Would killer whales be gentler if they didn't have a name to live up to?

“If we started calling them fairy whales or soft cotton whales…”
Or seapanda’s.

I saw a neato program the other day that showed how some killer whales have learned how to hunt great white sharks. That’s pretty killer! Have you seen how they actually come out of the water on to the shore to catch seals and other prey? I think they’re appropriately named.

Errrrrr….....would not matter, whales do not understand human…......maybe they would live up to their name less if people would leave them alone in the wild instead of trying to use them for tricks, entertainment, and out own personal jollies.

All whales are killers, really. Some kill plankton, some kill seals. I can understand about why the ones locked up at Seaworld would. Rent The Cove, you’ll understand why.

Names don’t matter. Don’t fuck with wildlife, unless you’re God.

And I’m pretty sure nobody here is.

Their real name is Orcinus Orca, so I don’t think it would make any difference. They have been known as savage predators since ancient sailors first encountered them.

Wussy Whales
Sissy Sealife

Hmmm…doesn’t quite have the same ring.

Stay away from the killer orcas, jellyfriend! They are cetaceans – toothed whales – and they are carnivores and also sport hunters. They got their name because of what they have been doing for centuries.

I really don’t think that they would understand in the first place?

I don’t agree with everything PETA say or do but I did find their comment about how it’s no wonder these Whales are attacking when they are kept in a tank that is the size of a bath tub to them! When you compare the ocean to the tanks these guys are kept in then you can see their point. I wouldn’t be surprised if these Whales go stir crazy.

No. Killer whales (Orcinus orca), like all members of the dolphin family, are wild animals whose normal range includes hundreds, if not thousands, of square miles.. They have been removed from their natural environment, placed in inadequate housing, and trained to do tricks for the entertainment of our own species. It’s amazing that it doesn’t happen more often.

Yes it would.I am however,glad that bears wear fur-pants.I just don’t want to see them any other way.

@FutureMemory I saw the same program and referenced it in another thread a couple days ago. Would you not agree that the Orca seems to have the power of reason by its actions, both in the turning upside down of the rays and great white, but also coming up onto the beach to grab seal pups?
Would you also believe that seal pups, as they mature, are also capable learning reasoning skills? They seem to do so as evidenced by their avoidance of the places where the Orca is able to come up onto the beach?

I don’t think they are having any trouble with their self image. Humans are the ones who feel the need to round up wild animals and cage them for their viewing pleasure. What’s up with that?

…err yeah! Let’s call a man eating tiger a big fwuffy stripy puddy cat.Every home should have one.

@ucme…puddy tat.

I don’t think anyone has grasped the irony in @probablyso‘s question. Of course the whales don’t care what we call them. Whales are whales. We are the only species that names, that mediates. By naming we control. And if we can control killers, that makes us so much more powerful.

However, we can’t control nature, so when it harms us we act surprised, and blame it for our fallacies.

@Trillian I tawt I taw one.How remiss of me to forget. I thank you.

@Trillian I’d rather you tank me!

Killer whales are called such because they kill. They are extremely skilled at it and, depending on where a certain population lives, have adapted at hunting completely different prey in a variety of ways. They’ll eat anything from sea lions to fish to other whales and dolphins. They hunt in packs, they hunt alone, and occasionally they will even throw themselves onto the shores to catch certain prey.

The only thing wrong with the name “killer whale” is that they are not whales, they are dolphins.

I’m getting this information from an excellent class I took about marine mammals, but this site has some information about various methods of hunting observed in killer whales.

@Trillian Easy tiger.By the way, message to self:must hit edit.

‘Orca’ doesn’t sound very deadly.