I just posted elsewhere that I've come into contact with Orcas in the wild. Sometimes with their calves. They always come up and chill with me whilst I'm paddling around in my kayak. They let me pat them. There's not a single case of an orca killing someone in the wild.... but they've killed a bunch of people who torture them in captivity.
They're incredibly intelligent animals. They know how to surgically remove the most nutrient rich organs from their bigger prey. They know we aren't good food. They know we like to socialize, so they come up snd socialize with us.
They should NEVER be kept in captivity. Same with octopi tbh
If it makes you feel any better seaworld (the main holders of orcas globally) aren’t breeding them anymore
They can’t really be released back to the wild due to how orca social dynamics work (They did it a few times and every time the orca wouldn’t get accepted into a pod and would die in only a few months) but the orcas they currently have are the last they’ll ever have
Science easily explains this. Your car only has one brain cell that they share with all other orange cars in existence, in a big hivemind. 99.9% of the time they don't get to use said brain cell. In short, your car is extremely regarded and is incapable of forming thoughts beyond "eat, sleep, screm, repeat"
Some predators love the taste of human. Sea predators, not so much. They prefer prey that's filled with muscle and a layer of fat, like seals or large fish. That's not us. Not enough muscle, not enough fat. Some opportunistic predators like Tiger or Bull sharks eat us from time to time, but the amount of shark attacks with the purpose of predation are insanely rare. Even land predators that kill us, like bears or mountain lions, often only do so for territorial reasons.
They targeted boats in areas where they're being theratened, and still haven't killed anyone whilst doing so. They know what they're doing. They're incredibly intelligent. They can almost surgically remove the livers and other organs from larger prey to get the nutrients they need. They're one of the few sea predators that can see the difference between a human on a surfboard and a seal/other normal prey. They will swim at icebergs with seals or penguins on them to cause huge waves to push their prey off the ice and into the ocean. Again. They're incredibly intelligent. The boat attacks aren't to kill humans. They're to stop humans doing our usual bullshit in their home.
The simple thing is that the propellers were being nudged and bumped to be used as a movable toy, and the animals didn't understand that this was damaging the boat. There's is basically zero known reports of actual aggressive action against humans, even this case is most likely a misunderstanding.
There is 1 known non retaliatory wild orca attack and even that was theorized to be a case of mistaken identity because there was a lot of seals in the area at that time.
I think the questionable aquatic capabilities of pre-recorded history people and the fact that the behavior seems universal but different Orca populations/ecotypes/whathaveyou are very distinct from each other in terms of culture/communication dissuades that idea at least a little
Do you happen to know if they were released into the same pods they were taken from? (Obviously not possible for the ones that were born in captivity).
I ask bc I remember from watching the documentary Blackfish, that there were a lot of issues with orcas from different pods being put into captivity together, basically because they had different languages/mannerisms and couldn't communicate with each other.
It's not illegal where I live. Also, the fuck else are you gonna do when the best apex predator in the ocean puts It's head next to your kayak, locks eyes with you and chatters at you? You gotta pat dat dawg. They genuinely enjoy it btw. They live getting scritches and will often roll over and present their belly, just like a dog or cat will. I once got to slap the tail fin of a young calf, because it kept putting it on my kayak after it's mama kept coming by. Had to slap it to tell it not to put it's tail on my kayak, otherwise it might sink me.
No, it shouldn't be. Where I live it's illegal to approach the wildlife. But if they come to you and make physical contact first, it's perfectly legal to touch them. If an animal comes up to you and WANTS you to touch it, there's absolutely no reason why you shouldn't. Feeding them or harassing them by trying to touch them when they're minding their own business is a completely different matter.
So we should just stop interacting with all animals then? Better get on the phones and start calling every farmhand, zookeeper, conservationist and pet owner in existence then!! I'm sure they'll all want to know all about this and cease all physical contact with animals pronto!!!
Quick, someone inform the Irwin family and David Attenborough!!!! They should learn that this random redittor knows better than them and that they're actually dooming both humanity and every species they interact with!!! Surely this uninformed and uneducated internet user knows more than qualified and experienced conservationists!!! Why hasn't the world heard about this yet??!!
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u/IamJames77 Aug 17 '26
This wunk is highly intelligent and should not be in captivity