Original photo by ben44/ Shutterstock
There’s a reason orcas are better known as killer whales. They’re fierce predators, and they don’t always keep to the water in search of prey — in fact, they’ve even been known to hunt moose. This happens when a member of the largest deer species (yes, moose are deer) wades into the water, either in search of food or to elude land-based predators, and finds itself in the unfortunate position of being near an orca, which will eat pretty much anything. Such occurrences have been known to happen in the Pacific Northwest and Alaska, with one recorded incident resulting in the deaths of two moose.
Orcas are thought to have received their nickname centuries ago, perhaps from a mistranslation. The theory posits that Basque fisherman observed them killing other whales and referred to them as “whale killers,” which became “killer whales” when translated to English. Their diet depends largely on where they live, but different ecotypes feed on everything from fish and seals to sharks and squid, with the occasional moose thrown in.
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Killer whales’ Latin name is ______.
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Killer whales’ Latin name is Orcinus orca.
No one knows why orcas keep attacking yachts.
If you’ve read about killer whales in the last few years, it’s probably because they keep sinking yachts. There have been incidents in Cape Finisterre as well as the Strait of Gibraltar, with at least 500 orcas encountering boats since 2020. (Most of these go no further than the whales merely approaching the vessels, perhaps out of curiosity, but a number of them have resulted in sunken boats.)
Scientists remain unsure about the whales’ motivations. Some think they’re merely having fun or even participating in a fad, which is apparently something killer whales do — for instance, one pod spent the summer of 1987 wearing dead salmon on their heads. Others believe it’s because they’ve had negative experiences with boats in the past, including losing members of their species to the vessels. Whatever the case, the creatures don’t seem to have personal beef with the humans onboard; there have been zero recorded cases of an orca killing a human in the wild.
Michael Nordine is a writer and editor living in Denver. A native Angeleno, he has two cats and wishes he had more.
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