Recently, Tim Zimmermann reported for Outside on two incidents where captive orcas killed their trainers (The Killer in the Pool, Blood in the Water). In a demonstration of just how powerful an orca can be, here is a video of an orca taking down a great white shark. Scientists think the killer whale rammed the shark, turned the stunned shark over to create a state of tonic immobility, then killed it, then started feeding on it.
The video below describes how a killer whale may have learned to carry out such an attack.
Some might argue that such a show of calculated killing demonstrates why orcas should not be held in captivity. Which leads to the latest killer whale news of the week—on Wednesday a Dutch court blocked the export of an orca named Morgan to Spain. The young cetacean had been rescued a year ago off the coast of the Netherlands. Killer whales in the wild can live between 50 to 90 years. In captivity, they survive for roughly ten. They are rarely released back into the wild after being housed in an aquarium. Some are hoping that won't be the case for Morgan.
"Morgan is a prime candidate" for release into the wild, said Ute Margreff, of Marine Connection, a British-based charity. "She comes from the wild ocean. She has only been in captivity one year. She knows her way. And the world's best researchers are there for her."
For more great shark stories, check out TreeHugger's Bizarre Shark Stories.