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Within the wild, is a human extra prone to survive an encounter with an orca or a fantastic white shark?
— Kameryn F., Yardley, Pa.
By the numbers, white sharks are much more harmful to people than orcas are. Regardless of the identify “killer whale,” there’s just one well-documented occasion of a wild orca attacking somebody — Hans Kretschmer, who was bitten on the leg whereas browsing in California in 1972. Assaults by white sharks, though nonetheless uncommon, occur fairly a bit extra usually; there are a number of hundred on document.
So why are killer whale assaults so uncommon? Emma Luck, a marine-mammal researcher on the College of Alaska, advised me {that a} large a part of it’s simply that orcas don’t encounter people as usually. “Killer whales are present in all oceans, however they are usually present in larger densities round chilly, high-latitude areas,” she wrote in a message. “These are areas the place the water shouldn’t be significantly inviting for the typical beachgoer!”
She mentioned the 1972 orca assault was most likely a case of mistaken id, as is the case with many shark assaults. “In an open water context, the place all events can view one another clearly, I might wager that each the shark and the killer whale are going to depart you alone,” she mentioned.
In reality, you don’t should spend lengthy shopping police blotters to verify that not solely are killer whale assaults rarer than shark assaults, they’re additionally rarer than documented circumstances of swimmers being attacked and bitten by different people. Granted, that’s as a result of there are much more people than orcas round, however that doesn’t change the conclusion: Within the ocean, you’re extra prone to be attacked and bitten by an individual than by a killer whale.
As a result of sharks and orcas each spend most of their time hidden underwater, we frequently consider them when it comes to their transient interactions with us — will they assault us or not? If the one two choices are “Don’t assault the human” and “Assault the human,” it’s laborious to not concentrate on the second. In spite of everything, it’s the second almost certainly possibility!
However sharks and orcas aren’t simply hanging out down there deciding whether or not to assault us. Just like the people you cross on the road, they’re principally busy doing their very own factor.
And within the case of orcas, one of many issues they’re busy doing is worrying about humpback whales.
For causes which might be unclear to scientists, humpback whales nearly appear to have a vendetta in opposition to killer whales, as a 2016 paper within the journal Marine Mammal Science famous. All around the world, orcas making an attempt to chase down meals are routinely interrupted by out-of-the-blue humpback whale assaults. Humpbacks will band collectively and journey nice distances to intervene in killer whale hunts, no matter what the prey species is.
The paper even paperwork circumstances of humpback whales seemingly lifting seals up out of the water and holding them out of attain of the orcas. The humpbacks stayed and guarded the prey for hours, till the orcas have been compelled to go away hungry.
Why do humpbacks do that? Is that this altruism? Recreation idea? Cross-mammal solidarity? A side-effect of their intuition to guard calves? Or do they only actually hate orcas, for causes identified solely to them?
“It’s laborious to know why it occurs,” Ms. Luck mentioned. “Particularly as a result of it’s not restricted to only one inhabitants of humpbacks. It occurs all around the world.”
So in the event you do encounter a killer whale within the ocean, don’t fear, it’s unlikely to assault you. And in the event you’re nonetheless anxious … maybe think about befriending a humpback.
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