Orca (Killer Whale) pod (5) vs Megalodon

[saravb]

Orca:
average length: 6-8M (male) 5-7M (Female)
max length: 9.8M (Male) 8,5M (Female)
average weight: 6+ tonnes (male) 3-4 tonnes (female)
max weight: 10 tonnes (male) 7.5 tonnes (female)
max speed: in excess of 56km/h
other things of note: Orcas oftenly live in pods of 3-10 members
they also have sonar which will come in handy when something tries to sneak up on them

Megalodon
length: ~16-20M
weight: ~48-103 Tonnes
Max Speed: 48km/h
Other things of note: Megalodon had a huge bite force of 182201 Newton, which is huge

[jhg]

How many Killer whales?

[Infinity Blade]

max speed: in excess of 56km/h

You sure about that?

Swimming speeds of O. orca, P. crassidens and T. truncatus in this study were within the range of speeds reported previously (Table 4) and generally lower than previously reported maxima. Shipboard observations of O. orca estimated that a single animal swam at 12.5–15.4ms−1 for 20min (Johannessen and Harder, 1960), but this may include bow-riding. Bow-riding allows dolphins to swim at higher speeds with less effort than when swimming in undisturbed water (Fish and Hui, 1991; Williams et al. 1992). O. orca, however, does appear to swim rapidly when hunting slower-swimming D. leucas and large whales (Brodie, 1989; George and Suydam, 1998) as well as faster-swimming Lagenorhynchus obscurus (Constantine et al. 1998).

According to this paper, estimates of orcas going at 45-55 km/h were likely to have been inflated by bow-riding. And that's ignoring the large amount of room for error involved in estimating animal speed by moving in a vehicle.

According to the same paper, the fastest speed recorded for orcas was 7.91 meters a second (28 km/h).

Velocities ranged from 1.54 to 7.91 m s−1 (Re=6.08×106 to 3.91×107). D. leucas was the slowest swimmer (U=1.54–3.83ms−1). O. orca had the highest swimming velocity (7.91 m s−1), followed by P. crassidens (7.46 m s−1) and T. truncatus (6.01 m s−1).

link

[jhg]

Again, how many killer whales?! I won't give an answer until that's settled.

[elosha11]

Ok, I'll bite (pun intended). There are many potential factors. Assuming a very large Megalodon of around 18 meters, we'd next need to consider the size of the orca pod. Pods can be a small has half a dozen, up to 40 or 50. I don't think there is any single animal ever to exist that could take on a pod of 40 or 50 orcas if they were all determined to attack in concert. So to be somewhat fair and realistic, I'll say a pod of 20 orcas, consisting of 8 females, 8 juveniles and 4 males.

If the shark were inclined to be the attacker in this scenario, (and I'm not sure if it would be or not), and if it were able to make a quick kill of one of the orcas, I'd think there would be a good chance the orcas would disburse and leave the shark alone, despite their pod loyalty. Orcas might be deterred when seeing a predator of this size, something they never encounter in modern oceans. On the other hand, if the orcas decided to attack the shark as a prey item, or to deter a larger predator, (and again I'm not sure if they would or not) I think they might drive it away after a long struggle, although not without great risk. They'd have to be swarming the shark with three or four at a time, which would put them in close quarters with Megalodon and at great risk of being bitten. But I could see them doing enough damage by biting and ramming to make Megalodon dive deep to escape them.

Most likely both sides would suffer damage, and I think orcas would avoid adult Megs and vice-versa in most circumstances.

[jhg]

In that case, the killer whales swarm the C. megalodon and kill it.

[elosha11]

Aug 29, 2016 18:36:42 GMT 5 jhg said:

In that case, the killer whales swarm the C. megalodon and kill it.

jhg - you believe the orca pod at 20 members would swarm and kill Megalodon. That's certainly a possible outcome. Personally, I think the shark would be too big and dangerous for the orcas to prevent from diving deep and the shark would probably escape after it was swarmed. Orcas can keep baleen whales at surface and prevent diving, but they are obviously much more passive and less formidable than the shark. I could also see the Megalodon taking down a pod member or two during the conflict.

Just curious as to where you believe the tipping point is in favor of the orca pod? 5, 10, or less/more? FYI, Grey has posted multiple times a well known account of over 30 orcas attacking a young 18 meter blue whale. My recollection is it took the orcas many hours to seriously wound the whale, but they were not able to kill it and eventually gave up the encounter. The whale escaped, although it may well have died from its wounds, and the orcas still got a lot to eat for their efforts. But if 30+ orcas struggle with a relatively defenseless juvenile blue whale, you have to wonder just what would happen if only 20 orcas fought with an 18 meter shark, which would be heavier and far more formidable than an 18 meter blue whale.

[jhg]

That's fine with me!

[Deleted]

How many orcas are there?

[creature386]

Is savarb still active to answer the question? If not, maybe we can decide an appropriate pod for ourselves.

[Deleted]

How about five?

[creature386]

If we go by the given weights, I favour Megalodon. If we go by a lower weight, I'm not sure.

[Life]

An Orca pod posits challenge to virtually anything but I see the prospects of an adult Megalodon defeating it. I am assuming that the Orcas will retreat, if they suffer some casualties (which is most likely).

If the pod is too large to tackle head-on, then Megalodon can force its escape unlike a baleen whale. In this case, Megalodon does not win but deprives its opponent a chance at victory as well. Sharks are intelligent enough to realize as much when the odds are stacked against them.

[dinosauria101]

I think this may be a stalemate

[rock]

i would put my money on the shark , he is big enough to eat all of them in one gulp lol