Captive killer whales

It’s been a big week (f)in orca news. The black and white cetaceans, often referred to as killer whales seem to be making some unexpected moves—popping up in numbers and places where they usually do not.Reddit Knowingly Downvoting Self | Future TechOn Sunday, a group of researchers—surveying the seas from a plane—spotted four whales just south of Nantucket and Martha’s Vineyard, in an area where orca sightings are exceedingly rare, according to a New York Times report. Elsewhere in New England, a fishing crew noted…

Orcas are attacking and capsizing boats off the coast of Spain in what researchers are saying may be learned behavior. The local maritime rescue service said on Thursday that several killer whales had damaged a sailing boat, adding to dozens of reported orca attacks off the coasts of Spain and Portugal this year.Twitter Is Shifting Right | Future TechA sailing boat was making headway to Gibraltar in the early hours of Thursday when a group of orcas pierced the boat’s hull and broke the rudder. A rapid-response vessel was…

One of the world’s most famous orcas is going back to the ocean after more than 50 years in captivity, following years of activism pushing for her release.Is AI Moving Too Fast? | Future TechOn Thursday, the Miami Seaquarium, home of the orca named Lolita, also known as Tokitae, announced that it is planning to release her back into her natural habitat in the Pacific Northwest within the next two years. The effort is part of a first-of-its-kind legal agreement between the Seaquarium and Friends of Toki, a nonprofit…

There may be a totally non-violent reason that an orca near Iceland was spotted caring for a pilot whale calf. But given what we know of orcas—a species infamous for breaking the spines of dolphins and eating the livers of unlucky great white sharks—you’ll forgive us for being a little suspicious.Researchers studying orcas off the western coast of Iceland spotted one apparently raising a pilot whale calf as its own offspring. That’s a little weird. Pilot whales are ordinarily prey for the larger cetaceans, which are…

Drone footage captured on May 16 proves what biologists in South Africa have long suspected: a group of killer whales (Orcinus orca) is systematically hunting and killing great white sharks off the coast of the country.Separate observations by a helicopter pilot indicated that two or three great whites were killed by a group of orcas over a 71-minute period. The drone footage shows five killer whales, one of which is Starboard, a male orca previously suspected of killing several great whites alongside an accomplice named…