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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by 101.98.163.177 (talk) at 06:11, 17 April 2015 (→‎Fatalities: new section). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Entire Article

Seems to have a strong bias suggesting an aggressive and dangerous nature to this animal. We should start by using the actual name "Orca" in the heading. — Preceding unsigned comment added by 173.244.83.7 (talk) 08:39, 18 February 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Also it should talk more about why an animal might attack. Only humans attack soley "to cause harm." For a helpless animal, the instinct may be to communicate or defend itself. So the phrase saying that Orcas may attack "to cause harm" is one of bias and ignorance. 69.137.150.35 (talk) 21:46, 20 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]


Unfortunately the term killer whale is a widely used common name for Orcinus orca. The species page for orcas is titled Killer Whale so this page needs to remain titled as such to avoid confusion.

The sentence in which the term "to cause harm" appears in is written to convey that researchers don't know why these animals act out in the ways the do, whether it's is play, hormones or a genuine attempt "to cause harm." Sadly the thought that these violent episodes are indeed meant to harm the humans involved can not be avoided.

Because there is no consensus among biologists and each incident's circumstances are unique, any thoughts on why orcas, as a whole, do these things would be speculation. Motivations for a specific incident can be added to its entire as long as it has a citation. FunFindCitations (talk) 22:37, 21 December 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Why is there an article on this topic? It seems far too obscure to justify a separate article.101.98.163.177 (talk) 06:09, 17 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

First section

If the 1999 incident is not an actual "attack," should it be included in this list at all? Pesatros 08:14, 20 October 2007 (UTC)[reply]

Yes, because it would be of interest to those seeking out the information on this page. Frankg (talk) 17:16, 5 March 2008 (UTC)[reply]
Well, it resulted in that guy winning a Darwin Award... — Rickyrab | Talk 23:25, 25 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

tilikum attacks trainer Feb 24, 2010

February 24, 2010 - Tilikum just grabbed one of the trainers by the waist at seaworld in Orlando around 1:45pm EST and dragged her to the bottom of the pool. The park has shut down the entire area surrounding the tank. --67.76.220.12 (talk) 19:12, 24 February 2010 (UTC)[reply]

Over dependence on a single blog as source?

A large number of additions have been made to this article recently by an unregistered editor ([1] 76.30.254.94). Many of these additions cite a web site / blog www.orcahome.de "Violent incidents between humans and killer whales in captivity - a longer list than the parks would like to tell you!" and then references additional references contained in the blog. I have no reason to doubt the authenticity of the blogs' references but it would probably be better for a wikipedia article to reference sources directly, not via web sites that reference additional sources. Since I do not have access to the original sources referenced in the www.orcahome.de web site, I hesitate to add those original references to the article myself. if anyone has access to these sources, please replace the www.orcahome.de/... references in the article with the original source. Pugetbill (talk) 15:53, 5 July 2010 (UTC)[reply]

(Neither) Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery seems to have article about Orca attack

On websites, sometimes a "Journal of Bone and Joint Surgery" is claimed to have an article about an orca attack on humans (Hans Kretschmer, in particular). There are not one but two journals with that name, a British one and an American one. I spent quite some time trying to track down any information about an orca attack in either of them. I found nothing. This claim appears to be a self-propagating myth at this point. Jason Quinn (talk) 08:03, 23 July 2011 (UTC)[reply]

One of the original URLs (now dead) to which I was referring was

and a currently working one is

Perhaps it is true but I searched as extensively as I could using the online archives. Jason Quinn (talk) 03:23, 8 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Man attacked on beach video

After more digging into the video of a man being dragged into the ocean by two killer whales, I have discovered that it is indeed a fabricated video. The question of legitimacy was sparked by the fact that there were two versions of the same footage floating around YouTube (one with screaming and one without) and after a quick Google search I found that the film was made for an add for a Dominican Republic pencil company.

http://www.hoax-slayer.com/killer-whale-takes-man-video.shtml http://singaporeseen.stomp.com.sg/stomp/sgseen/this_urban_jungle/918800/ad_showing_killer_whale_attacking_man_looks_real.html

FunFindsCitations (talk) 13:25, 6 January 2013 (UTC)[reply]

San Francisco Examiner article

There may be an article related to the Hans Kretschmer case in the San Francisco Examiner from 11 September 1972 on page 16 called "Report of probable killer whale attack." If anybody could confirm this, it would be great. It's not available through the SFE's website. This URL http://www.arkanimals.com/orcinus-orca-the-animal-and-the-beast/ is where I got this. Jason Quinn (talk) 03:25, 8 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Statistics

This article lacks information about how often humans encounter killer whales in water. Since killer whales apparently prefer cold water, it is probable that rarity of attacks on humans can be partly due to the rarity of opportunity. It would be useful to include if attack/encounter ratio in the article.Эйхер (talk) 17:02, 24 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Hi, Эйхер. I agree with you that the encounters are probably pretty rare that maybe that explains something. I doubt however there's any published source that quantifies the matter. How would it even be defined? How would one even go about measuring it? Seems very difficult, if not impossible, to do. If there is, it would make a great addition to the article. Jason Quinn (talk) 18:19, 24 March 2013 (UTC)[reply]
On the other hand, my guess could be premature. Transcient killer whales (the ones who can, theoreticaly, attack humans as a prey) were seen near the shores of California (where recreational swimming is usual). Besides that, an Inuit hunter in his kayak would be easy prey for a killer whale. It could be speculated, of course, that attacking human in the boat is beyound nonhuman intelligence, but it would be a weak case, given that killer whales are known to crash ice floes to get seals. Эйхер (talk) 15:37, 14 April 2013 (UTC)[reply]
Sadly, I have not yet been able to find a published source, but I heard John Lilly speak at Cal Tech in about 1970 reporting on his research on the dearth of Orca attacks in the wild. He claimed to have examined hundreds of whaling ship logbooks in an effort to discover a reported incident of an attack. He said that he found many reports of humans ending up in the water during their efforts to hunt and kill larger whales and that Orcas who appeared to actively feed on the injured whales never attacked any of these men. Reports from the people who began the live capture of Orcas in the late 60's and early 70's also reported in-the-water encounters during their capture efforts that also did not result in attacks. These are extremely unusual data for interactions between humans and large predators.Nesdon (talk) 16:19, 21 July 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Requested move

The following discussion is an archived discussion of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on the talk page. Editors desiring to contest the closing decision should consider a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

The result of the move request was: no move. -- tariqabjotu 20:45, 20 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

Killer whale attacks on humans → List of killer whale attacks on humans – That's just what this article actually is Эйхер (talk) 17:44, 12 August 2013 (UTC) Эйхер (talk) 17:44, 12 August 2013 (UTC)[reply]

The above discussion is preserved as an archive of a requested move. Please do not modify it. Subsequent comments should be made in a new section on this talk page or in a move review. No further edits should be made to this section.

Hello - This reversion of an edit I made puts a link to a disambig page back into this article. Even if we determine that the film Blackfish should be linked to in the See also section, we would not want it to go to a disambig page. So, I am going to leave it in See also, but am going to link it properly and italicize it. Any concerns, let's discuss. KConWiki (talk) 04:55, 3 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Oops - I see that someone has beaten me to this. Thanks KConWiki (talk) 04:56, 3 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

I'm sorry. I intended to undo a different edit. Your edit was correct and justified, the error was mine. FunFindsCitations (talk) 11:56, 4 June 2014 (UTC)[reply]

MV Nisshin Maru - Japan's whaling factory ship

There is a report that 16 crewmembers were killed and 12 injured by orcas that attacked them when they jumped into the water in an emergency. Personally, I have to wonder if this wasn't intelligent behavior. http://worldnewsdailyreport.com/japanese-whaling-crew-eaten-alive-by-killer-whales-16-dead/ Awaiting verification. 108.245.208.221 (talk) 03:39, 29 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Satire. Pity. Written so straight it didn't come off as satire. 108.245.208.221 (talk) 04:23, 29 July 2014 (UTC)[reply]

Fatalities

The article intro says "There have been only four recorded fatal incidents". Yet the article lists far more than that....101.98.163.177 (talk) 06:11, 17 April 2015 (UTC)[reply]

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