Of Orcas and Men: What Killer Whales Can Teach Us

by David Neiwert

wild orcas have never been known to attack human beings.

You will know that you are at the mercy of a gigantic predator, the undisputed ruler of the ocean.

All the care in the world cannot compensate for the stress brought on by placing a large, highly mobile, highly intelligent, and highly social animal with a complex life into a small concrete tank.

Of the 136 orcas taken in captivity from the wild over the years, only 13 still survive.

One of the most fearsome mythical creatures, the Wasgo, was half wolf and half killer whale.

According to the myths of the Kwakwaka’wakw tribes of northern Vancouver Island (also known as the Kwakiutl), the first men were killer whales who came to shore, transformed into land creatures, and then forgot to go back.

While humans have only been around for about 200,000 years as a species, killer whales have been the supreme creature in the ocean for about six million years, roughly thirty times longer.

It is the second-largest brain in the animal kingdom, second only to that of a sperm whale and only slightly larger than an elephant’s brain.

The scientists also found that orca brains have a highly developed amygdala, the part of the brain that’s associated with emotional learning and long-term memories.

The one constant in orcas’ lives is their togetherness; sleeping and awake, eating and playing, traveling and exploring, everything is done together.

Remember, it is from a carved yellow cedar tree that the first killer whale sprang alive.