In , just a few months before the death of Brancheau, Alexis Martinez - a marine trainer - was killed by a killer whale in an attack at Spanish zoo Loro Parque. Both incidents happened very close together, and brought about a very concerning notion: that killer whales were dangerous animals. But how close to the truth is this idea? Killer whales are apex predators. They are considered to be the most powerful killers in the ocean, capable of taking down massive prey like whales - hence their name - and even great white sharks.
In fact, their hunting strategies are widely attributed to causing the extinction of the largest shark to have ever lived, the megalodon. It is believed killer whales eliminated this vicious predator to protect their young and food supplies. Given what we know about orca, it would be dangerous not to consider them dangerous.
They are perhaps the most efficient killers in the animal kingdom. There are only four recorded killer whale fatalities, all occurring in theme parks. These are unnatural habitats in which the animals are exposed to great deals of stress and mental decay. Their mindset is compromised and there have been many more recorded incidents of animals lashing out and being aggressive without deaths. Wild killer whales have never killed a person. There have been encounters resulting in injuries, but these are not only exceptionally rare, but most likely the case of mistaken identity.
Over the past years, there have been a total of seven noteworthy incidents. On a few occasions, orca used hunting strategies to either upturn boats or at least attempt to, in techniques used on ice flows to get to seal prey.
Nobody was hurt after their boats were attacked. The most notable attack in the wild is when a man was bitten while surfing; likely a case of mistaken identity similar to accidental shark attacks.
Finally, a man was once dragged under water for 40 seconds by a killer whale. While attempting to steal the bag, the killer whale pulled the man down with it. Those are the only reports we have. In a world where killer whales inhabit the waters of every country with coastlines, from the UK to New Zealand, these are the only incidents ever documented.
Wild killer whales do not attack people. As far as we know, from a scientific and historical point of view, there are no cetaceans whales, dolphins, and porpoises that eat humans. In fact, most marine mammals are incapable of consuming a human due to their lack of teeth, small throat, overall small size, or restraints from their standard diet.
Moreover, most cetaceans have fairly small throats that would make it impossible for them to swallow humans. One of the few if not the only known cetacean with a big enough throat to swallow a human is the sperm whale. While they have fairly large throats these marine mammals can swallow giant squid , they typically hunt for food at depths that are significantly deeper than humans can survive in. While killer whales possess the teeth necessary to break humans body parts down for easy consumption and a sperm whale possesses a throat large enough to consume a human, neither species appears interested in eating people.
In addition to the fact that most cetaceans are either unable to eat people or show no interest in consuming humans, it is also rare that a person would consume into close contact with a large cetacean, sperm whale, or killer whale. In most cases, humans are either on boats or swimming around in and around the inner coastline, where the opportunities to run into a killer whale or other type of large cetacean is extremely rare.
And although some killer whales are known to inhabit coastal waters, the occurrences where a human comes into close contact with one of these large marine mammals is limited. As stated earlier, there are several cases where killer whales have attacked humans in the wild, but these instances were fairly uncommon. As a species, killer whales are brilliant creatures. However, even big brains can be fooled. Any predator can be confused by stimuli that mimic prey," she says.
Because no attack occurred at Lofoten, some reports have suggested that the whales may have been playing. That interpretation of events is understandable — many oceanic dolphins playfully surf waves and wakes for fun — but it doesn't hold water in this case. That's because Norway's orcas are not known to display such behaviour this close to land.
Sarah Keartes is a science and wildlife journalist based in the Pacific Northwest. Follow her on Twitter sarahkeartes. Our planet is a busy, crazy place. And amidst all the noise, voices get lost and some stories are never heard. For our growing team of writers and contributors, those are the stories that matter most: we dedicate our time to them all day and every day.
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