Killer Whale Gives Stingray A Hard Whack With Its Tail Sending It Flying Out Of The Water

Dec 05, 2018

The video begins with a peaceful scene. The sound of water sloshing, alone sting ray undulating in the foreground, it's image reflected in the surface of the water just above it.

In spite of the dangerous reputation of stingrays, it could easily be mistaken for one of those videos intended to help you calm down and feel at ease when life is too stressful. The undulating, alien form is semi-hypnotic. It seems at peace.

The video gets more interesting as faint sounds startup. Two orcas come into view, moving towards the camera. These creatures are also known as killer whales

The sound you are hearing is rather similar to the echolocation bats use for hunting prey. This is not something that would be deemed music to your ears if you were the intended prey. It would, instead, be a thing to instill dread and loathing if you understood the intent.

Perhaps their prey often doesn't understand the intent. After all, humans still often don't understand what is going on down below.

There's still so much we don't know about what goes on in the ocean's depths, nor about the creatures that call it home

Here is a mind-blowing thought: Humans tend to think in two dimensions. We create maps of our world, flat two-dimensional drawings of a three-dimensional globe.

But the denizens of the deep can't possibly see their world that way. Their minds must map their world completely differently because they exist in a waterscape, not a landscape.

So they don't just navigate right to left and front to back. They always have to consider up and down as well. If they do not, they won't live long. Many attacks in the deep blue sea come from below, such as when Great White sharks breach the surface to snatch up seals swimming across the ocean from one place to another

Perhaps this sting ray forgot that for a moment. The orcas swim beneath it, seemingly peaceably so. Then just as it seems the danger has passed, one of them smacks it violently with its tale, leaving it visibly stunned.

Orcas are some of the most intelligent creatures in the seas. Predators tend to be intelligent. They need intelligence to outwit their prey. So, unsurprisingly, they are also very dangerous. They have even been known to kill for sport

Did you expect the orca to stun this pelagic stingray peacefully floating in the open waters of Baja? Pass this video along to your friends to see how they react!