# Killer Whales are a type of Dolphin **URL:** \ **Category:** Great Debates\ **Created:** [March 21, 2015, 2:26am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-whales-are-a-type-of-dolphin/715564 "2015-03-21T02:26:43Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 1\ **Showing post:** 2
**Author:** ![Irishman](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/b487fb/32.png) [@Irishman](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Irishman)\ **Post date:** [March 21, 2015, 2:29am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-whales-are-a-type-of-dolphin/715564/2 "2015-03-21T02:29:18Z")
> [@Heinlein question -- "Gulf" & "Friday" (open spoilers)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-question-gulf-friday-open-spoilers/557715/51): > > Actually, AIUI, there are [porpoises](https://creelmanresearchlibrary.wordpress.com/the-endless-allure-of-non-hierarchical-organizations/) and there are also mammalian [dolphins](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dolphin), two different groups of species. First link is snafu. Try [Porpoise](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porpoise). > [@Heinlein question -- "Gulf" & "Friday" (open spoilers)](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/heinlein-question-gulf-friday-open-spoilers/557715/43): > > Orcas are \*not \*friendly and should \*never \*be considered as such, even though they are at least as intelligent as porpoises. They are the “wolves of the sea” and anyone with half a brain will put lots of distance between themselves and two and a half tons of sentient carnivore. So much misconception. 1. Orcas are dolphins - they are in the [Delphinidae](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_dolphin) family. That is the family with all the dolphin genuses. 2. All dolphins are carnivores. They are avid hunters. (Fact is, most sea life are hunters, barring molluscs and microscopic animals (rotifers).) 3. Reviewing wikipedia on [killer whale attacks on humans](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Killer_whale_attacks_on_humans), there are only seven cases listed of wild orcas attacking humans. Only one of those attacks was fatal - in 1894 a midshipman was taken from an ice floe by an orca. Possibly mistaken for a seal. Several of the attacks appear to be mistaken identity, and aborted as soon as the orca realized the prey was not a seal. Included in this is the one surfer bitten in 1972, and a 12 year old boy who was bumped but not bitten in 2005. Also, a group of orcas tried to tip an ice floe with an explorer and his sled dog team. Possibly confusing the dogs for seals. One case the pod of orcas sank a wooden boat, but did not kill any of the people. Another case a pod of orcas attempted a “wave wash” on an inflatable zodiac boat of a crew filming them. They had been doing the wave wash on ice floes to hunt seals. A final case was a fisherman who had a bag of crayfish and urchins tied to his arm. The orca took the bag and dragged the man along with it until the rope came free from his arm. Apparently the orca wanted the stuff in the bag, not the man - he was just a victim of being tied to dinner. Attacks on humans by captive killer whales is longer, but more confusing. There does not appear to be any predation - no humans getting eaten, but some killed by being drug under water and bitten. Some could be roughhousing getting out of hand, many appear to be cases of moody killer whales acting out, or hormonal teenagers. All in all, I would say that orcas are generally fairly friendly towards humans, and the incidents otherwise all appear to be unintentional or provoked. 1. “Wolves of the sea” is rather silly - why not “lions of the sea” or “weasels of the sea”? A better case could be “bats of the sea” - they are predators who use echolocation to swoop in on unsuspecting prey. 2. Personally, I _would_ be leery of them if I ran across them in the wild, simply because of their size and the fact that they are wild animals. But I would feel much safer swimming and having an orca show up than, say, hiking in Alaska and a pack of wolves showing up, or camping in bear country and seeing a bear or two check out my campsite. > [@](#): > > Definitions: dolphins are fish, _coryphaenidae_, like the pompano. Porpoises are the mammals we know as bottlenose dolphins. The two terms are often mixed, much to the grief of marine biologists. I know a couple and they always frown when I use the term “dolphin” to describe _tursiops truncatus_. Bad form, doncha know. I don’t know who your marine biologists are, but they don’t appear to be very good ones. Dolphins are of the family Delphinidae. There are numerous genuses of dolphin, including Delphinus, Lissodelphis, Sousa, Tursiops, and several others. Also included in that family are Orcinus (killer whales), Peponosephala (melon-headed whale), Feresa (false killer whale), Globicephala (pilot whales), and Lissodelphis (right whales). All of these are considered genuses of [oceanic dolphin](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oceanic_dolphin). [Porpoises](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Porpoise) share the superfamily of Delphinoidea, family of Phocoenidae. All the dolphins are Delphinoidea, family Delphinidae. The fish with the name “dolphin” is the order [Coriphaenidae](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Coryphaena), species Coriphaena. They are called “dolphin_fish_” to distinguish them from the mammals, and the are now more often called “mahi mahi” to avoid confusion. [Pampano](http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pompano) are of a different order, Carangidae. They are not dolphinfish. IANA Marine Biologist, but I play one on the internet.\* * * * - Homage to a classic TV commercial. --- _[View the full topic](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/killer-whales-are-a-type-of-dolphin/715564)._