Yeah, it was speculation because such a study would involve some obvious moral issues... but you are also speculating. You are assuming that a man-made vehicle (a kayak) would be recognized by wild orcas as something potentially carrying edible prey. Yeah, they are smart, but there is no reason to think that wild orcas would make that connection. The only way to truely know if wild orcas would treat humans as any other kind of prey is to put them in the same situations as their natural prey... and that rarely ever happens, therefore any anecdotal stories are pretty much invalid from a scientific point of view with no control study. Would orcas attack seals in kayaks? Probably not.
And no, dolphins are not whales. Dolphins, whales and porpoises are all members of the Cetacean order, orders are then broken down into different families and dolphins and orcas are in the Delphinidae family (also known as the dolphin family)... most other whales are not in the Delphinidae family.
My speculation was based on fact. Yours is based on feeling. Orcas have never been recorded to kill a human in the wild. I gave kayakers as an example... but people do swim in the ocean. Not all scientific studies are based on experimentation. They can also be based on statistics.
That link a previous poster gave is not the most reliable source... "instant death" from echo location? Whales use echolocation to disorient prey, not kill it.
You're not going to win a taxonomy battle with me bud . Above the level of family and below the level of order is something called a sub-order. The delphinidae family is part of the odontoceti sub-order, which is also known as the "toothed whales". Hence, why many people refer to orcas as "killer whales" or "orca whales".
From my reading and documentary watching, it appears there are at least three types of Orcas.
The resident Orcas which stay in one area, are families and feed on fish.
The transients which feed on mammals and travel amongst the residents area but roam vast distances.
The offshore, which probably feed on fish and mammals.
Myself, I'd be much more comfortable among a resident fish eating pod than the other two. Could it be that this so called killer is a transient type while the others are resident? Probably not eh, but it was a thought.
My speculation was based on fact. Yours is based on feeling. Orcas have never been recorded to kill a human in the wild. I gave kayakers as an example... but people do swim in the ocean. Not all scientific studies are based on experimentation. They can also be based on statistics.
Please provide a link for those statistics. If the link the other poster showed does not satisfy you, I am sure you have a better one.
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You're not going to win a taxonomy battle with me bud . Above the level of family and below the level of order is something called a sub-order. The delphinidae family is part of the odontoceti sub-order, which is also known as the "toothed whales". Hence, why many people refer to orcas as "killer whales" or "orca whales".
Just because there is a sub-order called "toothed whales" as a physical description, does not mean it is biological. You might as well move it up to the phylum level and say that dolphins are whales because they are both in the chordata phylum, or that they dolphins are whales because they share the same class (mammalia) - in which case, you might as well say that humans are whales too. The bottom line is that dolphins and orcas are their own family and it makes them separate.
From a human point of view, dolphins being part of an order that includes whales, does not make them whales. Just like humans being in an order that includes rhesus monkeys does not make us monkeys.
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Last edited by FlamesAddiction; 02-28-2010 at 08:10 PM.
Going from suborder to phylum is a much bigger leap than going from suborder to family. You went from below 100 species encompassed by the odontocetes/toothed whales suborder (including dolphins), to the thousands of species encompassed by the chordates.
You don't have an understanding of what a whale is. A whale is not a specific term by any strech, which I am sure you know, but I do not think you realize how broad it is. A dolphin is more closely related to a sperm whale, than a sperm whale is to a humpback whale, yet I bet you would call both sperm whale's and a humpback whale's... whales. What do you define as a whale then? How do you explain the above relation? If dolphins are not whales, you think sperm whales and humpback whales would be more closely related.
I'm not going to go find you a link, if you want to prove me wrong you go waste your time finding one. If not, you can go on believing an orca whale can vaporize you through sound... I guess the whole herding fish with bubbles thing is just a big charade if they can just instantly kill one with a sound blast
As with the Olympic luge accident, do watch with caution as it's pretty disturbing. It's not gory, but it goes on for longer than I expected and it looks like a very scary way to go. It really does look like the footage of whales playing with seals.
Apparently this whale killed another trainer before.
A SeaWorld Orlando trainer was pulled to her death by a killer whale after her long hair became caught in the animal's mouth
"Tilikum's past history is that when he obtains a person, he does not let them go,"
Tilikum, now almost 30 years old, was moved to SeaWorld from Sealand of the Pacific near Victoria in 1992, six months after being involved in the death of 20-year-old trainer Keltie Byrne. The trainer at the Victoria-area tourist attraction drowned after she fell into the water and was dragged below the surface by Tilikum
Apparently this whale killed another trainer before.
A SeaWorld Orlando trainer was pulled to her death by a killer whale after her long hair became caught in the animal's mouth
"Tilikum's past history is that when he obtains a person, he does not let them go,"
Tilikum, now almost 30 years old, was moved to SeaWorld from Sealand of the Pacific near Victoria in 1992, six months after being involved in the death of 20-year-old trainer Keltie Byrne. The trainer at the Victoria-area tourist attraction drowned after she fell into the water and was dragged below the surface by Tilikum
Apparently this whale killed another trainer before.
It's actually the third person the whale has killed.
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Originally Posted by henriksedin33
Not at all, as I've said, I would rather start with LA over any of the other WC playoff teams. Bunch of underachievers who look good on paper but don't even deserve to be in the playoffs.
. Above the level of family and below the level of order is something called a sub-order. The delphinidae family is part of the odontoceti sub-order, which is also known as the "toothed whales". Hence, why many people refer to orcas as "killer whales" or "orca whales".
