Over the last few months, surfers have been encountering killer whales. So much so, that orcas are like the new great whites in the surf world.
For example, there’s the guy who paddled through a pod of killer whales and the foil surfers who were circled by a pod of orcas.
Our latest killer whale footage comes from New Zealand, where a SUP surfer and a few orcas enjoyed a friendly encounter.
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The clip above comes from ABC7 News via Storyful.
The channel captioned it:
“A paddleboarder in New Zealand was greeted by a couple of friendly orcas that got up close and personal, hanging around and circling his board.”
The clip shows a paddle boarder paddling along as a few killer whales approach. They seem very interested in him and appear to be playful.
The paddler is stoked and exclaims:
“Whoa! Beautiful, beautiful!”
Interestingly, we’ve noticed viewers being positive about sharks, and often defend their potential for danger in the comments section of posts.
But when it comes to killer whales, viewers seem to see them as a threat and zero in on their status as an apex predator, as seen in the comments below:
“Friendly? lol they making sure you ain’t a seal.”
“Scarier than encountering sharks.”
“He was definitely telling his bro, ‘What if I just, *flicks tail*, nah nah nah I shouldn’t'”
“Oh god that makes me nervous those guys can be dangerous.”
“Does the name killer whale’ mean anything? I think they look adorable, but they’re not all Shamu. Makes you wonder how they would have reacted had he fallen off of his board.”
“Apex predator sniffing if he’s good to eat”
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