Orca Interludes and Emotional Rescues

and a Diamond in the rough

I have two big posts to put together, one where I visited the Hindenburg crash site and memorial, and another where I met Hannah of WanderFinder at Conowingo Dam to observe Bald Eagles, but I’m feeling lazy and the holidays are coming up so I’m gonna share some Orca videos.

This one is similar to that infamous Planet Earth II segment where the lizard is running from dozens of snakes, except it’s one four ton snake and all underwater. Cetaceans are the animals whose familial bonds and intelligence are the most difficult to ignore, but we humans still cling to the belief that we are alone in the universe, and seek companionship in the stars. We decide that intelligence isn’t enough, animals must be sapient; they must recognize themselves in a mirror, use tools, and comprehend death to have a seat at the heavenly table.

To quote the philosopher Jeremy Bentham, “the question is not, Can they reason? nor, Can they talk? but, Can they suffer?” We know animals such as elephants and orcas mourn; that is enough. Maybe we can’t speak in our own language with them, in complex ways; but if you watch the otter video, they are surely communicating. The otter is testing its safety with the human; the human is speaking, comforting the otter. That’s understanding enough.

As an aside. You don’t need to wear a hair shirt and become a monk to care about animals. You don’t need to became a full-time vegan and wear pleather. You can, and I’m not stopping you. I’ve been eating more vegetarian and vegan meals, for my own health and the environment, and to contribute less to factory farming, which I can’t justify. That’s suffering for money; we subsidize plenty of agriculture and ranching, we could subsidize the higher cost of raising animals for food with the minimum of suffering. But that’s my decision, for me only, and it comes without judgment of others. That is so hard for people to understand; mention that you made a vegan pizza, and Anubis comes out with his scales, to measure your heart against a feather. Unless you pass the purity test, everything good you have done is somehow for nothing.

Frankly, that’s bullshit. Change doesn’t have to be an Amish barn-raising, where it happens in one day. Small changes add up. Ask a personal trainer or a dietician. I’ve talked before, about how difficult it is to do anything that is morally pure in our complex, interconnected world. That can overwhelm us into doing nothing. I mean, why bother? I can’t fix the world. But I can make my little patch a little better. And if you have a problem with that, shut the door on your way out.

And with that over with, here’s a penguin narrowly escaping death by leaping onto an inflatable boat full of tourists in Antarctica:

Now, if I were one of the people on that little boat, I might have thrown the penguin into the orca’s mouth. Orcas are smart, and they have been known to interact with boats. I’m surprised that the orca didn’t realize that lunch went into the boat. They probably did, but what’s one snack? It’s akin to a gull stealing our french fry. We’re not going to war over it. Maybe I’m anthropomorphizing, but after watching Blackfish, it’s difficult not to attribute a deeper thinking to them. After all, pods have been shown to have “fads” and cultures; they pass down knowledge by generation. And juveniles that enjoy propeller wash in their faces have been bonking sailboats, demanding that they turn on their engines.

I love orcas, and I need to visit the PNW to observe them sometime. I’m totally jelly of Hannah for having done so. I did some whale watching from afar in Alaska, of humpback whales “bubble feeding,” where they exhale underwater to make a bubble stream that confuses baitfish, and then they all surface to feast. My fuzzy video is below.

While I’m sharing pleasant videos, here’s Neil Diamond in the audience for his Broadway musical, singing “Sweet Caroline” for the premiere. He has been diagnosed with Parkinson’s disease and has stopped touring, so it was nice to see him still get to sing for an audience, while his life’s work is being celebrated.

And if that doesn’t put a song in your heart, let this awful nerdy pun of mine do it.