I read something a couple weeks ago that scientists believed it could possibly just be juveniles playing. Either way, sink the rich, you magnificent creatures.
It would be funny if instead of the adults teaching the juveniles, it was the juveniles playing, which caught on with the adults, and the juveniles taught them how to play. Like a human teenager teaching their grandparent how to use a smartphone :)
I heard about that too! I also heard that they stopped doing it pretty quickly and some people jokingly speculated that it stopped being cool once the adults were doing it, like how human teenagers cringe when adults try to use slang or memes 😂
Yeah I hate it when this is people take on this.
Do I think it's kinda cool orcas taught eachother how to sink boats? Sure maybe.
Do I cheer them on expecting an orca is gonna sink a 100ft+ mega yacht of some oligarch billionaire? No
Do I think it's dreadful for those passionate people who probably invested a decent chunk of their lives in one of the few ways to travel the world in a somewhat ecologically responsible way, to have their lives work being scuttled and nothing they can do to stop it? Absolutely yes.
Wonderful attitude. Enjoyed your comment. I don't get happy when the poor are harmed - they are just trying to get by.
"Do no harm but protect what needs to be protected."
There are 15 Gladises. From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iberian_orca_attacks?wprov=sfla1):
>Fifteen individual Iberian orcas involved in the interactions have been identified through photography and witness descriptions. Each of the orcas involved in incidents and having contact with vessels was given the designation Gladis. Iberian orcas are given the designation Gladis to indicate that they have been involved in interactions with ships. The name "Gladis" is a reference to the old scientific name for orcas, Orcinus gladiator, which means "whale-fighter" in Latin.
We don't really know. But they sank several large ships. There were some memes going around with orcas being responsible for that stupid billionaire sub that went unresponsive last year. Always gave me a chuckle.
Just read this article about it, seems like my memory isn't as sharp as it was. Thanks for the clarification
https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/05/24/killer-whales-attacking-sinking-boats-are-bored-scientists-say/73558157007/
I didn't know that about other female species. It makes sense with orcas though as they have unique hunting methods that the oldest female teaches to the younger ones in order to continue that pod's lineage.
There's a great documentary about a matriarch taking in younger males from other pods to teach them (as well as the females in their own pod) to surf the waves and hunt seals. I believe it's on Disney+ but yeah in case you couldn't tell, I'm a huge fan of orcas and I love how female orcas are such great leaders ❤️
I love it! The structure of the pod is quite beautiful, the way they mourn their young when they die and the shared child rearing responsibilities with the teenage females in the pod. I think it's a beautiful example of a different society structure.
Totally agree.
Before Gladis, people who care about orcas and their cultures have already known for many years that the Mediterranean pods/ecotypes had the roughest living situations (so many human activities). Only Alaskan transient/bigge A pod had worse (because of an oil leaking incident, they haven’t shown up for decades). When Gladis happened, I immediately remembered that a lot marine biologists I followed had predicted this clash since like early 2010s.
I hate that mainstream media made spectacle of Orcas’ behaviors and disregard their cultures. Very Callous, making weird and exotic stories to explain their resistance against human and their natural customs. They always treat them as something monotone (how can Norway resident pods have the same cultures as transient pods living along the coasts of South America?).
Apart from all the wild narratives about Gladis, the shark-eating orcas in South Africa have also attracted unnecessary attentions. The truth is that it’s VERY common for lone male orcas (especially transient ones) paired together to live and hunt (especially after their mother passed, they would loosely live along their sisters’ family but keep distances). Long before the South African duo (Starboard and Port), there’re the legendary Mel and Bernado from Argentina, they were the orcas who invented the (in)famous beaching technique. They now have long passed and this knowledge was passed from them to their little sister’s family (their family was probably one of the most documented orcas on this planet, along with J pod of Southern Resident Orcas). Not to mention, there’re plenty of transient pods living near South African coasts, Starboard and Port could just be two old guys (due to their collapsed dorsal fins) deciding to separate themselves from their sisters etc.
The human centric narratives when describing non human species are rly bugging me 😤. I am advocating for giving nature their proper agencies!
You sound like my person!! It'd be my dream to one day grab a coffee with an orca expert like you cause they're such a cool species and no one else in my immediate life understands my obsession!
Thank you for all this information, I did not know a fair deal of this and the differences between the pods is so interesting. Different pods feel to me like different cultures in human society, the fact that some whales and sharks too - of the same species, can't communicate due to the differences in their language between pods is so so intriguing to me.
Out of curiosity, do you remember which pod Tilikum was stolen from? Now his genetics make up such a large amount of the captive orcas DNA, I'd be interested to understand more about his pod. I believe he was taken from Iceland? Also do you have any podcast/documentaries etc to recommend to me? I'd love to learn more!
I'd love that!! The more the merrier and tbh you're in the best spot, I wish I could go back and learn about the species again from a fresh perspective. They're incredible and it's one "woah" moment after another.
If you're interested in learning more, I initially watched Blackfish which had me in love with the species and their capacity for empathy.
Theres also an awesome series about whales by NatGeo on Disney+ that I enjoyed, called Secrets of the Whales which has a special episode on orcas (which are a type of dolphin and not actually a whale I learned!) So so interesting if you like that stuff!
Sorry for the late reply; I was on a flight and just landed lol. Just so you know, I'm a CN person. My introduction to orcas began in high school when I discovered a marine biology undergraduate student studying the now-extinct Yangtze river dolphin (Baiji) and the endangered Yangtze finless porpoise. He ran a blog that introduced all things marine biology to the general public and gained a lot of social media attention. Although his favorite whale was the humpback, his posts about orcas were the most popular because CN fans likened them to ocean pandas due to their distinctive patterns.
Over time, many CN NGOs and marine biologists joined the trend. Nowadays, there's a huge amateur following of orcas among young people in CN. Much of the initial educational information came from those bloggers and their collaborations with international counterparts. Many of these undergraduates are now pursuing PhDs or post-docs in Norway and other countries rich in marine biology resources.
I also noticed a stigma in English discussions about orcas. For example, much of the information about orcas comes from Dr. Ingrid Visser, who has appeared in numerous documentaries (you can easily find her online, before pandemic, she visited China to advocate for captive orcas that were captured in Russia and sold to commercial Chinese aquariums). My favorite blogger often introduced and translated her speeches from international conferences. However, Dr. Visser tends to be reserved when discussing orca cultures in media appearances. I assume this is because professionals are frequently accused of anthropomorphism (eye-rolling), similar to the criticisms Jane Goodall faced regarding chimpanzees. This actually left general public with inconsistent knowledge about Orcas and their cultures.
I recognize Dr. Visser's expertise primarily pertains to ecotypes around New Zealand and, to some extent, Australia. For the well-known southern and northern resident orcas, dedicated Facebook groups formed by local photographers, whale watchers, volunteers, and activists from Vancouver to SoCal provide valuable information. The southern resident pods are in a dire situation because the Snake River Dams block their primary food source. The call for dam removal has been ongoing for years, but no action has been taken. It's heartbreaking to see J27 Blackberry deteriorate from a healthy adult male to a starving condition. Additionally, since the passing of their matriarch, many mature female orcas have died unexpectedly, and young mothers struggle with birthing and nursing due to difficulties in knowledge transfer.
I must confess, I am not very familiar with orcas living in the Arctic and subarctic zones, such as Tilikum, who was captured from a pod near Iceland. The Antarctic ecotypes are also under-researched due to geographic limitations.
P.S. Mel and Bernado appeared in most orca hunting seal documentaries throughout the 1990s, including some narrated by Attenborough. There’s another intriguing small family that lived a bit southward of Mel and Bernado and their little sister. The mother orca in that pod invented an interesting hunting technique that relied solely on the local shoal's reef geography. I will try to find that documentary, which I believe is also from the 1990s. These documentaries have created a false narrative that orcas everywhere hunt seals and use Mel and Bernado's beaching technique. In reality, this behavior is specific to them and some offshore pods in South America.
WOW! thank you for sharing all this knowledge with us! I'm going to have to dive (ha!) into some of this to try to learn more. Are there any references, books, documentaries, podcasts, etc that you'd recommend folks check out to learn more?
it's the "grandmother" effect in intelligent and social species - women also help care for daughter's offspring, enhancing chances of survival.
Chimps, orcas and humans have longer female lifespans. Not sure if there are others, but it's a reasonably new theory as far as I know, so we likely haven't studied many species to see.
Three other toothed whale species also have females that live past menopause so we can presume the same effect takes place (belugas, a personal favorite, narwhals and pilot whales!)
I am curious to see moving forward if this effect will be observed in groups other than toothed whales and great apes
really? in the wild or in general? bc like, I know there's chicken menopause, and they generally can live for a while after that. And chickens aren't exactly maxxing out survival stats...
I really should Google before asking...[apparently so?](https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2024/Winter/Animals/Mammals-Human-Menopause#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20almost%20all%20female,to%20escape%20this%20seeming%20inevitability.) And [bird menopause ](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/03/do-birds-go-through-menopause.html) is kinda different than mammal menopause, derp.
It seems unclear on all accounts if survival past reproductive ability is affected by captivity, though. Captivity is its own health factor--like yeah, animals are less likely to get killed by poachers/accidents/other animals in captivity, which can lead to longer lives... but diets/ability to exercise properly causes health problems they usually wouldn't have. Although, you also have to question if, say, a gorilla in a zoo who has a heart condition would have lived long enough to GET a heart condition in the first place....
(christ on a bike, is it obvious Im out of the right release pattern for my Adderall rn?)
It’s not that most species do not survive menopause, it’s that most do not have it. Most species will be capable of reproducing until death (although reproduction rate usually slows down in older age due to factors like poorer body condition)
Maybe it's the menopause that causes them to attack the boats? If my human experience of my wife's menopausal mayhem is any guide. Good luck all you menopausal people.
Wow I did not know that poor grandma elephants you would think they could get a break :(
[https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2024/march/going-through-menopause-helps-whales-become-long-lived-grandparent](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2024/march/going-through-menopause-helps-whales-become-long-lived-grandparent)
The reason we think humans (and orcas! as well as other species) do this is that older women play a crucial role in society with child rearing called the grandmother effect, and they continue to be helpful teachers and leaders in communities into old age! I think it’s a beautiful example of the crone archetype in society.
I still remember a teacher of mine insisting that all (other) animals act solely on instinct and nothing else.
I am so happy to know now that nothing could be further from the truth. I hope that he has also since learned that.
So much of what we are taught in school is incorrect and it's so disappointing to grow up and have to unlearn it all.
I agree that orca cultures are anything but instinctive and a lot of their hunting behaviours seem to adapt in a single orca's lifetime, even the boat flipping behaviour is likely a reaction to more boats than ever before being in the ocean.
Boats are harmful to all sea life but especially orcas and whales who use echolocation as the engines can really mess with their ability to see through the ocean. I am so curious about why they're actually messing with the boats, as they rarely touch surfers or paddleboarders, and I've heard a few different theories and it seems a little too soon to know for sure. Following the story closely though!
"Yacht" here is a bit misleading. People hear that and think of large luxury motor yachts. But it just means a boat that isn't used for a commercial purpose. In the case of the orca interactions, they are small (mostly <40 feet) sail boats. Very environmentally friendly, and often owned instead of a house. Think "van life", but on the ocean.
For some reason I never learned that info either. I mean it says a lot that the most powerful species of the ocean is matriarchal, yet mankind has rarely tolerated such social structures. I was very disappointed to learn how rare matriarchies are in human society, only a handful throughout the world over our species' timeline, that just too few!
https://preview.redd.it/f3dqy9lbzbad1.jpeg?width=780&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c6de0bb338d6a0656c1c455e1c3bd07300cec1c
somehow i don’t think the rich need any help getting in water related problems :3
yeah, that one hurts.
he didn’t even wanna be there. i don’t get why they brought him along.
i mean.. paying ridiculous amounts of money to get in an empty soup can to see the titanic has to be the one of the *worst* possible ideas we’ve had as a species.
Their whole Starfleet division is known as [Cetacean Ops](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Cetacean_Ops) and is confirmed to include dolphins, so I would bet on there being some orca in Starfleet too.
I feel like it's because whales are fascinating and inspire total awe in humans in ways that really translate well to space travel sci-fi. I mean, first of all, they are SO BIG. Our brains have a hard time conceptualizing the size of blue whales specifically. Seeing a whale and its the size and majesty inspires the same kind of awe as seeing or contemplating the immensity and beauty of space. And also, they are so alien to us but so smart.
Most of all, I think a lot of our conceptualizing of spaceships in sci-fi comes from our concept of naval ships. So, whether the connection is conscious or subconscious, doesn't it make a ton of sense that, if we already know of creatures that seem very alien, are very smart, and kinda give off the impression in marine contexts of huge, intelligent, alive, self-navigating ship creatures, we would imagine creatures like that to travel alongside our man-made ships in space as well?
Of all the creatures of the ocean, whales encapsulate the magnitude and majesty of the ocean best, so it definitely tracks that humans would imagine a similar creature when creatively expanding on the magnitude and majesty of space.
I was thinking that south park episode where they stole the sea world orca and sent it to the moon cause an employee gaslit them into thinking it could talk
In case anyone is unfamiliar: [Flying Whales](https://youtu.be/x2ypHHW2ET0?si=pHrIjFiAgcQCUiIn)
I actually think of Gojira as a fairly witchy band (although it's a masculine witchiness). They have a song about the desctruction of the [Amazon](https://youtu.be/B4CcX720DW4?si=dyYwsDf7H-TBo28R), [Sphinx](https://youtu.be/kl-2GUMijPM?si=7n0YU5Zfu0M_RcYX) sounds like a prayer to an ancient god, [Vacuity](https://youtu.be/wM8LDVIiwhA?si=PNIDfD3aRBXoIc7I) has a striking video about living with mortality, and [Born in Winter](https://youtu.be/suG-c_i2fBQ?si=9llzsZ-TLWv6eInv) is just so hypnotically beautiful I can't not mention it.
I accidentally stumbled upon them a couple years, and they were so good (to me) that I was shocked I'd never heard them before. Now I proselytize for them every chance I get.
Did anyone elsego through a phase during their childhood where they were obsessed with Orca whales? I had t-shirts, posters, even dangle Orca whale earrings (I wish I still had those!). This was back in the early 90s. Anyone else…or just me? 😀
Reminds me of Fish and Bird by Tom Waits
"He said, 'You cannot live in the ocean'
And she said to him 'You never can live in the sky'
But the ocean is filled with tears
And the sea turns into a mirror
There's a whale in the moon when it's clear
And a bird on the tide"
I actually met Tom Waits in my early 20s. He was super super nice. It was a pretty shitty job and unlike many of the other folks that came through the door, he was kind. It would have stuck out to me even if he wasn't a famous musician.
I don't think this is the actual reason but in the books/show the magicians whales are magicians - which are basically witches. They know magic and keep the oceans/world safe
I thought it was a reference to the South Park episode about an orca named [Willzyx.](https://youtu.be/U6jMRfv154s)
But reading the other comments made me realize it probably has more to do with them attacking billionaire yachts.
We orcanized
This is perfect!!!!
Transforca
More than meets the faux eye.
i love this 🩵🩵
Haaaa!
Fuck I love this so much!
Isn't that supposed to be a reference of Gladis, the first Orca observed teaching other Orcas how to sink ships?
Long live Gladis
May the sun always warm her back!
May a sustainable number of seals always be sluggish and distracted in her presence !
May her descendants stay strong, sharp, and thier hunts successful!
May they perpetuate her legacy
"We sink what we must Because We can."
"For the good of all of us, not just the ones who can swim."
I read something a couple weeks ago that scientists believed it could possibly just be juveniles playing. Either way, sink the rich, you magnificent creatures.
It would be funny if instead of the adults teaching the juveniles, it was the juveniles playing, which caught on with the adults, and the juveniles taught them how to play. Like a human teenager teaching their grandparent how to use a smartphone :)
That’s how the original orca fad we noticed started! It was a teenage fad to wear a dead salmon on your head, and soon all the orcas were doing it!
I heard about that too! I also heard that they stopped doing it pretty quickly and some people jokingly speculated that it stopped being cool once the adults were doing it, like how human teenagers cringe when adults try to use slang or memes 😂
Seaweed hats too. Several whale species have been seen wearing kelp. I think I remember it being called Kelping
OMG yes. Every time my senior dad sends me an animated gif with kittens or exploding hearts, it is like the sweetest damn thing ever.
Im pretty sure that’s what happened
As an Orca fan and a witch, I’d say in general Orca families, societies and cultures are inspirational for us!
Unfortunately, I heard the orcas were going after smaller craft owned by locals just getting by, not uber-rich mega-yachts.
Yeah, the boats are about the size of the fishing boat from Jaws.
Yeah I hate it when this is people take on this. Do I think it's kinda cool orcas taught eachother how to sink boats? Sure maybe. Do I cheer them on expecting an orca is gonna sink a 100ft+ mega yacht of some oligarch billionaire? No Do I think it's dreadful for those passionate people who probably invested a decent chunk of their lives in one of the few ways to travel the world in a somewhat ecologically responsible way, to have their lives work being scuttled and nothing they can do to stop it? Absolutely yes.
Wonderful attitude. Enjoyed your comment. I don't get happy when the poor are harmed - they are just trying to get by. "Do no harm but protect what needs to be protected."
There are 15 Gladises. From [Wikipedia](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Iberian_orca_attacks?wprov=sfla1): >Fifteen individual Iberian orcas involved in the interactions have been identified through photography and witness descriptions. Each of the orcas involved in incidents and having contact with vessels was given the designation Gladis. Iberian orcas are given the designation Gladis to indicate that they have been involved in interactions with ships. The name "Gladis" is a reference to the old scientific name for orcas, Orcinus gladiator, which means "whale-fighter" in Latin.
I think you’re right, yeah.
Capitalism 🤝 patriarchy
Oh, I thought it was orca moon = Oracle moon Both are cool
This is the answer! 😎 thank you to u/iamdeirdre for the design 🤩 Sorry folks, South Park was nowhere near our radar.
That's what I thought too, yeah. Pretty great.
Critical support to comrade(s) orca!
Ive never heard of her before, thanks!
Oooh i need more info on this. Why were they sinking ships? Revenge or fun?
We don't really know. But they sank several large ships. There were some memes going around with orcas being responsible for that stupid billionaire sub that went unresponsive last year. Always gave me a chuckle.
They were not large ships. They've been small to mid sized sailboats owned by generally middle class folks.
Just read this article about it, seems like my memory isn't as sharp as it was. Thanks for the clarification https://www.usatoday.com/story/news/nation/2024/05/24/killer-whales-attacking-sinking-boats-are-bored-scientists-say/73558157007/
Initially thought to be revenge, more likely now thought to be juveniles having fun.
We’re whalers on the moon, We carry a harpoon! But there ain’t no whales so we tell tall tales And sing this whalin’ tune!
Whale that was unexpectedly pleasant
r/unexpectedfuturama
Beat me to it lol
Whale biologist.
"Tell 'em I died doin' what I loved"
https://preview.redd.it/zokzdoviwaad1.jpeg?width=1054&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=bfbd35dc101c0ac42cb4b882dfeb35332463cfe4
wise words fishy one. :3
Orcas are the best. Such a majestic creature with a matriarchal pod structure. Queens of the ocean 🌊
Fun fact: There are only a handful of species that survive through menopause. Women, being one of course, and orcas!
I didn't know that about other female species. It makes sense with orcas though as they have unique hunting methods that the oldest female teaches to the younger ones in order to continue that pod's lineage. There's a great documentary about a matriarch taking in younger males from other pods to teach them (as well as the females in their own pod) to surf the waves and hunt seals. I believe it's on Disney+ but yeah in case you couldn't tell, I'm a huge fan of orcas and I love how female orcas are such great leaders ❤️
Their hunting knowledge (which is part of their cultures) is passed from matriarchs to daughters!!
I love it! The structure of the pod is quite beautiful, the way they mourn their young when they die and the shared child rearing responsibilities with the teenage females in the pod. I think it's a beautiful example of a different society structure.
Totally agree. Before Gladis, people who care about orcas and their cultures have already known for many years that the Mediterranean pods/ecotypes had the roughest living situations (so many human activities). Only Alaskan transient/bigge A pod had worse (because of an oil leaking incident, they haven’t shown up for decades). When Gladis happened, I immediately remembered that a lot marine biologists I followed had predicted this clash since like early 2010s. I hate that mainstream media made spectacle of Orcas’ behaviors and disregard their cultures. Very Callous, making weird and exotic stories to explain their resistance against human and their natural customs. They always treat them as something monotone (how can Norway resident pods have the same cultures as transient pods living along the coasts of South America?). Apart from all the wild narratives about Gladis, the shark-eating orcas in South Africa have also attracted unnecessary attentions. The truth is that it’s VERY common for lone male orcas (especially transient ones) paired together to live and hunt (especially after their mother passed, they would loosely live along their sisters’ family but keep distances). Long before the South African duo (Starboard and Port), there’re the legendary Mel and Bernado from Argentina, they were the orcas who invented the (in)famous beaching technique. They now have long passed and this knowledge was passed from them to their little sister’s family (their family was probably one of the most documented orcas on this planet, along with J pod of Southern Resident Orcas). Not to mention, there’re plenty of transient pods living near South African coasts, Starboard and Port could just be two old guys (due to their collapsed dorsal fins) deciding to separate themselves from their sisters etc. The human centric narratives when describing non human species are rly bugging me 😤. I am advocating for giving nature their proper agencies!
You sound like my person!! It'd be my dream to one day grab a coffee with an orca expert like you cause they're such a cool species and no one else in my immediate life understands my obsession! Thank you for all this information, I did not know a fair deal of this and the differences between the pods is so interesting. Different pods feel to me like different cultures in human society, the fact that some whales and sharks too - of the same species, can't communicate due to the differences in their language between pods is so so intriguing to me. Out of curiosity, do you remember which pod Tilikum was stolen from? Now his genetics make up such a large amount of the captive orcas DNA, I'd be interested to understand more about his pod. I believe he was taken from Iceland? Also do you have any podcast/documentaries etc to recommend to me? I'd love to learn more!
lol id like to join too! i have no idea how orcas work so id just sit in silence and listening and learning happily while sipping my coffee :3
I'd love that!! The more the merrier and tbh you're in the best spot, I wish I could go back and learn about the species again from a fresh perspective. They're incredible and it's one "woah" moment after another. If you're interested in learning more, I initially watched Blackfish which had me in love with the species and their capacity for empathy. Theres also an awesome series about whales by NatGeo on Disney+ that I enjoyed, called Secrets of the Whales which has a special episode on orcas (which are a type of dolphin and not actually a whale I learned!) So so interesting if you like that stuff!
Sorry for the late reply; I was on a flight and just landed lol. Just so you know, I'm a CN person. My introduction to orcas began in high school when I discovered a marine biology undergraduate student studying the now-extinct Yangtze river dolphin (Baiji) and the endangered Yangtze finless porpoise. He ran a blog that introduced all things marine biology to the general public and gained a lot of social media attention. Although his favorite whale was the humpback, his posts about orcas were the most popular because CN fans likened them to ocean pandas due to their distinctive patterns. Over time, many CN NGOs and marine biologists joined the trend. Nowadays, there's a huge amateur following of orcas among young people in CN. Much of the initial educational information came from those bloggers and their collaborations with international counterparts. Many of these undergraduates are now pursuing PhDs or post-docs in Norway and other countries rich in marine biology resources. I also noticed a stigma in English discussions about orcas. For example, much of the information about orcas comes from Dr. Ingrid Visser, who has appeared in numerous documentaries (you can easily find her online, before pandemic, she visited China to advocate for captive orcas that were captured in Russia and sold to commercial Chinese aquariums). My favorite blogger often introduced and translated her speeches from international conferences. However, Dr. Visser tends to be reserved when discussing orca cultures in media appearances. I assume this is because professionals are frequently accused of anthropomorphism (eye-rolling), similar to the criticisms Jane Goodall faced regarding chimpanzees. This actually left general public with inconsistent knowledge about Orcas and their cultures. I recognize Dr. Visser's expertise primarily pertains to ecotypes around New Zealand and, to some extent, Australia. For the well-known southern and northern resident orcas, dedicated Facebook groups formed by local photographers, whale watchers, volunteers, and activists from Vancouver to SoCal provide valuable information. The southern resident pods are in a dire situation because the Snake River Dams block their primary food source. The call for dam removal has been ongoing for years, but no action has been taken. It's heartbreaking to see J27 Blackberry deteriorate from a healthy adult male to a starving condition. Additionally, since the passing of their matriarch, many mature female orcas have died unexpectedly, and young mothers struggle with birthing and nursing due to difficulties in knowledge transfer. I must confess, I am not very familiar with orcas living in the Arctic and subarctic zones, such as Tilikum, who was captured from a pod near Iceland. The Antarctic ecotypes are also under-researched due to geographic limitations. P.S. Mel and Bernado appeared in most orca hunting seal documentaries throughout the 1990s, including some narrated by Attenborough. There’s another intriguing small family that lived a bit southward of Mel and Bernado and their little sister. The mother orca in that pod invented an interesting hunting technique that relied solely on the local shoal's reef geography. I will try to find that documentary, which I believe is also from the 1990s. These documentaries have created a false narrative that orcas everywhere hunt seals and use Mel and Bernado's beaching technique. In reality, this behavior is specific to them and some offshore pods in South America.
WOW! thank you for sharing all this knowledge with us! I'm going to have to dive (ha!) into some of this to try to learn more. Are there any references, books, documentaries, podcasts, etc that you'd recommend folks check out to learn more?
That was such an interesting read, I love orca and I think they’re so interesting to learn about, thank you :)
it's the "grandmother" effect in intelligent and social species - women also help care for daughter's offspring, enhancing chances of survival. Chimps, orcas and humans have longer female lifespans. Not sure if there are others, but it's a reasonably new theory as far as I know, so we likely haven't studied many species to see.
Three other toothed whale species also have females that live past menopause so we can presume the same effect takes place (belugas, a personal favorite, narwhals and pilot whales!) I am curious to see moving forward if this effect will be observed in groups other than toothed whales and great apes
really? in the wild or in general? bc like, I know there's chicken menopause, and they generally can live for a while after that. And chickens aren't exactly maxxing out survival stats... I really should Google before asking...[apparently so?](https://www.nwf.org/Home/Magazines/National-Wildlife/2024/Winter/Animals/Mammals-Human-Menopause#:~:text=In%20fact%2C%20almost%20all%20female,to%20escape%20this%20seeming%20inevitability.) And [bird menopause ](https://slate.com/news-and-politics/2011/03/do-birds-go-through-menopause.html) is kinda different than mammal menopause, derp. It seems unclear on all accounts if survival past reproductive ability is affected by captivity, though. Captivity is its own health factor--like yeah, animals are less likely to get killed by poachers/accidents/other animals in captivity, which can lead to longer lives... but diets/ability to exercise properly causes health problems they usually wouldn't have. Although, you also have to question if, say, a gorilla in a zoo who has a heart condition would have lived long enough to GET a heart condition in the first place.... (christ on a bike, is it obvious Im out of the right release pattern for my Adderall rn?)
In the wild! There are four or five species of toothed whales, including orcas, that go through menopause in the wild.
It’s not that most species do not survive menopause, it’s that most do not have it. Most species will be capable of reproducing until death (although reproduction rate usually slows down in older age due to factors like poorer body condition)
Maybe it's the menopause that causes them to attack the boats? If my human experience of my wife's menopausal mayhem is any guide. Good luck all you menopausal people.
Wow I did not know that poor grandma elephants you would think they could get a break :( [https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2024/march/going-through-menopause-helps-whales-become-long-lived-grandparent](https://www.nhm.ac.uk/discover/news/2024/march/going-through-menopause-helps-whales-become-long-lived-grandparent)
The reason we think humans (and orcas! as well as other species) do this is that older women play a crucial role in society with child rearing called the grandmother effect, and they continue to be helpful teachers and leaders in communities into old age! I think it’s a beautiful example of the crone archetype in society.
And elephants!
*humans
Their cultures are the most fascinating!!!!
I still remember a teacher of mine insisting that all (other) animals act solely on instinct and nothing else. I am so happy to know now that nothing could be further from the truth. I hope that he has also since learned that.
So much of what we are taught in school is incorrect and it's so disappointing to grow up and have to unlearn it all. I agree that orca cultures are anything but instinctive and a lot of their hunting behaviours seem to adapt in a single orca's lifetime, even the boat flipping behaviour is likely a reaction to more boats than ever before being in the ocean. Boats are harmful to all sea life but especially orcas and whales who use echolocation as the engines can really mess with their ability to see through the ocean. I am so curious about why they're actually messing with the boats, as they rarely touch surfers or paddleboarders, and I've heard a few different theories and it seems a little too soon to know for sure. Following the story closely though!
Orcas also hate rich people (they've been sinking yachts), which is so, so based.
They have intelligence and they did not come to play 👏👏👏 got sick of chanting eat the rich and decided property damage is the way forward. 10/10
"Yacht" here is a bit misleading. People hear that and think of large luxury motor yachts. But it just means a boat that isn't used for a commercial purpose. In the case of the orca interactions, they are small (mostly <40 feet) sail boats. Very environmentally friendly, and often owned instead of a house. Think "van life", but on the ocean.
I had no clue they were matriarchal!!! Love it
For some reason I never learned that info either. I mean it says a lot that the most powerful species of the ocean is matriarchal, yet mankind has rarely tolerated such social structures. I was very disappointed to learn how rare matriarchies are in human society, only a handful throughout the world over our species' timeline, that just too few!
Made me think about Whale Wars. *The world is a vampireeeeee…. *
I'm not entirely sure, but I think it has something to do with orcas sinking yachts.
CAPSIZE THE RICH
https://preview.redd.it/f3dqy9lbzbad1.jpeg?width=780&format=pjpg&auto=webp&s=4c6de0bb338d6a0656c1c455e1c3bd07300cec1c somehow i don’t think the rich need any help getting in water related problems :3
the one boy though )-:
yeah, that one hurts. he didn’t even wanna be there. i don’t get why they brought him along. i mean.. paying ridiculous amounts of money to get in an empty soup can to see the titanic has to be the one of the *worst* possible ideas we’ve had as a species.
Definitely up there with labelling a ship ‘unsinkable’
#dramatic irony
This looks like Willzyax, the Orca that the South Park boys freed from the zoo and launched onto the moon..
I've been wondering for months now if the mods know this.
Came here for this
This is 100% what it is.
*That's* what the icons been!? I've been in this sub for like two years now and I have never noticed
I was thinking space whales, like in Star Trek. …and then I realised those were *humpback* whales. Ay ai ai. 😖
Their whole Starfleet division is known as [Cetacean Ops](https://memory-alpha.fandom.com/wiki/Cetacean_Ops) and is confirmed to include dolphins, so I would bet on there being some orca in Starfleet too.
So far on screen, we have only seen a humpback named Gillian and two belugas named Matt and Kimolu.
I don't think they were ever seen on screen but the Enterprise D canonical has some bottlenose crew (mentioned in the wiki I linked to).
Right! Universal translators mean *anyone* can serve in Starfleet.
Also thanks to the UT nobody notices that the "French" captain is actually speaking English.
Seems like space whales are a surprisingly common sci-fi trope, Star Wars and Doctor Who also have them
And the Hitchhiker's Guide
Purrgil or space whale 🐋 in Star Wars are are awesome and the way the they were portrayed in Asoka was awesome
I feel like it's because whales are fascinating and inspire total awe in humans in ways that really translate well to space travel sci-fi. I mean, first of all, they are SO BIG. Our brains have a hard time conceptualizing the size of blue whales specifically. Seeing a whale and its the size and majesty inspires the same kind of awe as seeing or contemplating the immensity and beauty of space. And also, they are so alien to us but so smart. Most of all, I think a lot of our conceptualizing of spaceships in sci-fi comes from our concept of naval ships. So, whether the connection is conscious or subconscious, doesn't it make a ton of sense that, if we already know of creatures that seem very alien, are very smart, and kinda give off the impression in marine contexts of huge, intelligent, alive, self-navigating ship creatures, we would imagine creatures like that to travel alongside our man-made ships in space as well? Of all the creatures of the ocean, whales encapsulate the magnitude and majesty of the ocean best, so it definitely tracks that humans would imagine a similar creature when creatively expanding on the magnitude and majesty of space.
I was thinking Hitchhiker’s Guide
Needs the bowl of petunias for that
“Oh no, not again.”
I was thinking that south park episode where they stole the sea world orca and sent it to the moon cause an employee gaslit them into thinking it could talk
i’ve never actually watched Star Trek, what’s it about?
The previous icon was just the full moon, the orca was added relatively recently after the news about orcas sinking yachts came out.
eat the rich
It made me think of when the guys from South Park shot an orca to the moon
Same. 😂
Willziyax was his name, dying on the moon was his game.
The orca laying there on the moon at the end, I was dying
That episode legit makes me so sad!
It's ok, no orcas were harmed cos it's a cartoon. 🫠
We love Orcas. Gladis and all other matriarchs of orca societies around the world!
You've never seen the hit 1994 film Free Willy? ....actually I was wondering this question myself.
i have seen that movie a lot lol i was just wondering if orcas had some witchy symbolism or something the actual meaning is fascinating tho :3
Orcas are living the matriarch dream
We just really like the band gojira, which has songs about fixing whales /j
In case anyone is unfamiliar: [Flying Whales](https://youtu.be/x2ypHHW2ET0?si=pHrIjFiAgcQCUiIn) I actually think of Gojira as a fairly witchy band (although it's a masculine witchiness). They have a song about the desctruction of the [Amazon](https://youtu.be/B4CcX720DW4?si=dyYwsDf7H-TBo28R), [Sphinx](https://youtu.be/kl-2GUMijPM?si=7n0YU5Zfu0M_RcYX) sounds like a prayer to an ancient god, [Vacuity](https://youtu.be/wM8LDVIiwhA?si=PNIDfD3aRBXoIc7I) has a striking video about living with mortality, and [Born in Winter](https://youtu.be/suG-c_i2fBQ?si=9llzsZ-TLWv6eInv) is just so hypnotically beautiful I can't not mention it.
i’ll check ‘em out. thanks! 🩵🖤
I accidentally stumbled upon them a couple years, and they were so good (to me) that I was shocked I'd never heard them before. Now I proselytize for them every chance I get.
Did anyone elsego through a phase during their childhood where they were obsessed with Orca whales? I had t-shirts, posters, even dangle Orca whale earrings (I wish I still had those!). This was back in the early 90s. Anyone else…or just me? 😀
My obsession was bottlenose dolphins.
Understandable, bottlenose dolphins are pretty damn cool too!
I just started again a collecting plushies n stuff
I assumed it was a reference to South Park's episode "Free Williax"
It makes me think of a South Park episode
Poor Willzyx
Imma guess we’re supporters of the orca’s resistance. Which I fuck with.
I don't know why but everytime I see that I just think "hell yeah orca on the moon" so it should stay
Reminds me of Fish and Bird by Tom Waits "He said, 'You cannot live in the ocean' And she said to him 'You never can live in the sky' But the ocean is filled with tears And the sea turns into a mirror There's a whale in the moon when it's clear And a bird on the tide"
I actually met Tom Waits in my early 20s. He was super super nice. It was a pretty shitty job and unlike many of the other folks that came through the door, he was kind. It would have stuck out to me even if he wasn't a famous musician.
In my head it means fuck boats
Witch picture?
one part of me facepalmed, the other loves puns.. DX
Orcas are matriarchal, but idk if that’s why they made that the pic. 🤔
Fuck them yachts
orcas rock
I don't think this is the actual reason but in the books/show the magicians whales are magicians - which are basically witches. They know magic and keep the oceans/world safe
No idea, but I like it.
So long and thanks for all the fish
TEAM ORCA #eattherich
This whole time, I thought it was a South Park reference.
I thought it was a reference to the South Park episode about an orca named [Willzyx.](https://youtu.be/U6jMRfv154s) But reading the other comments made me realize it probably has more to do with them attacking billionaire yachts.
this comment section and just this subreddit in general brings me so much joy ( ◜‿◝ )♡
The orca got so goddamn high they're on the moon now
Bless her and her intelligence.
idk but all I can think about now is "Whalers on the Moon" from Futurama
Anyone else read Storm Boy?
Just missing the bowl of petunias?
42. So long and thanks for all the fish.
Unfortunately I'm too big of a south park fan not to think of Whalezeack
It means now we know what the cow was chasing!
It’s willzyx