Editing Orca (section)

===Attacks by wild orcas on humans and animals===
{{Further information|Orca attack}}
[[File:Whale of Greifswald from rear.JPG|right|thumb|Male orca depicted in St Mary's in [[Greifswald]], Germany, 1545<ref name="Greifswald church"/>|alt=Killer whale silhouette, with two projections above shown above the blowhole.]]
In [[Western culture]]s, orcas were historically feared as dangerous, savage predators.{{sfn|Obee|Ellis|1992|pp=Chapter 1}} The first written description of an orca was given by [[Pliny the Elder]] ''circa'' AD 70, who wrote, "Orcas (the appearance of which no image can express, other than an enormous mass of savage flesh with teeth) are the enemy of [other kinds of whale]... they charge and pierce them like warships ramming." (see citation in section [[#Naming|"Naming"]], above).<ref name=pliny1>[[Pliny the Elder|Gaius Plinius Secundus]]. [https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/9*.html#v ''Historia Naturalis'' 9.5.12] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20200915041547/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/L/Roman/Texts/Pliny_the_Elder/9%2A.html#v |date=September 15, 2020 }} (Latin), in Bill Thayer's ''[https://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/home.html LacusCurtius: Into the Roman World] {{Webarchive|url=https://archive.today/20120524002003/http://penelope.uchicago.edu/Thayer/E/Roman/home.html |date=May 24, 2012 }}''. (See also an [https://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=9:chapter=5 English translation] {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110604093248/http://www.perseus.tufts.edu/hopper/text?doc=Perseus:text:1999.02.0137:book=9:chapter=5 |date=June 4, 2011 }} by [[John Bostock (physician)|John Bostock]] and [[Henry Thomas Riley]], 1855.) Retrieved February 19, 2010.</ref>

Of the very few confirmed attacks on humans by wild orcas, none have been fatal.<ref name="3_News_71245">{{cite news |url=http://www.3news.co.nz/Orca-shares-the-waves-with-local-surfer/tabid/423/articleID/71245/Default.aspx |title=Orca shares the waves with local surfer |date=September 12, 2008 |work=[[3 News]] |access-date=October 13, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110724192551/http://www.3news.co.nz/Orca-shares-the-waves-with-local-surfer/tabid/423/articleID/71245/Default.aspx |archive-date=July 24, 2011 |url-status=dead }}</ref> In one instance, orcas tried to tip ice floes on which a dog team and [[Herbert Ponting|photographer]] of the [[Terra Nova Expedition]] were standing.<ref>{{Cite book|last=Cherry-Garrard|first=Apsley|title=The Worst Journey in the World: Antarctic 1910–1913|publisher=Globe Pequot|year=2004|page=92|isbn=978-1-59228-212-8}}</ref> The sled dogs' barking is speculated to have sounded enough like seal calls to trigger the orca's hunting curiosity. In the 1970s, a surfer in California was bitten, but the Orca then retreated,<ref>{{cite web |author=<!--not stated--> |date=1972-07-11 |title=Whale Takes Bite From Surfer's Leg |url=https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-kretschmer/141435593/ |work=Los Angeles Times |agency=UPI |location=MONTEREY |access-date=2024-03-23 |archive-date=February 18, 2024 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20240218211855/https://www.newspapers.com/article/the-los-angeles-times-kretschmer/141435593/ |url-status=live }}</ref> and in 2005, a boy in Alaska who was splashing in a region frequented by harbour seals was bumped by an orca that apparently misidentified him as prey.<ref name=ketchikan>{{cite news |agency=The [[Associated Press]] |url=https://www.seattletimes.com/seattle-news/boy-survives-bump-from-killer-whale |title=Boy survives bump from killer whale |newspaper=[[The Seattle Times]] |date=August 18, 2005 |access-date=January 3, 2010 |archive-date=April 2, 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20110402062946/http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/localnews/2002444869_webwhale18.html |url-status=live }}</ref>