force generated by their tail? This animal seems capable to knock out a man with a blow from its caudal fin...
Thanks.
RE: Orca - Killer whale - Bitishannah - 07-09-2023
A great white shark can take down any orca at parity!.
RE: Orca - Killer whale - Spalea - 07-12-2023
@Bitishannah
About #51:
" A great white shark can take down any orca at parity!. "
Absolutely childish assertion. Adult white shark's weight: between 2 tons and 2,5 tons. Adult orca's weight: 6-8 tons. Indeed, at parity of weight, an adult white shark would take down a juvenile orca. Congratulation ! Are you happy ?
RE: Orca - Killer whale - Bitishannah - 07-24-2023
Nothing childish about this. The whale is not macrepredatory as much as sharks in general.