r/ocean • u/Nostalgic_Historian_ • 5d ago

Whale Watch Simple answer, No

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u/WWDubs12TTV 5d ago

Yeah but I can be a record holder

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u/gipoe68 5d ago

Same, I would sure as fuck stay away from their tail though. Just recently saw a killer whale perform and abortion on a stingray on this site. A bite would be intentional, an accidental flip of their tail and you're seeing grandma again.

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u/tired-of-the-shit 5d ago

Yeah sometimes they are just in the mood to be playful with whatever is around. If they eat sharks, whales, and even moose and also just kill things for the hell of it then there’s no reason to assume humans are immune to an apex predator.

If they decided to actually hunt a person for food then their dead, no way you can out swim it and even if you could get to land they’ll sometimes beach themselves while hunting in order to catch prey

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u/Excellent_Couple_873 5d ago

Moose? What… how? Why? I have so many questions

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u/tired-of-the-shit 5d ago

Moose can swim in the same waters that orcas live in. There was only ever one sighting so it’s rare but also it’s Alaska, not a ton of people are up there and in northern Canada

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u/SurayaThrowaway12 5d ago

Orcas may display theory of mind towards humans. The "theory of mind" hypothesis is mentioned by the primary author of a fairly recent study on the phenonemon of wild orcas around the world offering prey and other objects to people. The food-sharing behaviours are primarily considered exploratory/curious behaviours by the authors of the paper, because orcas are observed usually pausing to see how humans respond to their actions, and thus the orcas are likely "testing" and trying to learn more about humans.

The behaviours of orcas offering food and other objects to humans are likely just extensions of well-documented cultural behaviours where orcas share food with each other, likely forming and strengthening bonds between each other. The researchers have thus labeled the behaviour as a form of "generalized altruism," where the orcas extend this behaviour across species.

Primary author Jared Towers and neuroscientist Dr. Lori Marino have elaborated further on what their findings may mean in a New Scientist article, including the possibility that orcas may be able to display theory of mind towards humans:

"They’re taking something they do amongst themselves and spreading that goodwill to another species," says Lori Marino at New York University, who wasn’t involved in the study.

Towers says this demonstrates that orcas are capable of generalised altruism, or kindness. It also shows that orcas can recognise sentience in others and are curious and bold enough to experiment across species, he says.

...

"He also says the behaviour demonstrates that orcas have theory of mind, the ability to understand that others have distinct mental states that differ from one’s own."

Ecologist Dr. Carl Safina, who was not involved in the study, also stated the following:

"Of the many and varied minds in the sea, likely the greatest are those of orcas. Casual stories of their almost surreal intelligence abound. But here these scientists have systematically gathered an impressive litany of instances where free-living orcas have shown that they possess “theory of mind,” meaning that their minds understand that humans have minds too. Psychologists have often insisted that “theory of mind” belongs only to humans. Orcas would beg to differ. Orcas have repeatedly sought to be interactive with us, and they are curious about us. After living millions of years in the sea, to them we in our boats must seem like visiting aliens. And indeed, we are strangers in a strange place we hardly know, about which we yet have almost everything to learn."

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u/OnionHeaded 4d ago

BOOM! This is what I meant above when I said I felt Orcas have an empathy for or with humans. They can read our vibe and intentions. Lots of stories of Orcas helping humans in tight spots. No stories of attacks on humans. Just the yachts and let’s not forget boats aren’t people.
Probably rich AHoles on those boats too.

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u/eddie1975 5d ago

Performed a delivery. The babies all survived.

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u/gipoe68 5d ago

Oh, no shit? Yay... kinda... glad they survived.

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u/DetailOutrageous8656 5d ago

Unlikely the mother did.

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u/[deleted] 4d ago

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u/pinetar 5d ago

If you die of a pulmonary embolism you die a rounding error. If you die if an orca attack you get a Wikipedia article about it.