Killer Whales Part-2
Because of their fierce reputation, killer whales are sometimes called ballena asesina (”assassin whale”) by the Spanish. They were referred to as “whale killers” by sailors who witnessed their attacks on larger cetaceans, an over time this name was changed to “killer whales”. They are called this not because they harm humans but because they kill other whales.
Some researcher believe distinct species of killer whales exist, especially in the Antarctic. The majority of scientists, however, group killer whales as a whole and label them all as Orcinus orca. Orcinus is probably derived from Orcus, an ancient mythological Roman god of the netherworld — a reference to the ferocious reputation of this animal. Orca literally means “the shape of a barrel or cask” in Latin, likely due to the killer whale’s body shape.
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