Killer Whale Chases Man and Dog!

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Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) chasing Labrador Retriever (Canis lupus familiaris)

Swim for your life! A diver and dog are chased from the water by a Killer Whale! Nothing against the orca, which is the largest dolphin, a highly intelligent carnivore, and was probably pinging the dog as a meal possibility, but I have to cheer for the dog to make it to the shore.

“Dogs are our link to paradise. They don't know evil or jealousy or discontent. To sit with a dog on a hillside on a glorious afternoon is to be back in Eden, where doing nothing was not boring - it was peace.” ~ Milan Kundera

“Heaven goes by favor. If it went by merit, you would stay out and your dog would go in.” ~ Mark Twain

“If there are no dogs in Heaven, then when I die I want to go where they went.” ~ Will Rogers


Killer Whale (Orcinus orca)

Orcas also have their place on Earth, in the biosphere, and are conscious beings. Killer Whales live 50 to 80 years, grow to 23 to 32 feet in length (7.0 to 9.7 meters), and weigh up to 6 tons (5,443 kilograms).

"It was once believed that most animal behavior, from the food they ate to the places they slept, was based on instinct. This new discovery supports the growing view that animals like killer whales are very prone to learning by imitation, and that they are `cultural` in nature." ~ Michael Noonan

Orcas Chasing Diver & Dog The free diver was on his way back in when he must have seen the Orcas and quickly got out onto the rocks. It seemed like there was at least 4 Orcas around him of which one was a mother with her calf. The one Orca came very close to shore where the Labrador was busy retrieving sticks from the water. He saw the whale and quickly turned around and swam back to shore with the Orca following as far as he could.





Sea Shepherd Conservation Society

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Very Rare Shepherd’s Beaked Whales Sighted, First Video Ever!

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Shepherd’s Beaked Whale (Tasmacetus shepherdi)


Very Rare Shepherd’s Beaked Whales Sighted, First Video Ever! he Australian Antarctic Division team was tracking blue whales off the coast of Victoria state last month when they spotted the reclusive mammals, which are so rarely seen that no population estimates of the species exist. Voyage leader Michael Double said the black and cream-coloured mammals with prominent dolphin-like beaks had been spotted in the wild only a handful of times through history.

According to the Australian environment department, there have only been two previous confirmed sightings - a lone individual in New Zealand and a group of three in Western Australia. They have never been filmed live before.

"These animals are practically entirely known from stranded dead whales, and there haven't been many of them," Double told AFP, calling the footage "unique". "They are an offshore animal, occupying deep water, and when they surface it is only for a very short period of time."

Double said what was remarkable about the sighting was that the whale was previously thought to be a solitary creature, yet was in a pod of 10 to 12. "To find them in a pod is very exciting and will change the guide books. Our two whale experts will now carefully study the footage to work out the whale sizes and so on and prepare a scientific paper." The Shepherd's beaked whale, also known as the Tasman beaked whale, was discovered in 1937 but little is known about them.

Rare Whales Spotted in Bass Strait Scientists hope the sighting of a pod of rare Shepherd's beaked whales will lead to new research into the species.



 Source: Physorg.com and AFP


Shepherd’s Beaked Whale (Tasmacetus shepherdi)
Status: Data Deficient
Shepherd's beaked whales are primarily known from a few dozen strandings, all south of 30°S, around New Zealand, southern Australia, southern South America, the Juan Fernandez Islands, and Tristan de Cunha (Mead 1989).


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Dolphins and Whales Play Together in Hawaiian Waters

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Bottlenose Dolphin and Humpback Whale

Whales Give Dolphins a Lift Many species interact in the wild, most often as predator and prey. But recent encounters between humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins reveal a playful side to interspecies interaction. In two different locations in Hawaii, scientists watched as dolphins "rode" the heads of whales: the whales lifted the dolphins up and out of the water, and then the dolphins slid back down. The two species seemed to cooperate in the activity, and neither displayed signs of aggression or distress. Whales and dolphins in Hawaiian waters often interact, but playful social activity such as this is extremely rare between species. The latest Bio Bulletin from the Museum's Science Bulletins program presents the first recorded examples of this type of behavior.



Two Unusual Interactions Between a Bottlenose Dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and a Humpback Whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) in Hawaiian Waters Abstract: When two species share a common habitat, interspecific interactions can take many forms. Understanding the dynamics of these interactions can provide insight into the behavior and ecology of those species involved. Two separate, unusual interactions are described in which a humpback whale (Megaptera novaeangliae) lifted a bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) completely out of the water. Both incidents occurred in Hawaiian waters. Based on reports of object play by hump-back whales, and the apparent initiation and cooperation of each dolphin being lifted, object (i.e., the dolphin) play by the whale and social play by the dolphin seem to be the most plausible explanations for the interaction. Aggressive and epimeletic behavior by the humpback were also considered.


Bottlenose Dolphin and Humpback Whale



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