Wearing a fish hat and sinking boats: 3 ways killer whales show their intelligence (8 photos + 1 video)

The wild has its own rules. And the killer whales have adapted perfectly to them. These are currently the most effective marine predators. Even sharks are too tough for them.





They come up with challenges. And not at all harmless

Do you remember a few years ago, together with the whole world, we took part in funny challenges, such as: pour ice water on your face, sing a song, dance on a stool without falling, etc.?

Killer whales also have similar quirks. Only they are much more bloodthirsty.



Typically it works like this. Several individuals come up with something “cool”. If others like it, they will do the same for some time. At the same time, the killer whales understand that the action has little practical meaning. But it amuses them.

Which is correct: Killer Whale or Killer Whale? I have noticed more than once that people get confused. What about people - even Yandex “corrects” me when I type “Orca” into the search. Let's dot the i's. Killer whales are predators of the dolphin family. In the photo - on the left. And killer whales are birds from the swallow family.





In the 1980s, killer whales in the Pacific wore a salmon-shaped hat for two years. The fashion began after one female tried it. First, this was picked up by her pod and the neighboring one, and then by all the other Pacific killer whales.

Why do killer whales in Europe attack boats with people?



This year they have a new hobby. This time it is dangerous for humans. Off the coast of Spain they attack boats.

“There were two smaller killer whales and one larger one. The small ones shook the steering wheel from behind, while the big one repeatedly backed up and rammed the boat from the side with all its force,” said the skipper of the damaged boat.

They have no intention of harming a person. I just like to sink boats.



It has been noted that this is also a learning process for killer whales. Usually in their team there are very young individuals who are shown how to properly attack boats.

Killer whales understand perfectly well that there is no practical benefit in this. None of the people in the damaged or overturned boats were attacked or injured.

"They're incredibly curious and playful animals, so it's more play than aggression," says Deborah Jais, a biologist at the University of Washington. In this area, a female killer whale was injured by a boat in 2020. And perhaps killer whales reproduce this situation and teach their offspring to react.

Joint hunting. Cunning strategies that are fatal to victims



There are many animals in nature that hunt in groups. For many, this turns out to be a winning strategy - you can get more meat per unit of time than when you hunt alone.

But killer whales have perfected this skill. They come up with a variety of hunting strategies and the potential victim has virtually no chance of escaping.

The most sinister way, perhaps, is when killer whales hunt seals. First, the killer whales separate and swim out one by one, looking through all the ice floes. Until they find the ice floe on which the seal is resting:



The seal does not yet know that he only has half an hour left to live.

After this, they gather in a row and attack in order, building up a wave. The wave covers the ice floe and knocks over the seal, which becomes easy prey in the water.



Biologists observed how killer whales hunted seals. In 12 out of 14 cases they were successful. Moreover, the cases where killer whales alone wanted to catch prey were failures. Group attacks always achieved their goal. On average, one seal hunt from the reconnaissance stage to the attack and death of the victim takes 30 minutes.

This is what the killer whales' final attack on the poor seal looks like

Killer whales also easily deal with schools of fish. They drive them closer to the shore and begin to suppress them with their tails. This way they get a lot of food at once. This is much more effective than simply swimming into a school and trying to eat a slippery fish. They are known to attack sharks. Killer whales do not eat them, but simply gnaw out the liver.

Killer whales also attack whales, although they prefer calves. They drown them. Jumpthey force him under the water so that he becomes exhausted and suffocates. The baby whale's mother often does not have time to react to a quick, coordinated attack.