Klller Whales Flex their Speed and Wit, Chase Down Tourists on a Speed Boat

A few months ago, an incredible video started circulating online of an Orca (killer whale) chasing a boat with people on it in Mexico.

Although it was shot with the narrow view of the camera, the incredible footage illustrates just how powerful nature is, in case you forgot.

At just about the exact same speed as the boat, it is visible around :25 into the video that the badass looking gigantic sea creature is cruising along just fine, causing the people on the boat to cheer and applaud the incredible skill of the animal and the fearless demeanor it put off.

The clip continues, and just a moment later the big killer whale hopped out of the water, flexing its ability to do tricks as it effortlessly followed the tail of the boat.

Guess what happened next? The whale did a sideways flip as it continued to follow the boat, flexing it up even more.

You’ll never believe what happened next: another killer whale joined in, chasing the boat the same way.

(Image credit: Jukin Media)

Under the grey cloudy skies, the people in the boat continue to say things like “oh my god,” remarking on the beauty of those creatures following the boat.

Killer whales aren’t generally considered that harmful to humans, but make no mistake, they are powerful predators with a capability of taking the life of prey much larger than human beings, including great white sharks and leopard seals.

Killer whales have even been recorded preying on terrestrial, land based species such as moose, swimming between islands. I didn’t even know moose could swim.

The intelligent Orca actually belongs to the oceanic dolphin family, and it is therefore the largest member of said family. Although they have a diverse diet, they are absolutely apex predators. They are highly social, with some populations composed of matrillneal family groups or pods, constituting the most stable of any animal species.

(Image credit: youtopiaproject)

They say the oceanic dolphin family appeared probably around 11 million years ago, and it is one of the 35 species categorized within that family.

Although this whale has similarities that could be considered morphological with the false killer whale, the pygmy killer whale, and pilot whales, a cytochrome b gene sequence study performed by Richard LeDuc indicated that the snubfin dolphins of the genus Orcaella are more closely related to the orcas.

Now, the behavior of different killer whales varies a lot. There are officially resident killer whales that live in intelligent, complex, and very cohesive family groups. These are most intensely studied on the West Coast of America, outside Washington State and British Columbia, Canada.

The lifespan of a killer whale is actually sort of similar to that of a human being. Female killer whales tend to start maturing around age 10, reaching peak fertility around the age of 20, often able to breed until the age of 40.

A killer whale known as Granny was estimated to be around 105 years old upon her passing, although a biopsy sample suggested the age was somewhere between 65 to 8 years.

On average, wild males live somewhere around 29 years on average. One male given the name Old Tom was reportedly spotted off the coast of New South Wales, Australia every winter between the 1840’s and 1930, which is about 90 years.