Hacker News Reader

Comment by SEJeff | Hacker News Reader

I meant it is a great article, but isn't really "news". I became an amateur Orca enthusiast maybe 4-5 years ago after seeing "LA Pod" in Marina Del Rey / Playa Vista outside of Los Angeles. Youtube has hours and hours of footage of how each pod hunts differently. The most interesting ones actually beach themselves on purpose to snag a meal right off the shore before carefully pushing themselves back into the water.

View on HN

Yeah, I've seen video of an orca lunging onto a beach after some penguins, missing, then just sitting there sunning itself for a minute before humping back into the water like a seal. Really didn't expect that from a whale.

The matriarch whistles and the pod causes waves to knock seals off of the ice. The hungriest of the pod waits on the other side and grabs them. Then then share the food with each other. This level of coordination is pretty much unheard of in nature. Even dogs aren't this intelligent. Their level of intelligence is somewhat terrifying if you think about it.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=g1VEwsI4SlY

And better (but long):

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qRWl77tK7Bg

Ever hear about the Eden pod? Notable because they recruited HUMANS to do the big prey killing for them.[0]

[0]https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whales_of_Eden,_Austral...

Reading that I am not sure who recruited whom, but humans can definitely be trained.

This is by far the most incredible orca story I've read. There can be little doubt after this that they're sentient.

That's a new one. Incredible.

Aren't they a species of Dolphin rather than an actual Whale? I think the name comes from a mis-translation and should be whale killer.

I'll have a look for a source if I can later.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com