Monday, August 30, 2010

Animal Coolness: Score One for the 'Good Guys'!

aka:  Orca's hunt Great White Sharks

Blog post the Fourth  (when will I stop doing that?  Stay tuned and see).

Who are the 'Good Guys'?  Why us, of course.  If you don't think of your own tribe as the good guys... what's the point of any notion of 'good'?  But who are us?  is us?  We be who?  Whatever.  'Us' in this case does not refer to the U.S., nor to the 'Free World', nor even the 'Human Race'... but to 'Mammals'.  That's us, folks.  I mean really,  if one animal is gong to hunt and kill another animal, wouldn't you rather see a mongoose kill a snake(Go Rikki!) than a snake kill a guinea pig (do not dare follow that link if you are sensitive!  And if you do, then follow the link to cheer on Rikki, it will make you feel much better)? 

I know there a few humans out there, perhaps you are one, who have a genuine affection for reptiles.  Steve Irwin anyone?  Opps I mean this Steve Irwin).  But that is OK, because when it comes down to us against the aliens, 'us' becomes all life on the whole planet earth, and I'll be the first to kiss an alligator or a bacterium if it knocks off some nasty evil E.T. that wants to harvest my brain, or whatever it is that nasty evil E.T.'s do.

But as long as we're keeping things intramural, I'm casting my lot with my closest relatives, the mammals.  Which brings us to today's Animal Coolness™  Orcas who hunt Great White Sharks!

This may be old news to some, but it did not get so much press that everyone has heard about this yet.  Hopefully this is new to some of my readers.  If the video below doesn't work, follow the link to watch directly on Youtube.



Orcas are very smart, and they figure out and teach each other new hunting tricks.  The trick to killing a great white shark is to quickly turn it upside down.  Many sharks and rays become paralyzed or "go to sleep" if turned upside down, and they cannot pass water over their gills.  They suffocate.  You might imagine Orca vs. Great White to be some titanic battle.  But in reality, in the eyes of an Orca, a Great White Shark is just a...
 

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