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Comment on It's called fashion, sweaty, look it up

southsamurai@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago

Which is completely irrelevant to that group because the process by which an animal recognizes that is and isn’t “food” is partially location dependent. If you took one of them out of their territory at birth, raised them in a different one, they’d learn different food spectrum.

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bobo@lemmy.ml ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
They almost exclusively eat salmon. Humans have destroyed salmon populations. They share their territory with other natural prey like seals. They kill seals for fun. They can’t figure out that seals are edible.

But I don’t think that’s the main reason their population is declining

Pacific Northwest orca are among the most contaminated marine mammals in the world, due to the high levels of toxic anthropogenic chemicals that accumulate in their tissues.[115] Implicated in the decline of the southern resident orca population, these widespread contaminants pose a large problem for conservation efforts. While many chemicals can be found in the tissues of orca, the most common are the insecticide DDT, polybrominated diphenyl ethers (PBDEs) and polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs).[116] Each of these have detrimental physiological effects on orca,[117] and can be found in such high concentrations in dead individuals that those individuals must be disposed of in hazardous waste sites.[118]

Correlative evidence shows orca may be vulnerable to effects of PCBs on many levels. Research has identified PCBs as being linked to restricting development of the reproductive system in orcas and dolphins.[119] High contamination levels leads to low pregnancy rates and high mortality in dolphins. Further effects include endocrine and immune system disruption, both systems being critical to mammalian health and survival.[117] A study examining 35 Northwest orcas found key genetic alterations that caused changes to normal physiological functions.[120] These genetic level interferences, combined with the varied effects of PCBs at other physiological levels, suggest these contaminants may be partially responsible for declines in orca populations.

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Southern_resident_orcas

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UnspecificGravity@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
Right, which is why they are backwards hillbillies.

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- southsamurai@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
  Shit, did I step into a troll?
  
  If so, you got me good lol
  
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  - Catoblepas@piefed.blahaj.zone ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    If it gives you a yardstick to measure by, they spent quite a while insisting ICE List was actually a honeypot and trying to scare the shit out of anyone that has visited the site. This was after mainstream news was always reporting on it.
    
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  - UnspecificGravity@piefed.social ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Are you suggesting that my definition of a population of orca as “hillbillies” is not an evidence based scientific opinion?
    
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    southsamurai@sh.itjust.works ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    Lmao! Good point
    
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  - WorldsDumbestMan@lemmy.today ⁨3⁩ ⁨weeks⁩ ago
    I vote for mr “troll”. Those Orkas have a dumb culture, so they are ass backwards.
    
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