Thanks to TZ and jobycom

[Zomby Woof]

I appreciate both of you offering constructive information regarding orcas, nomenclature, and other relevant input which brought some sanity and reason to counter my zeal regarding the subject of these wonderful mammmals.

To borrow from what Senator Franken said when oh-so-beautifully smacking down Thune: I may be entitled to my opinions, but I am not entitled to my facts. I was factually wrong about why orcas are called killer whales, although that still doesn't excuse Brian Williams from being a tool. :-)

And joby... none of those orcas in the photos were generated by CGI. :P

[TZ]

1. Awww. I wanted to be a whale biologist

as a child. I have oodles of books, figurines and even a stuffed Orca! Fascinated by such a fierce but intelligent predator.AFAIK no Orca has ever attempted to prey on humans... Btw, another factoid about whales.. Those California Gray whales you mentioned? During whaling days where so aggressive whalers called them Devilfish. Once whaling was banned the behavior changed- they are quite friendly towards people. That is indicative of high intelligence..

[Zomby Woof]

2. I befriended some belugas at Tacoma's Point Defiance Zoo

They would come right up to me when I kneeled in front of the glass and just float in front of me. Then when I stepped away, they swam away. Then I would come back, and they would come back. I did this several times over. But when these bratty kids came up, yelling and just being a nuisance, they swam away again. The kids eventually gave up and left, and then the belugas came back. :-)



(A pic of this is in my FB album)