#Orcas Killer Whales

[fluffysheeps]

Oreorcas 🍪

[amanitahouses]

Salmon hats: sweeping the nation by storm watercolor on paper, digitally overlaid on photo

[snototter]

An orca (Orcinus orca) breaches off the coast of the Pacific Northwest, USA

by Guy Schmickle

[orcinus-veterinarius]

Learning anything about marine mammal training will make you re-evaluate so much of your relationship with your own pets. There is so much force involved in the way we handle domestic animals. Most of it isn’t even intentional, it just stems from impatience. I’m guilty of it myself!

But with the exception of certain veterinary settings where the animal’s health is the immediate priority, why is it so important to us that animals do exactly what we want exactly when we want it? Why do we have to invent all these tools and contraptions to force them to behave?

When a whale swam away from a session, that was that. The trainer just waited for them to decide to come back. If they flat out refused to participate in behaviors, they still got their allotment of fish. Nothing bad happened. Not even when 20-30 people were assembled for a procedure, and the whale chose not to enter the medical pool. No big deal. Their choice and comfort were prioritized over human convenience.

It’s almost shocking to return to domestic animal medicine afterwards and watch owners use shock collars and chokers and whips to control their animals. It’s no wonder that positive reinforcement was pioneered by marine mammal trainers. When you literally can’t force an animal to do what you want, it changes your entire perspective.

I want to see that mindset extended to our domestic animals.

[namu-the-orca]

91° South

A painting based on a dream I had, from no less than 7 years ago. Honestly I don't really remember the dream itself anymore, but in the morning I'd immediately scribbled down these weird white killer whale-esque creatures and that's all I had left of that original vision. All I remember well is that they were completely off-white with big square foreheads and little nubbins, and lived in the Antarctic. But the scribble sat unfinished for years because I just couldn't paint what I saw in my head. Now I finally could! It's been really fun tinkering away at this and I'm very happy to have finished a "real" painting again. I hope you'll enjoy these blorbos from my head.

Original scribbles from 2017 under the cut!

There were two versions, one with just the trio and one with a whole pod surfacing in the ice hole too. In hindsight that might have been the more visually interesting option. But it's also more cluttered and more work so...

[desktopdinosaur]

Finally posting this! I’m making a little series of animatics illustrations inspired by @llamagoddessofficial au! I say inspired because I’m giving them much more nicer tanks than what is usually described-

No grey y/n this time because I thought it looked too weird- their design will change in each drawing tho so hopefully everyone feels represented!

[hometoursandotherstuff]

[monstatron]

happy world whale day! 🐋

couldn’t resist a quick sketch page of my orca, sunila to celebrate! she’ll be celebrating by treating herself to a salmon feast, that’s for sure!

[whereifindsanity]

[acorviart]

Orcinus orca (plates)

(one of these is definitely not food-safe thanks to some glaze pinholes, the other one I have yet to thoroughly examine)

[artofsoul1999]

It's been dark and rainy down here, so I thought I'd draw a piece to fit the mood. Here's one of my favorite whales, A72 Bend. I saw her on the Orcalab live cams for the first time a few years ago and have been obsessed with her ever since. Tragically, there's not many good full body reference pics of her, but hey, that won't stop me from trying to draw her. 💖

I gotta practice drawing Northern residents more often. Their lanky proportions and tiny eyepatches can be a bit tricky sometimes.

[lunar-orca]

post sweaty butch orcas on a friday evening

[amanitahouses]

Salmon Hat Party, watercolor on paper inspired by this phenomenon | prints/stickers

[snototter]

An orca (Orcinus orca) breaches in Sommarøy, Norway

by Bo Eide

[monatoxin]

go outside !!!! 333

[thechekhov]

nobody in their right mind will let me do this but I want to get in the water and try to mimic orca sounds at orcas in real time. I know I can do whistles and clicks underwater, and I need to see if

a) they would be loud enough for the orca to hear and

b) if it would freak them out

whether or not I get killed in this scenario is irrelevant. I need to see an orca as wigged out as a cat when you meow at it.