Observing and encountering apex predators is a lot of fun and no two interactions are the same and you never truly know what it is you will witness these amazingly intelligent animals do. Marine mammal hunting orca aka Bigg's orca are somewhat incredible, unpredictable and can be greatly dynamic.
From time to time you get see things like this...
Some consider it to be their playful demeanour, which can be slightly confronting - especially if you like what it is they just killed and tore to pieces so they could consume it. However, it is a unique behaviour to play with their food and almost present and show it off in such a manner.
So why? Why do they proud around a carcass of an animal they just hunted and ate? I believe it is for a variety of reasons and no two displaying acts are for the same reasons. As these animals are highly mentally developed and do have unique individual personalities, so as a result the reasoning would be just as diverse and potentially complex.
1) An act of being proud - simply a behaviour as if to say look at what I caught.
2) The adrenaline of the hunt has not quite worn off and the playing of the carcass might be due to them still being in a highly agitated state from high energy that comes from the hunt.
3) A younger orca playing and practising various techniques of moving or becoming familiar with their prey - building their repertoire of movements to feed and forage more efficiently as they become older.
Do you believe there are more reasons behind this 'showing off' behaviour?
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Pride of the kill looks logical to me @thomasjmitchell
I think it is most of the time
orca ? omg
yep, they do
I can't believe 😊
Wow... What an amazing blog. It's really something we don't think about. I had no idea they played with their pray so much. Great timing as usual @thomasjmitchell..
its quite remarkable to watch
I can't even imagine what that must be like.. Thanks so much for your work..
Wow! I never think like before. It's good to know about it.
Well... I think they do that whenever they are enjoying a great deal of a meal!!!.. I mean some of us do that while we were still young.
that could be a possibility absolutely - thanks for commenting! some of us still do it now too...
What
if they kill him for vice, badness or as trophies, it's very bad, instead, you have to eat ...
nice shot