How smart are killer whales, which are the same color as giant pandas?

In the ocean, there is an animal with the same black and white color scheme as the giant panda, the killer whale. Although it looks cute, it is not cute at all. To describe it in four words: "whale" is ruthless and talkative.

When it comes to animals that people want to avoid in the ocean, the great white shark is probably the most dangerous beast that comes to mind. But in fact, the simple-minded "foodie" great white shark is often played around by the talkative killer whales in the vast ocean.

On October 4, 1997, the first recorded case of a killer whale preying on a great white shark was recorded. According to some data, two adult female killer whales rushed towards an adult great white shark without saying a word, knocked it over, and bit the shark with their mouths until it was in a "static" state, which is similar to "sleep". The great white shark will be in a trance and completely lose the ability to fight back. This state usually lasts for tens of seconds or minutes, and then it will automatically release and regain consciousness. But if it lasts for a long time, it will suffocate to death.

Survival

Killer whales are very smart carnivores. They have a wide range of diets, but different ecotypes of killer whales have very specific diets. In addition, they are very good at teamwork. A team of killer whales in the ocean basically catches whatever they want to eat. The method of hunting also varies depending on the target.

Killer whales will attack large sharks, which not only helps them obtain food but also eliminates some competitors. Great white sharks, tiger sharks and Pacific sleeper sharks are all targets of killer whales, but hunting large sharks is still dangerous. Killer whales that have appeared in California can be found with great white shark tooth marks all over their bodies.

Killer whales living in the waters near Iceland like to eat herrings. When they find a group of herrings, they will send out one or two killer whales to divide the herrings into a number that is easy to control. Then seven or eight killer whales will patrol back and forth around the school of fish, slowly forcing the school of fish to the surface. The herrings, which have nowhere to go, keep jumping out of the water. The killer whales on standby see the opportunity and blow up big waves to stun the herrings. Then they will share the prey with their companions, or hide the prey in sea caves as food. There was once an example of killer whales in Antarctica knowing how to use natural refrigerators to store penguins in the cracks of icebergs as a delicious iced meal.

Killer whales often leap into the waves, peeking from the surface, or slapping the water with their tail or pectoral fins. In the shallow waters of the bay, they also like to use the notches on their tails to hook and pull seaweed, making a "whooshing" sound, and soon their bodies are covered with translucent seaweed.

The average swimming speed of killer whales can reach 20 kilometers per hour, and they can hold their breath for about 17 minutes. When the air around them is cool, they can usually be seen blowing low, branch-like jets. The water column of killer whales is tilted, thick and short, unlike the thin and tall baleen whales.

Love Chatterbox Killer

Antarctica is also known as the capital of killer whales, where there are many different "factions" of killer whales. Some of them like to eat penguins, some like to eat fish, each with different tastes and hunting skills, but they will not rob other "factions" of food.

There is a group of wise killer whale predators in Antarctica, and they prefer seals, which are relatively smart prey. Once a group of killer whales discovered two seals resting on an ice floe while patrolling their own waters. Then, two of the killer whales quietly poked their heads out to observe them. Then, a wave of water hit the ice floe island, and the ice floe suddenly broke into countless small ice floes. The seals then discovered that several killer whales showed the elegant hearts on their backs and were pushing the sea water to form large waves with uniform movements. The continuous large waves destroyed the seals' last shelter, and the seals that fell into the water immediately became the killer whales' meal.

Language imparts knowledge

There is another interesting thing when killer whales hunt: the whole area is filled with the sounds of killer whales, as if they are discussing tactics and exchanging plans with each other.

For killer whales, these chirping languages ​​are extremely important, because killer whales have no written language and can only convey information through language, so the accuracy of the information expressed in language is extremely important.

The Marine Guardian

Although killer whales are very smart, they also have a marine guardian that they need to stay away from: humpback whales. Sometimes, humpback whales will follow killer whales and rush out to save the prey in danger when the killer whales are about to succeed in hunting.

The most helpless thing is that humpback whales are very sensitive to the sounds of killer whales and can always accurately find the hunting sites of killer whales. Killer whales have no way to deal with adult humpback whales, but killer whales will attack and kill young humpback whales. Perhaps the mutual restraint between the two is a long-standing contradiction.

For these cute black and white creatures that look like they are smiling, the ocean is their real home. So please protect our ocean home so that these cute creatures can survive.