Are orcas getting smarter?

Orcas are learning terrifying new behaviors. Are they getting smarter? | Earthquake reveals giant Aztec snakehead beneath Mexico City university | 'Christ' tattoo discovered on 1,300-year-old body Created for {EMAIL} | [Web Version]( October 23, 2023 CONNECT WITH LIVESCIENCE  [Facebook]( [Twitter](  [LIVESCIENCE]( Amazing science every day [SIGN UP]( ⋅ [WEBSITE](  [] Top Science News [] [Orcas are learning terrifying new behaviors. Are they getting smarter?]( (The Asahi Shimbun Premium via Getty Images) [Orcas are learning terrifying new behaviors. Are they getting smarter?]( From sinking boats and feasting on shark livers to dining on whale tongue and tossing porpoises around for fun, orcas are displaying some fascinating — and sometimes terrifying — behaviors. in recent years, scientists have observed orcas doing some pretty scary things. In 2019, they documented the first time a pod of orcas [hunted and ate an adult blue whale](. Earlier this summer, they were spotted [ramming and sinking boats](. And in South Africa, a mass-murdering duo has hunted great white sharks so relentlessly that the [sharks are beginning to relocate](. In the sickest form of entertainment yet, orcas off the Pacific Northwest coast are known to [toss baby porpoises](in a macabre game that ends in death. But what's behind all these new behaviors? Just how and where did killer whales pick up these skills? And if orcas are rapidly learning and sharing these gruesome tactics with each other, does that mean they are getting smarter? [Read More]( [] History & Archaeology [] [Earthquake reveals giant Aztec snakehead beneath Mexico City university]( (LANCIC;UNAM) [Earthquake reveals giant Aztec snakehead beneath Mexico City university]( Researchers are conserving a rare snakehead from the Aztecs that still retains its painted colors from hundreds of years ago. [Read More]( [] ['Christ' tattoo discovered on 1,300-year-old body]( ['Christ' tattoo discovered on 1,300-year-old body]( (Kari A. Guilbault) Scientists in Sudan have discovered a tattoo with references to Jesus Christ on a 1,300-year-old body excavated in a cemetery near a medieval monastery. Full Story: [Live Science]( (10/23) [] Planet Earth [] [Mystery blobs in Earth's mantle may be linked to ancient gold and platinum that arrived from space]( (Yuri_Arcurs/Getty Images) [Mystery blobs in Earth's mantle may be linked to ancient gold and platinum that arrived from space]( The gold and platinum that came from giant space rocks should have sunk into Earth's core instead of rising to the crust. [Read More]( [] Space [] [Strange anomaly in sun's solar cycle discovered in centuries-old texts from Korea]( (Yan et al. 2023) [Strange anomaly in sun's solar cycle discovered in centuries-old texts from Korea]( Aurora records in royal chronicles from Korea show that during the 'Maunder Minimum' between 1645 and 1715, the sun's solar cycles became several years shorter than they are today. [Read More]( [] Animals [] [Big, healthy great white shark washes up dead on Canada beach in latest of string of mystery strandings]( (Marine Animal Response Society) [Big, healthy great white shark washes up dead on Canada beach in latest of string of mystery strandings]( Scientists have performed a necropsy on a great white shark that washed up in Nova Scotia (the fifth unexplained stranding of its kind in a year), but were unable to determine the cause of death. [Read More]( [] Daily Quiz [] Why is it hard to hear when you have a cold? (Learn the answer [here](.) [Vote]( [Inflammation of the malleus]( [Vote]( [Extra fluid in the Eustachian tube]( [Vote]( [Infection of the tympanic memebrane]( [Vote]( [All of the above](   [Sign Up]( | [Update Profile]( | [Unsubscribe]( [Privacy Policy]( | [Cookies Policy]( | [Terms and Conditions]( CONTACT US: [FEEDBACK](mailto:livescience@smartbrief.com) | [ADVERTISE]( Future US LLC © Full 7th Floor, 130 West 42nd Street, New York, NY, 10036