Seaworld San Diego: When Killer Whales go wild

[The Forbidden Eye]

Warning: The video below has content that may be not appropiate for small children due to the nature of these Orcas.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=52o5yV6G7tY
Apparently the Orcas killer instincts came in and made this Pelican their meals. Watch the video from beginning to end. Please take this into account before you see this show in person. You never know if this can repeat.

[DLyouth27]

That was kind of awesome, and I'm not sure why. But thanks for sharing!

[MagicWDI]

That's nature at its greatest! That pelican landed in the wrong pool of water.

The weird thing it appears they didn't like the taste of it with all the large pieces still left over. Maybe they don't like feathers?

[Exprmnt626]

They don't actually eat the birds they catch. It's an expression of their hunting instinct, but they're so well-fed they don't eat them. They're more like toys than food.

[Nancywitt]

When you click on the link, you see other videos on how bad killer whales can be in these type of shows. They are still wild afterall.

[MagicWDI]

Orcas are the top predators of the oceans, even above sharks. They may not be as straight forward or rash as sharks, but they do consume more for their large size, thus leading them to be the deadliest predators in the waters. There are also many accounts of Orcas killing sharks in defense, even Great Whites. This usually happens when they make their migration with their young while the parent Orcas are in defense mode.

If they wanted to they could take out all of those trainers in a single heart beat. This is their natural instinct since humans are the perfect feeding size. Orcas normally hunt and consume sea lions and seals, which are just about the size of those trainers. But orcas are very intelligent creatures and are said to know the difference most of the time in a calm mode, unlike sharks who have evolved into prime hunting and feeding machines. They lack smarts for skills, so when a shark is hungry or senses food they instantly go on the hunt. BTW, Shark Week is happening right now on Discovery Channel!

If orcas are kept calm humans can interact with them easily. But if an orca is in another other mode, such as defense or feeding mode for example, they can become more dangerous than a shark and kill anything around it. We have to remember that when seeing these orca shows we are not looking at domesticated animals. They are still very wild animals. They may be intelligent enough to learn new things from humans and interact with them in a respectable manor, but they could still be switched into a killing mode easily without any sign or warning. That is what they do.

Random note: I tend not to use the name Killer Whale since they are not really whales, rather they are large dolphins. However, the "Killer" part of their secondary name does fit. They are awesome creatures, if I don't say so myself.

[Exprmnt626]

What's even more fun is that the whales catch birds all the time. The trainers often save the bigger bits and use them as environmental enrichment devices

[Alice's Wonderland]

I knew someone who worked at SeaWorld and had to clean the orca tank and said it was disgusting the amount of bird beaks and feet that are always at the bottom.

[drb]

If they wanted to they could take out all of those trainers in a single heart beat. This is their natural instinct since humans are the perfect feeding size. Orcas normally hunt and consume sea lions and seals, which are just about the size of those trainers.

Which makes it all the more remarkable that orcas very rarely attack humans in the wild, far rarer than shark attacks on humans (and far, far rarer than orca attacks on great white sharks). I remember reading that there's only been one major orca attack where they bit into a human like it was prey, and then they broke off the attack suddenly, as if to say "oops." It's like they know to be wary of us, even though we look tasty and not very intimidating. And even when the orcas attack a trainer, they don't bite into them and tear them apart in seconds, like they would with anything else, including stupid birds, they just thump into them or drag them underwater.

[MagicWDI]

Which makes it all the more remarkable that orcas very rarely attack humans in the wild, far rarer than shark attacks on humans (and far, far rarer than orca attacks on great white sharks). I remember reading that there's only been one major orca attack where they bit into a human like it was prey, and then they broke off the attack suddenly, as if to say "oops." It's like they know to be wary of us, even though we look tasty and not very intimidating. And even when the orcas attack a trainer, they don't bite into them and tear them apart in seconds, like they would with anything else, including stupid birds, they just thump into them or drag them underwater.

There are virtually never any attacks on humans by orcas because humans hardly ever swim or wade in orca waters. Orcas are usually in deeper seas or sometimes shallower waters where seals or sea lions gather. Orcas usually know what they are eating. Sharks on the other hand usually don't. They will attack anything that looks, smells, or feels like pray. If people tred in shark waters they usually are asking for it. But then again death by a shark is really rare. More people die a year by falling coconuts than sharks. (Also learned that one from Shark Week.)

[PirateMunkee]

That was so awesome. Just a reminder that we don't control nature and that we are just a part of it. I remember one time I was fishing off the coast of Santa Cruz and I witnessed a 8 foot Blue Shark attack and eat a seagull that was sitting on top of the water. I love stuff like that, not that I'm a violent person but the fact that I like to be reminded of my place on this planet. Just a part of nature.

[techskip]

There was a really really good documentary on PBS in regards to the Orcas in Austrailia which helped the whalers catch their prey! It was a Human/Orca partnership, that allowed the whalers to catch the largest whale ever caught! Also of note, I specifically remember watching a nature show covering Great Whites. It was off of the CA coast (by the islands) and they were tracking a large female Great White.... out of nowhere there is this rush of water and the Great White is literally cut in half by the Orca... turns out the pod was migrating and they had calves so this was a preemptive strike!

[The Forbidden Eye]

That was so awesome. Just a reminder that we don't control nature and that we are just a part of it. I remember one time I was fishing off the coast of Santa Cruz and I witnessed a 8 foot Blue Shark attack and eat a seagull that was sitting on top of the water. I love stuff like that, not that I'm a violent person but the fact that I like to be reminded of my place on this planet. Just a part of nature.

Totally agree with you on that one.

[krystledm]

WOOT!

that was like a nature show or something, i'm kind of proud of the whales, "we aren't going to do these tricks anymore! here birdy birdy birdy..."

[SCUBAbe]

they eat/play with the birds all the time there. Some have learned how to regurgitate fish and when the birds land in the water to eat it they attack the birds.

here's a baby orca playing with a seagull it caught. (san deigo)