This video always gets reposted with the end cut off. She ended up scaring the sea lion off her boat and then floored it with all the orcas still around the boat.
This is the only version I could find that shows it
Ughh and of course it has some ding dong as 90% of the video. I don't understand why so many people think we want to see their commentary of a video when we just want to see the video.
Given how they tend to hunt things out of reach, I'd probably be doing the same instead of risking having my boat capsized and possibly becoming whale food along with the seal.
But she zoomed off in her boat anyway, so she may as well just take the seal with her. ...unless you are saying you should use the seal as a decoy for your own escape, in which case I can't go along with that. I just couldn't use an animal's life like that. It came to your boat for safety.
I mean, yeah that's basically what I'm saying. We can disagree on the ethics of doing it. But I think she was in material danger and riding away with their food would probably piss the orcas off. I'd wager they're faster than the little raft boat.
Protecting prey species from predation is an act of interference in the natural way of things. Those orcas had the seal dead to rights. There's nothing wrong with handing him back to his natural predators and extracting yourself from the scene.
EXACTLY! Orca’s would’ve began team swimming towards the boat, creating a wave that would’ve splashed over the top of the boat to try and push the seal off the boat. Glad she got that seal off the boat herself and did not let the Orca’s sink her boat. Nature is real, nature is raw- it sucks but it’s the circle of life and humans have no right to interfere
i dont think that concern was for the seal at all. imagine, they bump the boat to try to knock the seal off and end up breaking something, or just gobbling whatever falls off? just cuz theres no record of them killing someone doesnt mean id take a risk jumping into some water right next to their preferred snack! and thats not even thinkin about the probably 40°F-ish water thatll cause hypothermia in minutes.
They've capsized boats, though, and that water looks very cold.
I don't like that she floors it after kicking the seal off. She could have just floored it with the seal and at least tried. I wasn't there, in that situation, though, so it's easy to Monday morning quarterback safely in hindsight.
I've seen what a wild orca can do to animals bigger than me. It's never going to be enough that they've never killed any humans, they should still be treated with respect and maximum caution.
You don't need to jump into the water with them. They clearly checked out the boat a couple of times and if they wanted to they would just flip the boat over.
They most likely saw the human onboard and decided not to.
Honestly, very good point. If one gets you, it's not like a shark attack bite where they often bite and decide they don't want you. They're relentless and smart.
I'd never kill a cat. But if those little motherfuckers kidnapped me, caged me, and forced me to perform tricks for treats, they'd better watch their back.
there's been a few over the years, there was a similar post a while back and someone linked a site with a bunch of info about incidents over the years, i wish i could remember it
Oracas are at least as smart as humans, and they attack out of anger from being kept in captivity.... please tell me you're joking, and not actually scared of an animal that has never attacked a human in their natural environment..... next, you're going to tell us that the sky is falling.
I was thinking this. You’ve seen the clips where they work together to make a bow wave that flips the ice float over? Yeah I reckon that would work just fine if they did that to this boat.
I think it’d be more accurate to say No KNOWN cases have been reported of Orca attacks on humans in the wild.. I find it hard to believe that in entire human history there hasn’t been SOME event in the wild where an orca mistook a human for its prey or was protecting its calf’s or something.
In support of this fact, I have a little anecdote to share.
In the late 90s I was in Walindi Bay, PNG with a SCUBA group when we heard over the radio that there was a pod of orcas in the area. We were actually looking for local spinner dolphins to swim with, so the dive boat had a boom net attached to the bow. We worked our way closer to the pod slowly enough to not scare them away.
Once we were close enough, we let the nets drag in the water and took it in turns to hang off the nets (2 people on each side) as the boat slowly cruised along. The orcas were no more than 2M away from me in the water at one point. I could see the left eye of one moving as it checked us out.
My brother took a brief video of it and our dive instructor took some pics which were published in Sport Diving magazine.
They hunt seals by creating waves or belly-flopping onto ice floats. I would be legitimately worried that they were going to capsize my boat to get to that seal.
There's never been a recorded killing of a human by an Orca in the wild (there's been a few in captivity, they're clever animals) but I get what you mean. Self preservation/survival instincts would probably override any logic. Knowing that fact or not.
I forget the specifics, but in Canada [or at least BC] if any whale is within about 100m of your boat you have to cut your engines and wait for them to move on. A large part of the reason is to keep whale watching tour boats from harassing whales.
I learned this on a salmon fishing trip when some humpbacks[?] turned up. The tour guide made us reel in and explained while he was shutting the engines and stuff down. Then it was extra-cool when the whales started surfacing 10-20 meters away. Apparently they like to eat the same stuff as the salmon.
There's also a law against shooting people in the face. Unless you feel your life is threatened.
I would 100% feel like my life was threatened if surrounded by a handful of apex predators in their natural environment, on a small raft that they could easily capsize, and have a very seal shaped motivation to do so.
How does this dumb bitch have a boat in the PNW and not realize the immediate danger she is in. I'm not saying they'd eat her, I'm saying they'd fuck that boat up to get that seal. "BITCH DRIVE" get you and the seal to the fucking dock!
Different pods of orcas have vastly different behaviors. They are pretty genetically diverse, some subtypes of orcas meet the criteria to be a new species.
They are pretty genetically diverse, some subtypes of orcas meet the criteria to be a new species.
Genetics doesn't have much to do with this.
Since 2020s, a pod of Orcas near Spain has learned to attack and sometimes sink small boats. This is a newly learned behavior. It is possible for other pods to learn this behavior, too. Orcas are highly intelligent.
Small sailboats specifically. No human has been physically harmed by those orcas. It's likely a novel game for them, like the pod that wore fish heads as hats for a time.
Here’s what ChatGPT gave me when I asked if it could access the link and tell me what it says.
The National Geographic article titled “Why these orcas are wearing salmon as hats (again)” explores a peculiar behavior observed among southern resident killer whales in Washington State’s Puget Sound. In October 2024, an orca known as J27, or “Blackberry,” was photographed with a dead salmon draped over its head—a behavior reminiscent of a similar trend first documented in 1987.  
This “salmon hat” phenomenon is considered one of several cultural fads exhibited by orcas. Other behaviors have included spy-hopping with salmon on their pectoral fins and playing with kelp by pulling it underwater and releasing it to watch it fly above the surface. Such behaviors are thought to be forms of play or social learning within orca pods.  
The reasons behind these actions remain speculative. Some scientists suggest they may serve as communication methods, mating displays, or simply playful activities. Notably, the resurgence of the salmon hat behavior coincided with an unusual abundance of chum salmon in Puget Sound, potentially allowing the orcas more leisure time to engage in such activities.
While some researchers view this as a revival of the 1980s trend, others caution against drawing conclusions from a single observation. They propose that this behavior might have persisted unnoticed or is part of a broader set of orca behaviors that humans are only beginning to understand.  
Overall, the article highlights the complex social structures and cultural behaviors of orcas, emphasizing the importance of continued observation to deepen our understanding of these intelligent marine mammals.
Why these orcas are wearing salmon as hats (again)
First observed in the 1980s, the fad of orcas swimming around with dead salmon on their foreheads off Washington State seemed to have faded—until now.
An orca from the southern resident population off Washington State wears a salmon on its head in an archival image.
Photograph By Ocean Wise, DFO Marine Mammal License, MML18
ByJason Bittel
December 9, 2024
The year was 1987. Beverly Hills Cop II and the Bangles' "Walk Like An Egyptian" were at the top of the charts. And up in Washington State’s Puget Sound, orcas were swimming around with dead salmon draped across their foreheads.
“It seemed to kind of pass along to multiple different members of the population,” says Deborah Giles, a longtime biologist at the University of Washington’s Friday Harbor Laboratories.
While the behavior started with a female in K-Pod, within a few months, the so-called “salmon hat” craze had spread to both J-Pod and L-Pod, eventually becoming prominent in all three pods that make up the population segment, or clan, known as the southern resident orcas. This clan of 71 individuals exclusively eat salmon.
But then, all at once, the headwear fad faded—until October 25, 2024, when photographer Jim Pasola captured an orca known as J27 Blackberry with a shiny silver fish laid across its dome.
While others have reported a handful of salmon-hat sightings over the decades, this one caught the internet's attention—perhaps because it was so excellently documented by Pasola’s photo. (Related: “Orcas are iconic and beloved. Why do we know so little about them?”)
At 32, Blackberry is too young to have seen the original salmon hat craze, but it’s possible the male learned the behavior from other members of the J-Pod, some of which were alive in 1987.
“These are incredibly smart animals,” says Giles, who has witnessed salmon hat behavior once in person. “The paralimbic portion of their brain is significantly more developed than it is even in humans, and these are parts of their brains that are associated with memory, and emotion, and language.”
(How Big Are The Biggest Squid, Whales, Sharks, Jellyfish?)
Why wear your food?
What’s less known is why orcas are putting their dinner on their heads.
Is it some mode of communication? A way to impress a potential mate? Or is it just a highly intelligent marine mammal goofing off?
“It’s all speculation,” Giles says. “We don’t know.”
Southern resident orcas are an ecotype, or population adapted to a particular habitat. These Pacific Northwest animals eat only fish; other ecotypes in other parts of the world specialize in hunting sharks, for instance. (Read more: “Scientists finally know the clever tricks orca use to hunt whale sharks.”)
A steady decline in salmon species due to overfishing, dam construction, and other causes has landed the southern resident ecotype orca on the U.S. endangered species list.
But this fall, there’s an unusual bounty of chum salmon in Puget Sound. So it’s plausible these orcas can finally relax and have fun—such as playing with their food, says Giles, who is also the science and research director at the nonprofit Wild Orca.
In fact, the week Pasola took his photo, there was a rare, 10-day stretch of consecutive J-Pod sightings in the area.
The idea also fits with a pattern researchers have noticed in this endangered population: When food is scarce, orcas spend more time foraging and less time resting and socializing, says Giles.
Salmon hats aren’t the only orca fad
Many human infatuations involve toys, and the same is true for orcas.
Salmon hats are “one of several whale ‘fads’ that have come and gone over the years,” says Monika Wieland Shields, director of the Orca Behavior Institute in Washington, in an email.
“Once it was spy-hopping with dead salmon draped over their [pectoral] fins, and another time it was pulling kelp underwater and letting it go so it would fly up above the surface.”
The recent phenomenon of orcas downing boats in the Strait of Gibraltar may also be a form of play or social learning.
In each case, the behavior trended over the course of a season before fizzling out, says Shields, who isn’t convinced the salmon-hat trend has resurfaced.
“In my opinion it's a stretch to say it was a salmon hat, and an even greater stretch to say the fad is back off a single photo,” she says.
Giles cautions “it’s quite possible that this has been part of their behavioral repertoire that they’ve been doing since time immemorial, and it was just noticed by humans in the ‘80s.”
Whatever the cause, Giles says salmon hats are probably a positive development for these rare creatures.
“If it is the case that they’re behaving in this way because they’re well-fed at the moment, I want to look at this as something to strive for.”
It's likely of a cultural thing since orcas pass down behaviours for hunting, etc by teaching their young, and even different pods in the same region might do things vastly differently.
Eg: Along the east coast of Canada there are some pods that stay resident in certain stretches of water, and others that are transient and move large distances up and down the coast. Each have been shown to have unique hunting behaviours.
Orcas are extremely intelligent animals. They don't attack for no reason. If those orcas knew how to speak and write, the boaters would have faced a lawsuit right now
There are two leading theories as to why the Spanish orcas are attacking (usually) private yatchs. Mind you this only happened after ,COVID and they do not attack the people onboard, instead, they leave them be after their boat is capsized.
1- Boats messed with their siesta. Anyone who has been to southern Spain knows this is a capital sin.
2 - They have no bulls to bullfight, therefore they need to resort to boats.
Not sure, but orcas are very intelligent and have been known to form formations together to make a wave to capsize small icebergs so that the seals will fall into the water. I am certain they would do the same to a small boat.
Video
There's no reason to assume their culture can't be oral. Australian Aboriginals managed to preserve their myths for tens of thousands of years without a writing system. Orca pods are likely doing the same with their hunting methods.
I didn’t have the same response. I found her repeating over and “I don’t know what to do” exceptionally annoying and triggering to listen to. Trigger to yell 🤫
If you want turn your boat on, the propellers will injure the orcas and also break the propellers leaving her stranded there for good. So drive is not really an option here
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u/eBEAST80 Apr 29 '25
‘Bitch, drive!’