It Could Happen

I tuned into that killer whale show in the middle, so I don't know if they explained how this cooperative hunting behavior got started but, the more I think about it, I think I know how it could have happened.

Predators are always looking for an easy meal, which is why most of them will scavenge on occasion.  A predator will not last long if it routinely expends more calories hunting its prey than it receives by consuming it.  Perhaps the human whalers were in the habit of throwing their whaling and fishing scraps into the harbor, which would attract the killer whales and other predators.  Maybe a killer whale was observed feeding in the harbor and the whalers set forth to harpoon it.  The killer whale then fled the scene with the whalers in pursuit, ultimately leading them to the rest of the pod which, coincidently, happened to be attacking a large whale at the time.  The whalers then shifted their attention to the large whale, which they ultimately killed and towed back to the harbor for processing. The killers followed the whalers in hopes of recovering their prize, and ended up settling for the discarded scraps.  I understand that whales and other marine mammals are pretty smart, so the killer whales might have deduced that this was an easier way to make a living than hunting on their own.  This is similar to the way it is generally believed that the hunting partnership of humans and canines got started.

On the other hand, the more I think about it, it is doubtful that the Biblical Jonah could have survived for several days in the belly of a great fish because there would have been no air in there for him to breathe.  Maybe it was only several minutes, it just seemed like several days to Jonah.  Then again, what are the chances that the fish would have vomited Jonah out onto the dry land instead of way out in the ocean, where whale sharks spend most of their time?  I have heard that porpoises have been known to save people from drowning by pushing them onto the shore, but it is not known if the porpoises did that on purpose.  Maybe porpoises just like to push things around for fun, and the people who were, coincidently, pushed further out to sea never lived to tell the tale.

I never joined the debating team at Gage Park because the idea of formalized debates never appealed to me.  I particularly didn't like the idea that I wouldn't get to choose what side of the question I would be assigned to debate.