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Orca Moms Teach Young The Trick For Killing Seals

Orca Moms Teach Young The Trick For Killing Seals

CHUBUT — Through cunning techniques used in hunting seals and smaller whales, killer whales reveal they are one of the most intelligent of sea mammals, explains Argentine daily Clarin.

Every season killer whales return to the Valdés peninsula in Chubut, southern Argentina, for their seal hunting ritual. Here they display their ingenuity using the particular technique of momentarily beaching themselves to catch a seal and drag it out to sea.

Observers consider it one of the boldest and most intelligent hunting methods among animals. These rites include teaching their young to do the same, and passing the technique to future generations, which is crucial to their collective survival.

The whales carried out four attacks in recent days, two of them successful. These provided food for two whale pods of four that had arrived to Punta Norte. One pod included a female that local scientists have named Llem, as well as her baby born last year, and two others, Pao and Schekei.

The "little'un" was seen mixing with its elders and learning to hunt. More attacks are expected in coming days as sea lions have given birth to large numbers of calves.

Clarín observed the whales' method of shifting into the shallow part of the water and waiting for a seal to take a dip. Scientists have observed the technique used both in Punta Norte and in Caleta Valdés nearby.

Killer whales' superior intelligence is also shown in their "systematic" method of hunting the Southern Right Whale, of which they are one of the main predators. Knowing the Right Whales' only defense is to sink into the depths, killer whales force them to swim into shallow waters, where they attack. Killer whales usually eat every bit of the 40 tons of whale meat when one is killed.

The orcas are expected back for more feeding off the coast of Chubut province in September.

All photos: Francois Gohier/Vwpics/ZUMA

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Ideas

Look At This Crap! The "Enshittification" Theory Of Why The Internet Is Broken

The term was coined by journalist Cory Doctorow to explain the fatal drift of major Internet platforms: if they were ever useful and user-friendly, they will inevitably end up being odious.

A photo of hands holding onto a smartphone

A person holding their smartphone

Gilles Lambert/ZUMA
Manuel Ligero

-Analysis-

The universe tends toward chaos. Ultimately, everything degenerates. These immutable laws are even more true of the Internet.

In the case of media platforms, everything you once thought was a good service will, sooner or later, disgust you. This trend has been given a name: enshittification. The term was coined by Canadian blogger and journalist Cory Doctorow to explain the inevitable drift of technological giants toward... well.

The explanation is in line with the most basic tenets of Marxism. All digital companies have investors (essentially the bourgeoisie, people who don't perform any work and take the lion's share of the profits), and these investors want to see the percentage of their gains grow year after year. This pushes companies to make decisions that affect the service they provide to their customers. Although they don't do it unwillingly, quite the opposite.

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Annoying customers is just another part of the business plan. Look at Netflix, for example. The streaming giant has long been riddling how to monetize shared Netflix accounts. Option 1: adding a premium option to its regular price. Next, it asked for verification through text messages. After that, it considered raising the total subscription price. It also mulled adding advertising to the mix, and so on. These endless maneuvers irritated its audience, even as the company has been unable to decide which way it wants to go. So, slowly but surely, we see it drifting toward enshittification.

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