Shamu Attacks Trainer I can't help but wonder if Shamu the Killer Whale thought his trainer was a tasty seal when he held him down in the water yesterday at Sea World. Of course, this is not the first time this has happened, so I decided to head over to look up orcas at Wikipedia. And then I found this ...

The day-to-day behaviour of orcas is generally divided into four activities: foraging, travelling, resting and socializing. Orcas are generally enthusiastic in their socializing, engaging in behaviours such as breaching, spyhopping, and tail-slapping. All-male groups often interact with erect penises. Whether this interaction is part of play or a display of dominance is not known.

Well this brings up a variety of questions. I guess I could write a dissertation about the cruelty of orcas in a high tech circus at Sea World. But, in all honesty, I couldn't get past the fact the Boy Orcas "often interact with erect penisies" and because sometimes I'm a twelve year old boy stuck in a 41 year old woman's body, so I abandoned that approach. I do think I know why Shamu was pissed off though and I garnered the information from the MSNBC article I linked to above.

According to the SeaWorld’s Web site, a show at 4:30 p.m. “blends new killer whale behaviors with elaborate set pieces, music, choreography and state-of-the-art multimedia.”

I am almost certain now that Shamu thought David Blaine was in the tank with him, or possible Richard Simmons. Either way, this highly intelligent creature decided that to he would save the planet from both of these non-celebrities or, it could be that he was just thinking about David Blaine and Richard Simmons while swimming around his tiny tank and went into a blind rage, thus attacking his trainer. David Blaine and Richard Simmons puts me in a blind rage, so this is why I think Shamu went bonkers yesterday because it's my common bond with orcas in this big old global world. Or it could have been an off brand of herring or that all the killer whales are named Shamu who perform there and there was a need for individuality. One never knows. The trainer will be okay, but Shamu will still be in a big aquarium. Just saying.  ¶ 11/30/2006 06:26:00 AM