Typically when you think of orca whales, you think of the sweet looking creatures you see during water shows at amusement parks, or Willy from Free Willy.
However, we tend to forget that these are some of the fiercest predators in all of the ocean, and they don’t get the name “killer whale” for no reason. In fact, they’re are the only marine species that will actively hunt great white sharks.
Living in groups called “pods,” orcas are very social, often even hunting together in packs like wolves do.
They belong to the sub-order of toothed whales (known as odontocetes) but are actually the largest member of the dolphin family. It’s a bit confusing, but whales, dolphins, and porpoises are part of the animal group known as “Cetacea,” which is then split into two groups consisting of toothed whales, and non-toothed whales.
So technically, all dolphins are whales, but not all whales are dolphins… get it?
Their diet consists of various fish as well as otter, seals or penguins, but they will eat just about anything they can get their hands on. And they have even been known to take a run at boats.
Here’s a terrifying, prime example.
Some insane footage has been released of a pod of orcas attacking a British couple’s yacht, ramming the boat for over an hour.
According to Daily Mail, Janet Morris and Stephen Bidwell of Cambridge were out on the Strait of Gibraltar were enjoying the water and beautiful weather while on their second day of a week-long sailing trip.
However, it turned into a nightmare when they began to feel a banging on the hull, and quickly realized they were surrounded by a pod of orcas.
Janet told the outlet:
“I couldn’t believe it when I saw them – it’s extremely rare. We were sitting ducks.”
You can see in the video the group of whales swimming straight into the hull and rudder of the 46-foot Bavaria yacht. They were having a hard time keeping the whales at bay, and were also battling strong winds and high swells.
Janet continued:
“We were amazingly calm but underneath we were thinking, ‘Oh my god.’
Because everyone was calm it felt okay, but we were petrified, it wasn’t until afterwards that we talked about being very scared. We got our valuables and our passports and talked about getting the life raft ready.
We all remained calm because we were aware that if any of us got anxious it would be infectious. We were able to do that because the skipper was so calm.
Orcas enjoy the thrill of the chase, so ideally we’d have kept still, but that wasn’t possible because of the winds.”
The orcas finally gave up after an hour, but they decided to return back to the shore because the steering on the yacht was failing.
Once they got back, they realized that the whales had removed chunks of the rudder.
Needless to say it could’ve been much worse, but this is proof of just how powerful and violent these creatures can be.
Pod Of Orcas Team Up To Knock Seal Into The Water
This doesn’t even seem real.
But it’s just a tiny look into how smart these animals are…
Often referred to as “Killer Whales,” orcas are actually the largest member of the dolphin family, and one of the most intelligent animals on Earth. Males can weigh up to 12,000-pounds and females up to 8,000-pounds, and be about the size of a school bus. They also have the second largest brain out of all animals in the world.
Their intelligence leads to smarter living as they often will work together in their social groups known as “pods.”
Their intelligence and pack-like hunting ability has also given them their nickname as the “wolves of the sea,” and they are also the ONLY known predator of Great White Sharks, one of the baddest mf’ers on the entire planet.
Between their sheer size, speed and cunning ways… anytime a video hits the internet showing these amazing animals at work, it’s hard not to pay attention and just be amazed by what is going down.
Like many ocean predators, a favorite meal item are seals, and lucky for them, there are plenty to go around in many areas they reside. Unfortunately, they compete with the seals for salmon which is another favorite food of many orca populations, especially in the Pacific Northwest.
Seals are smart too though, so these orcas have to be smarter sometimes in order to get a meal.
In this video, a seal is seen lounging out on a chunk of ice, as they typically do… where it is safe… or so it thought.
A pod of orcas, determined to get to this seal, come swimming up to the ice chunk in a row, almost as if they’re doing a “Flying V” from the Mighty Ducks. The pod swims by the seal using their tale fins to create a series of waves.
The waves come crashing into the piece of ice , washing the seal back into the water… and now, the unfortunate seal will be easy pickins for the pod of orcas unless he can quickly get back to safety.
This is almost unbelievable how well they work together.
