The Power of the Tail

A Tail of the Orca

It’s widely accepted that orcas are known for their high predatory status within the sea. Their amazing strength and excellent hunting skills give them a huge advantage within the food chain and give them the ability to successfully co-operatively hunt almost anything in the ocean. These mammals are amazing creatures that possess many truly astonishing skills that aid their survival. In this blog I’m going to be reviewing a specific part of the Orcas anatomy and its function; the tail.

The Power of the Tail

The tail is a very strong and powerful part of the anatomy and is used for two functions: swimming and hunting. It’s their secret weapon. Orca whales are an extremely intelligent species and they use their secret weapon to their advantage in many ways, mainly when they’re co-operatively hunting prey. They use a number of methods in order to hunt prey and the methods change depending on what type of animal they are hunting.

Methods:

· The ‘Wave Wash’ works on seals.

· The ‘Karate Chop’ works on sharks.

· The ‘Carousel’ works on fish.

The Wave Wash is a skill that orcas use to knock a seal of an ice float by using just their tails. They charge in a group at the ice float in order to create a powerful wave. They then dive under the water and force the wave with their tails resulting in the seal being hit by a wave wash and being knocked into the water.

The Karate Chop is used against bigger and more threating species like sharks. Sharks have one known predator and it’s the Orca. Even though they have many skills and advantages, hunting sharks is still extremely dangerous for these whales. When they do dare to take on these equally giant predators, they use a technique known as the karate chop. They start out by lifting the shark up to the surface with their tails. Next, they raise their tails as high as they can and smash down awfully hard on the shark’s head, this then stuns and paralyses the shark making them easy prey.

The Carousel is a method that is performed by pods of Orcas which allows them to catch fast moving fish such as: herring. They first start by herding the school of fish by using a combination of air bubbles and belly flashes; once the fish are together this is known as a “bait ball” which looks like a circling carousel. The whales then make a few powerful and strong tail slaps into the “bait ball” of fish which stuns them and makes them easier to catch.

Can Sharks do the same?

Can sharks use these exact techniques and the hunting style like Orcas do when they hunt? The answer is yes and no. There is one recognised species of shark on the planet that uses their tail known as the Caudal Fin as a weapon in order to stun their prey and that is the Thresher Shark, but the rest of the shark species don’t use this method to hunt.

My thoughts…

I think it’s down to the fact that a whale’s tail moves in a different direction to a shark’s tail. When a whale swims it moves its tail up and down and when a shark swims it moves its tail side to side, maybe the up and down movement gives the mammal more of an advantage over the fish when hitting and stunning their prey.