The Truth of Orca Evolution - Part 1

[@sova656]

Orcas are absolutely fascinating because they're like the geniuses of the sea. These incredible creatures have this whole secret society going on underwater, with tight-knit family groups that stick together for life. What's mind-blowing is how they communicate - they've got this whole language of clicks, whistles, and even songs. Plus, they're total problem-solving whizzes. I mean, they can figure out how to open tricky lids and even teach their pals new tricks. And let's not forget their hunting skills - they work together like a well-oiled machine, and it's just mind-boggling to see how they outsmart their prey. Orcas are like the ocean's brainiacs, and that's what makes them so darn cool!

[@InquisitorXarius]

Orcas are Sapient along with Sperm Whales, Dolphins, Elephants, Certain Cephalopod Species, and Humans.

[@SevenPr1me]

Everything you said is true. What's also true is that they are the apex predator in the ocean. They kill sharks, granted they only eat the liver and somehow they know they get the best nutrients by eating just the liver

[@JadeoftheGlade]

Thank you, Pi! I love chatting with you. 💖

[@Aethuviel]

While they are possibly the most intelligent animal in the sea (we don't know how smart sperm whales are since they can't be studied in human care), a lot of things that are seen as "so cool" are in fact found in many other animals as well. Cattle for example, stay together as mothers and daughters for life. Prairie dogs have the most complex non-human communication ever discovered. Killer whales do have very unique cooperative and innovative hunting, wolves and lions just can't hold a candle to them, but humpback whales and bottlenose dolphins are also innovative and can teach each other new special ways of hunting. What makes killer whales stand out as similar to humans, I realized when I rewatched Namu last year, was that all creatures of our respective realms are scared shitless of us. Everything on land, from tiny birds to huge giraffes and elephants, are scared of humans. Everything in the sea, from small herring to giant sperm whales and great white sharks, are terrified of killer whales.

[@grinnylein]

Imean they feel the most human in a way and that makes me wonder if there are like dumbass orcas that the other orcas think are idiots as well

[@speedy29676]

Thanks!

[@Bismarko]

a cordivae episode would be dope

[@badcaseofstripes]

Orcas are so incredible... The most interesting part about them to me is their language. I hope we come to understand more in the future of how they communicate and learn. There's so much we don't know about their various cultures. Keeping any of these creatures in captivity should be a crime.

[@MichaelWinter-ss6lx]

Keeping any living being in prison should be considered a crime.

[@badcaseofstripes]

Can't wait for part 2, I'm sure it'll be awhile as nothing about orcas is simple or easy to explain lol. Thank you!! The way you organize your videos makes the info very easy to digest.

[@kuitaranheatmorus9932]

The orgins of Orcas are so cool and I love this so much, and hope you have a great day Hoping this comes a bigger series

[@SaintGBar22]

I’m so grateful you did this. Orca’s are and always will be my favorite animal and I’ve always been fascinated by them.

[@NickDBaker]

No need for the apostrophe

[@thelaughinghyenas8465]

Orcas and hyenas are my two favorites animals. They are both so incredibly intelligent.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

Have you seen prehistoric hyenas? It's so fascinating. They are such awesome types of creatures, same with the musteladid family of animals idk if i spelled that right?

[@NickDBaker]

I had no idea about hyenas, I figured they were about as smart as Shenzi and Ed

[@thelaughinghyenas8465]

@@NickDBaker , Good Lord no! The spotted hyena is probably the smartest land carnivore. Their clans are larger and far more stable and organized than a chimpanzee troop. In many tests, they are smarter than chimpanzees. They definitely cooperate better for common goals than chimpanzee and dwarf lion intelligence. Interestingly, lions steal hyena kills more often than hyenas steal lion kills. You really should read up on them.

[@EternalEmperorofZakuul]

Apparently, in European zoos, they grow a winter coat in response to the cold

[@thelaughinghyenas8465]

@@EternalEmperorofZakuul , I am not at all surprised. Dogs will respond like that depending on the local conditions and after all there is good evidence that they evolved from Asian/European animals, hyenas that appear to be of the same species that lived in very cold areas not all that long ago.

[@LucVNO]

Us predators gotta stick together, much respect for the Orca.

[@julianshepherd2038]

My cat will fight you and your whale pal any day.

[@planetvegan7843]

Do not insult orcas by associating them with humans.

[@LucVNO]

@@planetvegan7843 Sorry loser, Im not a misanthrope.

[@oui6614]

​@@planetvegan7843 omg ur username says it all lmao, humble yourself you're just an human too and orcas have behaviour that you would say is cruel too tho we have a great relation with them so stop acting like orcas ar3 angel and humans are demons lmao.

[@gentrymiller3170]

My fiancée is obsessed with Orcas, I can’t wait to watch this video with her when I’m home for holiday 😊

[@Dedicatedfollower467]

Orcas are also my favorite modern animal, and have been since I was like..... three years old. Great video!

[@starfishey2]

I live in the Seattle area and am an avid shore-based whale watcher. I feel like everyday I'm learning something new about our two different ecotypes: Bigg's Killer Whales and the critically endangered Southern Resident Killer Whales. Bigg's have been thriving in recent years and we are seeing them inland more than ever due to seal populations also thriving, while many multiple factors are impacting the SRKW population. A study I recently read which was really fascinating to me was learning that the Southern Residents jaws are much weaker than Bigg's, making them more designed to eat fish. They can't 'just switch' to mammal-based diet even if they wanted to. Another interesting thing is the populations actively avoid each other, the Bigg's usually being the ones trying to sneak away due to their much smaller pod numbers if they do cross paths. Anyway, I'm really looking forward to your next video on the topic and I will definitely be checking out your mom's channel as well. What a wonder resource to have when studying this topic!

[@dinomation]

It’s so cool that these whales are so dominant and how their eco types differ from each other.

[@FJX2000_Productions]

Orcas are also my favorite animal too! Such a fascinating, beautiful, and intriguing mammal to study.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

I grew up getting to see "Keiko" the Orca at the Oregon state Aquarium. We visited him a ton. It was mind blowing to witness as a kid as i grew up. I wanted to be a marine biologist so bad, exploring underwater controlling ROVs, doing hands on work in tide pools, etc. I love going crabbing in Waldport & as my crab pot soaks I'll go out into the bay and catch crabs with my hands. Night time is the best time to do it. It's so fun to explore with a strong flashlight at night. You never know what you're going to see. Estuaries are also fascinating environments that deserve a ton of research and appreciation. Just like how wetland habitats deserve it too. They are such important aspects of our environment and overall ecosystem

[@harryl2232]

Next to human evolution, I find the history of whales endlessly fascinating

[@An_Actual_Rat]

The recurring theme of land-dwelling animals taking over the oceans is actually kind of hilarious. Whales today are the successors of ichtyosaurs, plesiosaurs, pliosaurs, and mosasaurs when it comes to wrestling the title of sea rulers from sharks.

[@SardonicJackrabbit]

Looking forward to part 2, long videos are the best, ESPECIALLY when they cover such wonderful topics!!

[@seese9456]

I can't wait for the day when we finally can talk to Orcas. They are such intelligent creatures with interesting cultural, communicative, and social developments.

[@S-T-E-V-E]

I too have loved Orcas since I was a kid after seeing them on whilst on Holiday in Canada!

[@jamesoshea580]

I got an image in my mind of Orcas on holiday walking around with cameras around their necks and "I love Canada" tourists t-shirts haha.

[@S-T-E-V-E]

@@jamesoshea580 The funny thing is that I had the same thought after I wrote the post! I even reworded it slightly! Originally I wrote 'I too have loved Orcas since I was a kid after seeing them on Holiday in Canada!' 😂👌

[@benmcreynolds8581]

I've daydreamed about: What if orca's continued to evolve from their already apex position and they turn into even more Overpowered, intelligent predators! Maybe even a range of diverse Evolved Orca's? *This is a great video Ben. From one Ben to another, i appreciate the work that you do & the effort you are putting into scientific research as a whole 🤘🏻

[@dynojackal1911]

Look out, oceans of the future. Neorcinus diablos (a.k.a. the devil whale) is coming.

[@benmcreynolds8581]

@@dynojackal1911 hahaha you never know? Creative name 😄

[@NickDBaker]

Wait until you learn about octopuses my human

[@Earthstar_Review]

There should be more Killer Whale horror movies.

[@Aethuviel]

Possibly a split between the giant mammal eaters and the smaller fish eaters. The largest killer whales are the minke-hunting type A in Antarctica, followed by the sadly nearly extinct North Atlantic "type 2" that lived mainly off Scotland (only two elderly males remain), and the transients on both sides of the Pacific. By comparison, the herring-eating whales in the North Atlantic for example, are much smaller, and have different social structures (males leave upon maturity, for example).

[@tm43977]

Finally an orca's origin in or for the Cenozoic era

[@Viriatha]

This is a beautiful idea for a video!

[@InfyFish]

This makes me really happy, Orcas are my favorite living sea creatures! I'm so excited to watch the full video!!

[@Sassy-b6c]

I very much want all to see the One World channel. I love it!

[@justinquaylepate1358]

Orcas and false killer whales are my absolute favorite sea animals

[@shellynm3480]

Thanks for this.

[@finesse49]

Not all Orcas are predators of marine mammals. The southern resident population of British Columbia is pisciverous.

[@EternalEmperorofZakuul]

And apparently seals can tell the difference between fish eating and seal eating orcas

[@brassbuckles]

There are multiple populations that feed primarily on fish. Northern residents are one (aside from the Southern residents you mentioned), but there are others globally. Most feed on both fish and marine mammals as far as I can tell, but some specialize heavily in marine mammals and some have a shark-heavy diet. The social structures of marine mammal hunters and open ocean killer whales is significantly different from that of the residents and other fish-hunting specialists. It's kind of fascinating. Research also indicates that the Southern Residents are possibly their own species, and haven't interbred with other species in something like 400,000 years based on genetic analysis. In that case, they are also a critically endangered species.

[@repeat_defender]

Hope you feel better soon! Stay hydrated and get lots of rest.

[@orcinusvox5107]

I HAVE BEEN waiting for an orca evolution video for so long. I could watch hours of this stuff. More on porpoises pls!!!

[@oulo5019]

Absolutely magnificent and complex animals.

[@arthurdowney2846]

I like to think of Orcas as "The Homo Erectus of the Ocean."

[@pacotaco1246]

Homo Sea-rectus

[@MKRex]

Ocean Erectus

[@--Paws--]

Who knew there was a Ranchu goldfish version of toothed-whale, interesting.

[@majorgalah]

Great video!, glad you mentioned that a,b,c and d ecotypes are subantarctic/Antarctica ecotypes, so many people seem to think that these are the only ecotypes and that every orca is one of these.

[@CarstenFuehrmann]

Great video as always. I laughed hard at 13:32.

[@maverick5039]

💯👍💯 great informative, in-depth and well presented.

[@dakotahudson8964]

Hey! Thanks for using my artwork! Please feel free to use any other pieces!

[@pacotaco1246]

The origin of our orca revolutionary comrades.

[@christaverduren690]

I can't watch this right now (I'm saving it in my youtube folders for later) but I did want to say how fascinating it is that Orcas go through a kind of menopause.

[@Crakinator]

Very interesting! Orcas are my favorite animals, and I’m hopeful that we’ll someday be able to understand their language and directly communicate with them.

[@Odyssey606]

Haven't watched it yet but I'm so thrilled! Orcas are my favourite! Will update

[@Odyssey606]

Thank you for your video! I can't wait for part 2. They're fascinating creatures. Will check out your mother's channel!

[@joshuapowell9601]

Such a well-read video. Have you done documentaries??

[@MrGksarathy]

I wonder if orca pods and populations have their own oral histories that preserve some cultural memories from the last Ice Age? I ask because the last time the transient and resident populations interbred was like 30,000 years ago, and the current population centers only came about after the retreat of the glaciers.

[@Aethuviel]

It's really excessive to insert actual language and culture into their vocalizations. They can learn to mimic each other's vocalizations (as seen with the unrelated Ulises and Nakai at SeaWorld), they can learn to mimic bottlenose dolphin vocalizations (also Ulises, among others) and even human speech (as everything from birds to dogs also have done), there is no reason to think they transmit information of the sort we do when talking. We've been studying killer whales intensely both in the wild and human care for over 50 years, yet the only time it's been scientifically described that a non-human animal tells another to do something with sound, was orangutan mothers telling their young of danger. Killer whales are awesome but they are the most hopelessly anthropomorphized animal. The most "human" thing I can find about their vocalizations is that the babies "babble", before they learn to communicate like the adults, but so do parrots.

[@MrGksarathy]

@@Aethuviel I am fairly certain that orcas have been shown to have differences in their vocalizations from pod to pod or region to region that are akin to dialects, and there is plenty of proof they each have individual clicks for each other, aka names. If orcas can transmit culture, which we know they can, oral history isn't out of the question.

[@DeinoWolfhybridhero]

Can't wait for part 2🐳🐬❤

[@Chepicoro]

Excellent video... but I have a question. Usually social land predators competition is really intensive and violent. Lions, chimpanzees, wolves, hyenas, and even us humans as hunter-gatherers will happily kill another member of the same species but from a different group. Marine social predators work different?? I mean a pod of fish eating orcas have no problems with the proximity of a pod of mammal eating orcas? There are feuds between different pods of orcas?

[@sassa82]

On land there is alot of fighting because of territorial rivaley. I guesd that its fifferent in the ocean.

[@trianglemountainmotors1210]

Great Question!!

[@patreekotime4578]

I hope Part 2 has a bit about Old Tom!

[@brassbuckles]

They'll fight within their same cultural group for various reasons, but there's no real need to fight a group that doesn't eat the same thing you do. There's no competition for resources there.

[@farmersdotter7]

Great content! I subscribed to your mum’s channel too. Thanks for giving her a shout out.

[@lemmingscanfly5]

Beautiful sea monsters.

[@seraphwithatank6535]

While funny, probably not best joke to popularize, people might believe it.

[@Afrologist]

@@seraphwithatank6535But it's true.

[@lemmingscanfly5]

@@seraphwithatank6535 Yeah, I wasn't joking.

[@arc7375]

I can’t tell you how unexpected this video was and how excited I was to see it. The Orcas were an obsession of mine since I was five years old and what made me want to be a marine biologist and study cetaceans in the wild. Really great video. Can’t wait until the next instalment comes out!

[@aformalevent]

I love your work! thank you :)

[@paulbennett7021]

Greatly looking forward to part 2. But how about covering my favourite deceased beast - Moropus? I often spot pictures of him in various sites, but I have yet to find a video telling all.

[@grimble4564]

My favorite cetacean will always be sperm whales but orcas hold a close second for sure. It's like they exhibit some of the same stuff that goes on in our brains but in a completely alien context. They absolutely deserve internationally legal personhood.

[@moshezorea5090]

thank you

[@bbbenj]

I have an orca tattooed on my chest in adoration for these amazing creatures ❤

[@hugotavaresgomes9539]

05:49 its so amazing what they can tell just by a old pair of focilized broken tooth.

[@vincephillips4331]

Great video, as always, but one question, what is so fascinating down and to your right that you keep looking at in all your videos ? 😊 Wonderful, keep up the great work.

[@RobleViejo]

>The fact this dude is asking people to watch his Mom's Channel is both Hilarious and Wholesome

[@georgiee00]

its so cool to see real time species divergence

[@widodoakrom3938]

Maybe bcs the extinction of liyathan melveli and otodus megalodon allowed orcinus dolphin to fill their nice also let them to grow bigger

[@bkjeong4302]

Basically what happened. Ironically, a lot of sources claim the opposite (that the evolution of orcas wiped out these predators, even though orcas didn’t become potential competition until after they were already gone)

[@EternalEmperorofZakuul]

​@@bkjeong4302maybe in the future orcas will likely grow to livyatan/perucetus sized whales

[@Fede_99]

Love to see Orcinus citoniensis and other fossils cetaceans from Italy 🐳 🇮🇹

[@charlesjackson8896]

Orcas are my favorite animal 😍

[@kimkimson627]

omg Plataleatostum in my new Spirit animal! I'm so sad they aren't alive anymore.

[@KrazyKaiser]

Saying "it's a dolphin, not a whale" is like saying "it's orangutan, not an ape"...

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

indeed

[@morizsenft3772]

Buddy you should tag your mom for easier finding… I once was very close to studying marine biology in Polynesia, as I lived and sailed there. But I became a pilot in Serengeti… yet I am still very passionate about the ocean. Will subscribe to her channel. Greets from Tanzania and welcome anytime. Karibu sana!

[@sparkyfromel]

In Twofold bay Australia a pod of Orca was working for years with the human whalers .The whalers were launching from shore into the migration path along the continent The Orcas worked as mustering "dogs" chasing their victim into the bay which made the job of humans so much easier then the orcas could feast on the remains , avoiding the messy killing eventually the pod died out , the body of the last one "old Tom " was found beached and his skeleton was preserved en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Old_Tom_(orca)

[@eschwarz1003]

I LOVE ORCAS; they are my fav animal too; or basically all Odontoceti / toothed whales are

[@cualfuneri2510]

Orcas are the most beautiful bad ass animal on this planet! Hope i can see them some day in their natural habitat!

[@briezzy365]

It’s important that Dolphins/Sperm Whales diverged early and mostly have all the whales that possess echolocation. Also, 9:07 not so weird as it seems because Belugas and Narwhals are also well inside the dolphin family.

[@andythegoatman694]

Yes my favorite wild animal

[@ikaikaorkidtakarakatinafan2066]

My favorite species 😍😍😍

[@nuniyoa]

you guys should talk about odobenocetops sometime!

[@Jacksonmoonstar1714]

Orcas are one of the coolest animals out there. At first glance they do NOT look like the apex predators of the ocean but in reality they can take down almost anything they want 😂

[@justskip4595]

Could different populations be classified as sub species rather than different species or the same species?

[@Aethuviel]

It's really odd that killer whales have not yet been classified even into different subspecies, only the other year was the Antarctic type D finally recognized as possibly a different species. They live in permanent populations all over the world, from the residents in Alaska, BC and Washington, the Bigg's from Alaska-Mexico and the offshores in the same waters (mysterious and almost nothing is known of them), in the Galapagos, at least two populations in Argentina, in the Caribbean, Newfoundland, Greenland, Iceland and Norway, off Iberia, Gibraltar, South Africa (they hunt great whites), the Indian Ocean, some very unique whales in Antarctica (4-5 distinct types), Australia, New Zealand, Japan and Russia. Yet all the ecotype posters only give us "here are the Antarctic types, the North Atlantic types, and the American pacific coast types". They vary in maximum sizes from 6 to 9.5 meters. Some eat only herring, some specialize in large whales, and everything in between. Their markings and social behaviors are very different, with the mammal-eaters usually living in much smaller, transient groups of 3-5 individuals, the fish-eaters in larger pods in a few dozen, and the shark-eating offshores (American pacific coast) supposedly in large pods of 100+. Yet they're all just called "Orcinus orca".

[@eerieforest9188]

Orcas are gangster. I love them but they are savage, I mean in a good way 😂

[@wizzardofpaws2420]

They are the most wonderful creature on earth. The more you learn about them, their behaviors and biology, the more you love them and absolutely DETEST them being held in SeaPrison for entertainment.

[@Saiyan_B]

You should do a video on beaked whales

[@sassa82]

Its really interesting that there is only one top predator of whales. Its very different from land animals.

[@migueljardim8177]

There used to be many more, but they have since gone extinct.

[@OliviaEllinger]

Yayyyyy ✈️✈️✈️✈️✈️

[@busybillyb33]

9:02 Pilot Whale head looks like a Xenomorph

[@differous01]

A male orca from a whale-hunting pod, when introduced to a pair of captive females from a fish-hunter pod, was attacked. In a similar clash between wild populations the sound recording showed the females select for call signs specific to their pod. They COULD be capable of interbreeding, but their cultural incompatibility means it'd take artificial insemination to find out.

[@dariuscasaus57]

I curiously wonder if the same reason there's only one orca species left, is the same reason there's only one human species left.

[@rique3012]

It really makes so much sense

[@cyankirkpatrick5194]

🤨😳🤯 amazing.

[@steelersguy74]

So the Irrawaddy/snubfin dolphin complex are now officially considered to be globicephalids?

[@EternalEmperorofZakuul]

Hears me waiting when an Orca eventually convergentally evolves into livyatan/perucetus sized behemoths in the future

[@FabianEkholm15]

I'm sorry but what does "macro-raptorial" mean? When googling I could only find the word in the context of the Livyatan. Does the prefix of "macro" refer to eating large prey, large variety of prey, that they themselves were large or that they were simply HIGHLY predatorial??

[@DAVIDPETERS12C]

When you expand your taxon list Orcinus nests between large (primitive) extant odontocetes and small (derived) ones. So this is a taxon undergoing phylogenetic miniaturization. Large prey items are primitive. Small fish prey is derived.

[@svichna1622]

Ah yes my favorite artiodactyls!

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

By group, yes.

[@charlesmartin1121]

The Orcas attacking boats should be classified as Orcinus orca nautapernicies.

[@jaqenhghar9758]

That's something for Robert Marc Lehmann👍

[@Rob-147]

I like when they attack yachts

[@julianshepherd2038]

My cat would fight a killer whale.

[@seraphwithatank6535]

Facts

[@stefanlaskowski6660]

My cat would win. 😸

[@EternalEmperorofZakuul]

Can the cat fight goku

[@IcefloeProductions-qv2qg]

where is part 2

[@Shadeem]

curious that orca and human fulfil similar roles and are currently only represented by one representative

[@daneg]

haven't read the comments yes so assuming someone mentioned this, but I believe the Killer Whale issue is a result of a misinterpretation/translation. It's supposed to be "killer of whale" or "whale killer." but yeah, dolphins are just an offshoot of toothed whales anyway.

[@birbcall5778]

Maybe a little off topic, but I can help to ask this. One question that keeps popping up in my head is why most toothed (and some beilene) have eye sockets in their skulls? I cant find any answer on the internet, so I thought you would maybe know?

[@AndrewTBP]

They have eye sockets because they have eyes. The same reason you have eye sockets.

[@indyreno2933]

Blackfish are toothed whales that constitute the family Orcinidae, there are only six extant species within five genera: the Melon-Headed Whale (Peponocephala electra), the Short-Finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus), the Long-Finned Pilot Whale (Globicephala melas), the Orca (Orcinus orca), the Pygmy Killer Whale (Feresa attenuata), and the False Killer Whale (Pseudorca crassidens), they are the most basal extant family of the superfamily Delphinoidea (Oceanic Lesser Toothed Whales) and are the last surviving family of macroraptorial toothed whales, there used to be other groups of macroraptorial toothed whales such as prehistoric macroraptorial relatives of the sperm whale, pygmy sperm whale, and dwarf sperm whale, macroraptorial relatives of beaked whales, squalodonts, many primitive toothed whales were macroraptorial.

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

Be aware this commenter constantly posts dubious taxonomic 'information' religiously and stubbornly ignores corrections to his drivel.

[@indyreno2933]

@Dr.Ian-Plect, stay out of this.

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

@@indyreno2933 NEVER. As long as I see your tripe, I'll speak up.

[@indyreno2933]

@Dr.Ian-Plect, it is not tripe, it is new analysis.

[@Dr.Ian-Plect]

@@indyreno2933 Yet again, you can't follow simple wording.

[@skybluskyblueify]

What was eating baleen whales before there were Orcas? Great White sharks and/or their relatives?

[@An_Actual_Rat]

Basically, yeah. Another group is the raptorial sperm whales like livyatan and zygophaseter, which was basically the orca of it's time. Baleen whales also weren't that big until recently so they had plenty of potential enemies.

[@avada0]

It's surprising there's no specialist large baleen whale eater type. Maybe in a couple 100k years.

[@bkjeong4302]

The part about orcas only starting to hunt larger prey recently also means the idea of orcas or orcas ancestors outcompeting megalodon is false, as even newborn megalodon would have been eating larger prey than what ancestral orcas were going after.

[@acin_grayson]

YOOOOOOO HAVE FUN IN MOROCCO!!! I HOPE YOU FIND SOMETHING AMAZING ☆♡

[@inai7282]

When you love biology and evolution but feel highly uncomfortable with orcas

[@tarantulatyrant389]

May I ask why? Like genuinely with no ill intent.

[@kaelkichigoch2952]

Kpod salmon :)