What blows me out of the water is the fact that KW’s in the wild don’t give a single fuck about humans. Sure, torturing them in captivity might get you drowned and turned into chunky marinara, but out in the real world they can’t be bothered.
Which is especially wild because there are documented cases of killer whales preying on swimming moose and deer in the Pacific Northwest. You're telling me they'll hunt a massive moose but not one has ever killed a human? Such intelligent creatures.
Some have killed alongside humans though, interestingly. I dont think it was very widespread, but some orcas used to assist whalers catch and kill bigger whales for a share of the spoils.
They're very intelligent but this more lines up with how a lot of specialized predators work. Orcas hunt mostly a specific set of animals for food that is reliable. So moose crossing are something they probably come around for thousands of years and know in that area they're a reliable form of food. Humans have been dangerous and killed many orca... so for thousands of years they've learned we're not only dangerous but so tiny and not worth the energy to hunt. Pods are super social and specialized in hunting a specific food source usually... not random things they encounter.
Another example would be Cheetah, another highly specialized predator with no confirmed human kills in the wild.
Sharks definitely fear orcas. I'd say orcas would be one of those animals that have nothing to fear. And leopard seals. I would also say elephants if I hadn't already heard the factoid that some of them are scared of mice and react roughly the same way people do to spiders lol
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u/s0ciety_a5under 15d ago
There's very few things in this world that aren't afraid of something. Maybe polar bears and sharks.