"Go Baby Go!"
May 13, 2013 7:17 AM   Subscribe

While visiting Mexico on their 20th anniversary, one lucky couple captured a rare moment of wonder: Several killer whales frolicking in the wake of their boat. [via]
posted by quin (46 comments total) 15 users marked this as a favorite
 
Sweet mother of science, that's majestically terrifying. They are behaving so much like dolphins, and this is such a rare thing with orca, I wonder if it is learned behavior?

Accidentally falling into the water while they are doing that would be so incredibly scary.
posted by lazaruslong at 7:23 AM on May 13, 2013


HAVE YOU PEOPLE NEVER SEEN JAWS?

seriously, though, that was amazing.
posted by elmer benson at 7:29 AM on May 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


I felt more confident of our place at the top of the food chain when I didn't know they could swim at speedboat pace
posted by fistynuts at 7:30 AM on May 13, 2013 [21 favorites]


They just want to say hi to your inside parts
posted by kbanas at 7:34 AM on May 13, 2013 [15 favorites]


Damn. Those are beautiful animals.
posted by roomthreeseventeen at 7:35 AM on May 13, 2013 [3 favorites]


SHARRRRRRRK! IT'S A BIGASS SHAAAAAARRRRRRRRRRRRK!
posted by fatbird at 7:35 AM on May 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


They are behaving so much like dolphins

Technically orcas are members of the dolphin family.
posted by shakespeherian at 7:35 AM on May 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


Side note: In looking at the wikipedia article on orcas, I learned they are rarely called "blackfish". There is a notoriously badass character in Game of Thrones with that nickname. Coincidence?
posted by lazaruslong at 7:36 AM on May 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


That's not frolicking, that's working up an appetite.
posted by elizardbits at 7:37 AM on May 13, 2013 [8 favorites]


It's when they lean off the back of the boat to shoot straight down, showing the orca pulling forward until it's almost under the boat, that I expect a black intertitle to appear, describing how a video camera was found washed up on shore in Mexico, and this is the recovered footage from it.
posted by fatbird at 7:38 AM on May 13, 2013 [5 favorites]


I felt more confident of our place at the top of the food chain when I didn't know they could swim at speedboat pace

The best thing about being all the way at the top of the food chain is that then you are very far away from orcas.
posted by Pyrogenesis at 7:40 AM on May 13, 2013


Accidentally falling into the water while they are doing that would be so incredibly scary.

Yeah, but only for a couple seconds.
posted by kbanas at 7:40 AM on May 13, 2013 [3 favorites]


Hold me, like the river Jordan
And I will say to thee
You are my friend
posted by shakespeherian at 7:42 AM on May 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


This is basically the cetacean version of chasing the ice cream truck down the street.
posted by elizardbits at 7:43 AM on May 13, 2013 [16 favorites]


HAVE YOU PEOPLE NEVER SEEN JAWS?

Wrong movie.
posted by Ghidorah at 7:43 AM on May 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


It should be noted that there are no known intentional orca attacks on humans in the wild. They are scary, but (weirdly) they seem to know that biting killing us isn't a wise thing to do.
posted by quin at 7:43 AM on May 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


It should be noted that there are no known intentional orca attacks on humans in the wild.

BECAUSE THEY DEVOUR ALL THE EVIDENCE
posted by elizardbits at 7:44 AM on May 13, 2013 [11 favorites]


Oh. My. God.

I just realized that you don't need to wait sixty minutes after having a snack before going into the swimming pool again. Because if that was true how can whales eat lunch in the sea? Do they climb onto rocks with their tiny rubbish whale hands?!?!

I HAVE A CHILDHOOD FULL OF LIES
posted by Foci for Analysis at 7:53 AM on May 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


I am awe that those people were all 'go baby go' instead of swearing like, well, sailors.
posted by angrycat at 7:54 AM on May 13, 2013


Am I the only person not afraid of nature

WHERE IS WALL-E TO TEACH YOU A LESSON
posted by shakespeherian at 7:58 AM on May 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


he got eaten by a whale
posted by elizardbits at 8:00 AM on May 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Maybe they're just looking for some new hunting partners.
Three generations of the Davidson family worked with the killer whales, often invited by the killers and led out to sea to join in the hunts. A few members of the pod of orcas would swim right into the mouth of the kiah river where the Davidsons had their two isolated houses on the opposite side of the bay from the township of Eden. They would then breach or thrash their tails on the water surface untill the whalers emerged and rowed their boats out to meet them.
posted by the_artificer at 8:02 AM on May 13, 2013 [4 favorites]


Wow. Doubt this is something you will be forgetting anytime soon. Beats a trip to a theme park I would say.
posted by cgcsorl at 8:11 AM on May 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Beats a trip to a theme park I would say

Exactly what I was thinking.

When you see this footage and then compare the feeling you get from it to watching the same animals in a swimming pool jumping through hoops for an audience. Fuck SeaWorld and their ilk.
posted by jontyjago at 8:16 AM on May 13, 2013 [3 favorites]


It strikes me as seriously wrong-headed that we're focused on technology to the point that we can send ourselves to the moon and back and blow up anything from damn near anywhere else, but we haven't figured out how to converse with the rest of the obviously sentient creatures on the planet we live on.

Man, I bet those orcas have some stories to tell.
posted by Mooski at 8:18 AM on May 13, 2013 [3 favorites]


I keep parsing this post as "Serial killer whales" and that seems about right to me. Ted Bundy was charming to some too.

But seriously, this is awesome. However my heart rate did increase just watching the video; I doubt I would have been so calm in real life.
posted by MCMikeNamara at 8:23 AM on May 13, 2013


Apparently they know how to avoid getting chopped by the propeller, which is good, but I guess a little bit surprising to me?
posted by Drexen at 8:30 AM on May 13, 2013


I'm not surprised. Predators are excellent at threat assessment.
posted by Mister_A at 8:41 AM on May 13, 2013


Holy crap. That would scare me to death. I was waiting for the Orca to misjudge the jump and turn that beautiful moment into JAWS.
posted by Benway at 8:46 AM on May 13, 2013


Judging on the visibility of the white spots and the fin angle, it looks like a couple of them swam sideways for a while to scope out the strange squealing primates.
posted by Greg_Ace at 8:54 AM on May 13, 2013


They could have at least pushed just one person overboard to reward those hard working orcas.
posted by orme at 8:55 AM on May 13, 2013 [5 favorites]


"Hi food! Nice of you to deliver!"
posted by fuse theorem at 9:17 AM on May 13, 2013


... but we haven't figured out how to converse with the rest of the obviously sentient creatures on the planet we live on.

We just don't listen.
posted by de at 9:29 AM on May 13, 2013 [1 favorite]




There's been a pack in Monterey Bay that's been hunting gray whale calves that are migrating with their mothers. The photos at the link aren't gory, but they might bum you out.
posted by rtha at 10:49 AM on May 13, 2013


Keep an eye on your kids, even at the beach.
posted by gottabefunky at 11:18 AM on May 13, 2013 [1 favorite]


Wrong movie.

Wow. I remember seeing that movie--must have been on TV, since I would have been 5 when it was in the theaters. Funny what a difference a few years made. I remember it as much more entertaining than terrifying--that would be Jaws, which my parents (in a highly questionable parenting decision) took me to see in the theater when I was 7 or so. Hello, lifelong shark phobia.
posted by gottabefunky at 11:23 AM on May 13, 2013


That's what we humans do. Call other species killers.
posted by tykky at 11:30 AM on May 13, 2013


I went whale-watching once and ruined a lot of peoples' videos of a close encounter with orcas because I was shit-pants scared. The thing was swimming straight at us, the fin stickin out and the dark shape just getting bigger and bigger, and when it's about 10 feet from our little boat I'm straight-up terrified and yelling "holy fuckin shit!" and then it dives under us at the last minute. Just curious about the boat, I guess, but that was not cool, orcas. Not cool.
posted by Hoopo at 11:57 AM on May 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


I had some get pretty close while kayaking in the San Juan islands, right up there with sharks for clench factor.
posted by the_artificer at 12:07 PM on May 13, 2013


"Jack Hanna, eat your heart out!"
posted by flyingsquirrel at 12:18 PM on May 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


It should be noted that there are no known intentional orca attacks on humans in the wild. They are scary, but (weirdly) they seem to know that biting killing us isn't a wise thing to do.

No joke, they can use sonar to see what's inside of us, and what the fat content is.

Here in Victoria, BC, northwest of the San Juans there are a lot of Orcas around (same family groups or pods that live in the San Juans and Gulf of Georgia). They're protected species (although the Americans do a much better job enforcing this than the Canadian government, thanks guys!), and boaters have to cut engines when they're closer than 100 meters or something (fucking whale watching boats).

I've seen a lot Orcas, so this video left me feeling unsettled. Should have stopped the engines and let them go on their way.

I was out on the water in the Strait of Juan de Fuca, and the whole Southern Pod, nearly 100 animals, passed us by. Amazing sight.
posted by KokuRyu at 12:25 PM on May 13, 2013


There's been a pack in Monterey Bay that's been hunting gray whale calves that are migrating with their mothers.

orcas are the murderous douchebags of the ocean.
posted by elizardbits at 12:49 PM on May 13, 2013


Keep an eye on your kids, even at the beach.
Holy crap! Can't take kids anywhere, these days.
posted by MtDewd at 12:57 PM on May 13, 2013


orcas are the murderous douchebags of the ocean.

To that, I can only say:

"Actually, orcas aren't quite as complex as scientists imagine. Most killer whales are just four tons of doofus dressed up like a police car."

Also "All killer whales are named Kevin. You knew that, right?"
posted by quin at 1:07 PM on May 13, 2013 [2 favorites]


Nothing to fear.
posted by de at 1:34 PM on May 13, 2013


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