What do you think is the strongest animal on earth? The lion No — they are often trampled to death by African elephants. The hippo and rhino are also considered to be strong animals that lions are unable to defeat in a one-to-one fight. As far as aquatic animals go, crocodiles would present strong competition as well. Meanwhile, many people think that polar bears are the strongest carnivores although taking their habitats into account, they would never meet African elephants. After all, there is no absolute champion on the ground.
Turning the focus to marine animals, on the other hand, orcas reign supreme over the oceanic ecosystem. Also known as killer whales, orcas can swim incredibly fast (approximately 80 km/h; for comparison, great white sharks swim at 25~35 km/h), intelligently communicate with their shoal by means of sound and supersonic, pressure their targets in various clever ways and prey with their sharp fangs. Their habitat ranges across almost the entire ocean, from the polar regions to the equator. Thus they dominate the whole ocean which occupies more than 70% of our planet.
In addition to preying on aquatic species, killer whales often attack animals living near the seaside. Believe it or not, orcas can sometimes even triumph over polar bears. Once in the water, even polar bears are powerless against killer whales due to significant differences of swimming speed and body size. Although labelled “killer”, however, there have been few reports of killer whales actually killing a human. They have the intelligence to avoid unnecessary, meaningless battles. Along with their beauty, killer whales deserve to be titled king of the vast ocean.
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