Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Orca and The Dog

Orca & Dog from Maria Chantelle Tucker on Vimeo.


I had a scary situation with my dog and a seal at Lover's Point in Pacific Grove. I was out kayaking with my dog and a seal came up right next to us. It was an open kayak so Sierra could have easily jumped overboard. I turned quickly and headed for the beach with the seal in pursuit. My command of "Stay!" to Sierra was working. The seal followed us up to the beach and then swam away. Not sure what would have happened had Sierra jumped in. Glad I didn't have to find out.

Dogs and seals are closely related on the evolutionary chart. Not only are they both members of the order Carnivora, but pinnipeds (seals, sea lions, walruses, etc.) are members of the suborder Caniformia, which literally means "dog-shaped carnivores". This also includes bears ... as well as a superfamily that includes otters, weasels, raccoons, skunks, and red pandas.

1 comment:

Dennis said...

So was the orca just trying to play with the dog? It seemed to get more and more fond of the dog.