Orcas never kill humans in the wild, but over two dozen attacks have been made on humans by whales in captivity in the last thirty years—some of which have proven fatal.
Many people believe that captive orcas become violent precisely because they are so intelligent. Among some of the most intelligent animals known, they not only have distinct calls to communicate ideas, but different dialects of calls between pods, similar to the difference between human languages.
An amazing story that proves the intelligence of orcas took place at MarineLand in Niagra Falls, Canada. On of the captive orcas there figured out that it could regurgitate the fish it had eaten to attract seagulls to the surface of its pool. It would then eat the seagulls along with the rest of its fish.
If that wasn't impressive enough, that orca was then able to teach the same behavior to four other killer whales in captivity in MarineLand!
