This Is Why Orcas Are Called Killer Whales

When it comes to ruling the sea, bigger isn't always better. Surprisingly, some of the largest ocean creatures are not dangerous at all. The blue whale is the largest animal on the planet, weighing as much as 33 elephants and the only thing it eats is krill. eating a one-inch slice of pizza and the whale shark, despite its menacing name and being 40 feet long, only eats plankton and small fish, so what does it really take to be at the top of the world's food chain? ocean? Specialized hunting skills, a ferocious appetite and few, if any natural predators, oh and sharp teeth don't hurt either when you think of the ocean's top predators you probably think of sharks, that's wrong, the true ruler of the sea is the orca, surprisingly, they are not

whales

, they are dolphins, it is difficult I think a cute animal like a dolphin rules the ocean anyway.

We will explain

this

in the next few minutes of the video. Orcas are top predators, meaning they have no natural predators, they hunt in packs, just like wolves, which are also top predators. At the top of their food chain we most often encounter resident

killer

whales

that feed predominantly on salmon, but occasionally we see transient

killer

whales that eat everything from fish to seals, sharks and even other whales. If you have any doubts about the orca apex, consider

this

wildlife observers off the coast of California witnessed an orca attacking a great white shark. Of course, the orca didn't win the contest.

Interactions between the two usually don't end well. for the shark in 1997 the first recorded interaction between a great white shark and an orca was Two killer whales were documented killing a great white shark and eating its liver. Removing the liver and leaving the rest of the body is a fairly consistent behavior for

orcas

in 2017. Five white sharks washed ashore in South Africa with similar signs: the livers had been removed with incredible precision and the

orcas

are believed to be the most likely culprits. Oh, it's absolutely terrifying. Orcas are very intelligent animals and work in groups when they hunt.

Their mere presence, even when brief, can have a huge impact on the surrounding ecosystem when great white sharks flee and do not hunt in an area for up to a year the number of their prey does not decline as it normally would, affecting other areas. areas of the ecosystem in turn, it seems that orcas can be considered the true predator of the ocean now, why are orcas

called

killer whales? They swim in the ocean with guns and kill everyone. No, let's explain why dolphins and whales are closely related. Ancient sailors gave the name orcas to killer whales. observations of pods of killer whales hunting and feeding on larger species of whales they

called

Bayen killer whales or killer whales. a term that was eventually changed to easier orca, its Latin name or sinus orca also reflects this observation of orcas feeding on large whales or sinus means the realm of the dead an orca refers to a type of whale that we know to be the orcas.

Top predators, yes, but not the whale killers ancient sailors thought they were. If you could give orcas another name, what would you call them? Let me know in the comments below. Orcas look cute and have a friendlier image than great white sharks, perhaps. Due to their respective depictions in the films, Jaws also begins with the stranded corpse of a half-eaten orca. We mention a lot about great white sharks, so let's take a look at those too. They can smell a single drop of blood floating in 10 billion. Water droplets can detect movement from up to 820 feet away and with powerful, streamlined bodies and sharp teeth, great white sharks are as scary as they look, but don't worry, they generally don't eat people and most attacks on humans.

They are not fatal anyway, however, I recommend that you make sure not to bleed if you are going to go into the ocean. Great white sharks prefer to devour sea lions, seals, dolphins, small toothed whales, sea turtles, sea birds and even rotting meat. of dead animals can reach speeds of 43 miles 69 kilometers per hour which allows them to surprise their prey and subdue them with a single bite. Great white sharks can even leave the water completely breaking like whales when they attack their prey from below, let's take a look. at a glance another animal that gets tired in the food chain polar bears polar bears are land mammals it is difficult to open your eyes in the water friend they spend much of their life in the sea they are incredibly strong swimmers that have been seen hundreds of kilometers away of land Polar bears feed mainly on seals, but also belugas, narwhals, bowhead whales, walruses and sometimes fish look at those bodies so large that they need to be filled, so in summer, when the ice However, they can scavenge for carcasses or search for bird eggs and berries, seals are their favorite food and polar bears will wait for days for a seal to approach a hole. to breathe, when the seal finally emerges for air, the polar bear slams it with its powerful paw and crushes it with a single bite of its powerful jaws.

Polar bears are predators in the arctic, but occasionally back down from a fight with a walrus. Another predator after polar bears. Leopard seals. Leopard seals are pretty cute until they open their mouths. They are wide and powerful and are covered with long, sharp teeth They have no problem destroying penguins and baby seals Their favorite foods Leopard seals are one of the fiercest hunters in Antarctica They take their eating habits from penguins, for example, after Grab a penguin, they beat it back and forth until the skin comes off, then consume the carcass and legs and, weighing up to a ton, leopard seals have a virtually insatiable appetite and spend most of it From their time searching for prey, they eat almost anything including fish, squid, crustaceans and even krill, a leopard seal captured near Sydney had eaten an adult platypus, Lastly, there is one more animal that should not be forgotten on this list, Sea lions, ah, look at that cuteness, but this cuteness has three main predators that you need to watch out for, including the killer.

Whales, sharks and humans, of course, humans pose the greatest threat to them, both in water and on land, than those other types of predators, although we don't know much about interactions with sea lions and killer whales or sharks, but we definitely know a lot about interactions with sea lions and killer whales or sharks. In its interactions with humans, many researchers believe that the sea lion can easily swim faster than orcas and sharks. Do you see this speed? It is as if they were the sparkle of the seas. However, it is often the element of surprise that makes them prey for these predators.

Also the very young or those who are sick will not be able to move as quickly, making it easier for these predators to capture them. Sea lions can often sense when killer whales or sharks are nearby; Their biggest defense against this is to get to the edge of the water and get to land, sometimes these predators can jump and still capture them, although if they don't get far enough from the edge of the water, see you in the next video.