Killer Whales in Northern Ireland Loch
- Thread starter PtangYang kiperbang
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MURPHY1973
Central Defender
shadowplay
Winger
One of my ambitions is to see them in the wild. Spectacular creatures, lions of the sea.
ErichZann
Striker
Me too. More like Wolves of the sea
I wouldn't want to test his stats tbh
A lot of the shark attacks you hear about are mistaken identity, like a Great White that thinks you're a seal. Orcas are brighter and have better eyesight than a shark so you're only going to get any bother if you piss them off
shadowplay
Winger
Probably, yeah, they're pack animals. Lions hunt alone.
Saw a couple at a distance not far from Valdez in the early 2000s - wish I could have seen them in more detail but a cracking backdrop nonetheless (it was from a ferry, so the captain announced them but couldn't deviate course)
shadowplay
Winger
Have you seen Blackfish? I just watched it again the other night as it happens.
Those pricks deserved what Orca dished out to them
shadowplay
Winger
Yeah. I think some of the trainers were well intentioned but misled. Sea World should have been shut down.
The scene with the mother screaming long distance calls for her child after it was taken away, and it being the first time anyone heard them do that, is f***ing heartbreaking.
The trip leaving from Royal Keys? Me and Mrs King of Um too. Something different for our wedding anniversary - was really looking forward to it.
MURPHY1973
Central Defender
Yes, I was taking my 13 year old niece. I was really looking forward to it as well.
Aituk7
Striker
Sea world's f***ing evil like
HABA87
Striker
We just watched Blackfish, grim.
Although the footage of that chap getting repeatedly dragged to the bottom of the pool but remaining calm was fascinating.
SeaWorld are absolute wrang uns.
Red
Striker
DJP
Striker
And the various cetacean sites I follow have said the Echo's Orca "expert" is talking bollocks. They were definitely bottlenose dolphins off Seaham. The "white patch" on their faces were simply the sun's glare off the sea and if they were supposed to be Orca then they have seem to have deformed pectoral fins, as the fins on the Seaham photos and videos show they have pectoral fins of a shape common to bottlenose dolphins. People want it to be orcas, they crave that it was orcas, they are obsessed with the notion that it was orcas.
But it was bottlenose dolphins.
tunstall birdman
Striker
I once bucked a lass who loved most whales, but she would not hump back.
ErichZann
Striker
100% dolphins. I wish it had been orcas.
Dorinda Kealoha, engagement officer at Durham Wildlife Trust who previously worked for the National Marine Aquarium, said: “It is definitely an orca – based on the colouring and markings are different and the size of the dorsal fin.
She's just listed the reasons why it wasn't orcas.
Below is from the actual experts....
Many of our group's members will have seen the articles in the Sunderland Echo and the Chronicle 'confirming' that the animals seen off Seaham yesterday were Orcas.
Our position is still that they weren't.
When we identified them as Bottlenose Dolphins that wasn't a hasty decision. Images and video were studied by several observers, from multiple marine conservation NGO's, who between them have hundreds of thousands of miles of offshore survey work, in both hemispheres, on their CV's. We have extensive experience of analysing images of cetaceans and between us have vast experience of both Orca and Bottlenose Dolphin, particularly the dolphins along the east coast of Scotland and England. We are qualified Marine Mammal Observers (MMO is an actual accreditation although some observers in the North East appear to be unaware of that).
All of the videos taken yesterday show Bottlenose Dolphins. An offshore surveyor who was watching from the shore confirmed they were Bottlenose Dolphins, as did the people on a boat that was out there at the time. The image of two animals at the surface is so typical of Bottlenose Dolphin it's hard to understand why anyone would think they were anything else. The one slightly contentious image is a poor quality image that shows animals breaching close together. The animal closest to the camera appears to have a beak, which rules out Orca, and it doesn't have an eye patch. It has a white throat which appears to be the pale throat of a dolphin highlighted by sunlight, but no eye patch. Anyone claiming that animal to be an Orca needs to explain that. The dorsal fin shape is also inconsistent with Orca, and the pectoral fin shape is very inconsistent with Orca.
Luckily, decisions about cetacean identification and occurrence are based on carefully considered discussion between the people who's role it is to make those decisions and, ultimately, that's what will happen in this case, regardless of the desire of the media to wheel out 'experts' who'll give them the answer that gets more social media reaction or more traffic to their websites.
Please refrain from sharing the articles from the Echo or the Chronicle in this group.
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bobster999
Winger
Seeing as a pod of killer whales were filmed at northumberland the other week and it's also been said they were killer whales in a scuba diving magazine and the group of 'experts' say it was light, I'm going to say they were killer whales as well. They have no idea how light works and one 'expert even claim it was light from the sun that was underneath it and wasn't white marking 
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