This picture of a rare white orca was taken off the coast of Alaska's Aleutian Islands last month by researchers on a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration research ship. Looks like he could use a bleaching. The whale had been spotted years ago but has eluded researchers since.
According to the Jaws-inspired masterpiece Orca (1977) - "The killer whale is one of the most intelligent creatures in the universe. Incredibly, he is the only animal other than man who kills for revenge. He has one mate, and if she is harmed by man, he will hunt down that person with a relentless, terrible vengeance - across seas, across time, across all obstacles." Fascinating!
More (real) info available via the AP.
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tags: white orca, white killer whale, Orcinus orca, zoology, cetaceans, NOAA
A rare white killer whale, Orcinus orca, better known as an Orca,
photographed by researchers off the coast of Alaska on 23 February.
Image: Holly Fearnbach (NMML, NMFS permit 782-1719) [wallpaper size].
Seattle…
All the rage this week on the big bad web is the big bad albino orca. It swims around the big dark ocean intimidating other sea creatures with its big white...The...ummm...big glowing specimen was spotted aboard the NOAA RV Oscar Dyson with its pod about two miles off Kanaga Volcano, part of…
tags: Tilikum, Tillikum, Tilly, Orcinus orca, Killer Whale, SeaWorld, Sea World, Orlando, Florida, whales, animals, news, behavior, streaming video
Whale trainer, Dawn Brancheau, with male orca, Tilikum (also spelled as "Tillikum"), at SeaWorld Orlando.
Yesterday afternoon, experienced whale…
AP stock photo.
Rex Dalton reports in the latest issue of Nature:
"Humpback whale numbers in the northern Pacific Ocean have ballooned to nearly 20,000, the largest population seen since the majestic mammals were hunted nearly to extinction half a century ago.
The number of humpbacks hit an all-…
They say it drinks blood...they say it can't be killed...
Awesome picture.
... and instead of a mouth, it's got four arses.
Okay, that's probably way too obscure.
... and it's tail is covered in magnets, so, if you're made of metal, you'll stick to it, and...
A yacht skipper of my acquiantance was singlehandedly delivering a catamaran: he fell asleep on deck and was woken by the boat lurching erractically. Looking over the side, he saw he was being investigated by a large killer whale. When he established it was not an exhaustion-induced hallucination he swears that the creature rolled an eye out of the water and studied his for a while, then swam off.
An otherwise sane man, he is convinced that the whale was committing his face to memory, and it will one day be responsible for his death. I feel a synopsis and three chapters to my agent coming on.
...It has four ears, two are for listening and two are sort of back-up ears. Some of the ears are on the inside of its head.