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7. Why is the Killer Whale called an Orca?
Both of the names come from the fear that this animal has instilled into our human hearts over the centuries. Their scientific name, Orcinus Orca, comes from the mythical Orcus. You may not have heard much about him but he was the Roman and the underworld, AND the punisher of broken promises. The genus Orcinus means “belonging to Orcus”.
6. Killer Whales Can’t Smell
The killer whale has very well-developed eyesight. The convex or spherical lens of marine mammals differs vastly from those of land mammals. A marine mammal's eyes compensate for the lack of refraction at the cornea interface by having a more powerful spherical lens. Killer whales also have a well-developed acute sense for hearing underwater, and they process sounds at a much higher speed than humans. They can hear each other from more than 10 miles away.
5. Hunting Strategies
Like I’ve said before Orcas are smart! They are highly social and hunt in coordinated packs. Their ingenuity and predatory intelligence is passed down from one generation to the next. Orcas will adapt their strategies according to their prey. They use echolocation to find their prey, sending out sonar clicks that bounce back to them and once they locate the target, it is ON!
4. Do they live up to their name?
Orcas aren’t whales themselves. They belong to the dolphin family (Delphinidae) and it is the largest of all dolphins. Whalers working off the coast of Australia claimed that Killer Whales would help them hunt other whales.
3. Killer whales have a unique dialect
Killer whales, just like all aquatic mammals, depend heavily on underwater sound for orientation, feeding, and communication. There are three different categories of music that killer whales produce: clicks, whistles, and pulsed calls. Clicks are commonly heard during social interactions but are also mainly used for navigating and locating prey and other possible obstacles in the surrounding environment.
2. Great White Shark vs Killer Whale
It’s very hard to imagine the terrifying great white shark as prey. In 2017, beachgoers were horrified to stumble across the carcasses of Great White sharks washed up on the beaches in South Africa. These bodies ranged in size, from as small as nine feet to as big as sixteen feet, but they all had large sets of puncture marks behind their pectoral fins. What was eating the apex predator of the sea??
1. Orcas and Humans
While so far their behavior may seem intimidating and violent, it is important to note that many Native American tribes respected the killer whale and believed they were a special protector of humankind. Killer whales were symbolic animals representative of mightiness and vigor, qualities aspired to by warriors. They were referred to as the “lords of the ocean” and would protect the waters with the help of dolphins.
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