r/whales

I was thinking of it but couldn't answer it. Current estimation for Orcas are around 50k globally, long finned pilot whale 780k, short fin pilot whale 360k. Orcas eat a lot of things from marine mammals like seals to fish to even other cetaceans. Pilot whale contrast to eating only Squid. Both are closely related and a part of blackfish.

If Orcas are highly intelligent, apex predator with a successful diet then shouldn't they have expanded far more? One possible hypothesis I could come up with is that Orcas are bigger and so need more food. Also reproduction rate of both orcas and pilot whale is similar and both care for their children and both have social structure. Another hypothesis I have is that something hunted Orcas more recently and since they eat everything, they had beef with everyone else including sperm whale. Although everyone shy away from orcas except for pilot whale which would make sense given their numbers.

Orcas are recorded hunting and even eating pilot whale, while pilot whale haven't been recorded doing the same to Orcas but they chase Orcas away. This feels like homo sapien and neanderthal all over again to me. Neanderthal were bigger than us in both brain and size, more muscular but had small social circle while homo sapiens had large social circle with 1000 individuals each, who cared for each other and we were far more than them. This feels very analogous to that situation.