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Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

smithsonianmag.com

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Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#161

Post by Timon3 »

s1artibartfast wrote: post #109
colechristensen wrote: post #63

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Clearly orcas have culture that spreads. It’s a bit silly to speculate about patient zero being a matriarch as there’s zero evidence, likewise until a mechanism of communication is known saying it was or was not communicated between pods without evidence isn’t reasonable.

In this case I think it's interesting how people project their personal social views onto the blank slate. The idea that the trend must have started by a female whale that was somehow harmed and is now seeking Justice if it's cleanly into the framework with what some people view the world. The idea that it was started by some way all that got a kick out of causing destruction doesn't have the same social resonance

> In this case I think it's interesting how people project their personal social views onto the blank slate. The idea that the trend must have started by a female whale that was somehow harmed and is now seeking Justice if it's cleanly into the framework with what some people view the world.

You are injecting a political spin where there is none. Orcas live in a matriarchical hierarchy. People assume that the orcas have started hunting because the "pack leader" was hurt. They might or might not be correct, but they're not doing what you're describing.

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#162

Post by fho »

The formatting in title is hilarious... It could be read as: "Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, [he is] suggesting the behavior may be spreading"

I somehow imagine an orca in top hat, kindly suggesting that he will continue to ram other yachts if some conditions are not met :-)

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#163

Post by dbish »

yetanotherloser wrote: post #154
dbish wrote: post #138

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Lol. Referring to arming teachers not boaters (I’m a sailor myself, yet to hear anyone wanting one)

Ah. Sorry, I got the wrong end of the stick there!

Ha. No worries. Anaphoric resolution can be ambiguous. I blame the English language.

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#164

Post by MagicMoonlight »

ceejayoz wrote: post #68
mcpackieh wrote: post #53

I've never believed that orcas have always left humans alone. I think they began leaving humans alone when commercial whaling took off and they witnessed first hand how dangerous humans can be to whales. Maybe that generational memory is now fading. Yeah I know the argument that humans are too bony and taste bad, but how would they know we taste bad if they never even take a nibble to taste test us? These are very in…

> These are very intelligent mammals, they should be curious about how we taste. Maybe they're intelligent enough to recognize our intelligence, and don't want to attack other intelligent beings?

Why would you assume that they are better than us? We ate and/or raped everyone on land to extinction

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#165

Post by mclide »

swid wrote: post #15

This American Life just did a segment where the experts were very skeptical of both the theories presented in this article - that the first encounters near Spain were caused by a traumatic event of a matriarch, and also that orca pods would communicate with each other to spread the behavior. The theory presented in that segment was the first orcas are sort of like rowdy teenagers participating in a fad, and the newer…

The brilliant American Life segment with a juxtaposition of the “Greetings, People of Earth” story with reporting on ChatGPT and the Orcas creates a bricolage that may spur thoughts around questions related to our ability to recognize non-human intelligence.

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#166

Post by gremlinsinc »

anigbrowl wrote: post #54
swid wrote: post #15

This American Life just did a segment where the experts were very skeptical of both the theories presented in this article - that the first encounters near Spain were caused by a traumatic event of a matriarch, and also that orca pods would communicate with each other to spread the behavior. The theory presented in that segment was the first orcas are sort of like rowdy teenagers participating in a fad, and the newer…

something of a coincidence Orcas do go in for fads (look up 'orca salmon hats') but experts oftentimes dismiss things as coincidence because they don't have a theory and don't want to look stupid by speculating. When I was growing up reports of ball lightning were dismissed as hallucinations or optical illusions until video and spectrographic technology advanced sufficiently to capture the phenomenon: https://en.wiki…

salmon hats? the color or the fish?

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#167

Post by cowthulhu »

ThisIsNowhere wrote: post #110
cowthulhu wrote: post #60

Earlier quoted context omitted.

The orcas are attacking small sailboats, which tend to have less of an environmental impact… less engine use, quiet, fewer people on board, very small scale fishing (if at all). It’s weird to be rooting against this sort of ship when cruise ships and trawlers are the real problem - and also pretty difficult to attack. Will you count it as a success if people favor larger powerboats over small sailboats?

I know I'm on HN when someone is explaining why the "woke" ideology of the orcas attacking yachts is ultimately futile.

I’m not explaining any ideology… definitely don’t think of Orcas in terms of “woke” or not. Just stating that rooting for the orcas is rooting for something fairly self-defeating.

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#168

Post by knightofmars »

whalesalad wrote: post #139
swid wrote: post #15

This American Life just did a segment where the experts were very skeptical of both the theories presented in this article - that the first encounters near Spain were caused by a traumatic event of a matriarch, and also that orca pods would communicate with each other to spread the behavior. The theory presented in that segment was the first orcas are sort of like rowdy teenagers participating in a fad, and the newer…

My gut is telling me it’s a parasite or toxin causing the aggression. But I have zero professional knowledge in this space.

I recommend probiotics.

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#169

Post by Kon-Peki »

aurizon wrote: post #3

Just add a low voltage electric fence to 2 plates glued underwater at port and starboard. Salt water conducts, also Orca's conduct - some small current flow that will be repellant to the Orca's, but not harmful. They do this to repel carp swimming upriver. one of those, with proper voltage and current limiting should be felt by an orca, but not harm the orca. A little experimentation will find a safe repellant level.

> some small current flow

Don’t do this on your boat. It will eat your propeller and every other metal object you’ve got underwater.

Re: Orca rams into yacht near Scotland, suggesting the behavior may be spreading

#170

Post by mjh2539 »

shreyshnaccount wrote: post #136
serf wrote: post #61

Earlier quoted context omitted.

there is bound to be some kind of response if this remains a trend; and given that some of these boats are having their fin/bulb keels seemingly targeted by these animals means that the crews of the boats are in some greater level of mortal peril than is already provided by the hobby.. I feel bad for the animals, but sailing doesn't seem to be going anywhere as a global interest and boats produced are getting to be m…

I totally understand where you are coming from but the palatable entitlement of our species is at its peak when we say something like this

I don't think I'd call it entitled; perhaps half a million years ago, but today, no.
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