When it comes to sea life and surfers, sharks usually get all the attention.
During “Sharktober” they sure stole the spotlight, as an abundance of shark footage surfaced for our viewing pleasure. From shark attacks in Hawaii and Australia, and shark sightings in California and Waikiki, they were everywhere.
Sometimes, we get lucky and experience close encounters of the other kind, ones with whales. In October, a foil surfer got body slammed by a humpback whale. Before that, a lucky surfer shared some seriously sublime moments with southern right whales in Australia.
In the post above by Deep Blue Oceanz, a lucky stand-up paddler get a rare visit from an orca, aka a “killer whale.”
The post is captioned:
“There are many breathtaking things about orcas. But one aspect is particularly remarkable: their intelligence. Their brains are among the largest in the world. It is four times larger than that of humans and weighs about seven kilograms. Killer whales can perceive emotions like frustration, fear, joy, love, anger. A small sample of what killer whales can feel. When interacting with humans, they can understand sounds, symbols and hand signals. We love Orcas. Credits @lukes_kitchen“
In the video, a man is stand-up paddleboarding a good distance from the shore.
The POV footage shows a pretty big orca swim up to the tail of his board.
“Hey” he calls out and the camera gets shaky.
The orca’s curiosity must be satisfied, because it swims away.
The paddler laughs nervously. It’s pretty impressive that he kept his balance.
According to Whale and Dolphin Conservation, orcas are actually dolphins. They were given the name “killer whale” by sailors who observed orcas hunting and preying on larger whale species.
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