Fortunately, most orca families appear to have very specialized tastes in food, different from family to family, and quite complex strategies for acquiring the exact kind of food that they prefer.

As long as they can still obtain their chosen food, it seems that they do not have any incentives for experimenting with alternative foods, like teeny humans.

When whales, seals, penguins, sharks etc. will disappear, that might change.

Understand what you are saying - we are not fatty or flavoursome enough. But you have to ask - how do they know that?

I can understand why (for example) big cats are scared of guys carrying AK47s (or even a pointed stick - hello, Maasai), and will run away. But the orcas really can't experience that, and don't seem scared of us at all. Lots of examples of sperm whales attacking humans (see Moby Dick) but none of orcas doing it. I know there are those yacht-bothering things off Spain.

It is strange. Unless they are going to leave us (Douglas Adams) or are just waiting to be our inheritors, which is looking more and more likely.

There is a strong correlation between the behavior an animal will exhibit against a human and the behavior it will exhibit against other animals of its own species.

The animals which do not tolerate other animals of their own species and which will attack them and fight with them are also very likely to attack humans when they believe that humans have invaded their personal space. For example, an adult bear will never be truly friendly with a human, even with a human that has raised it as a cub, because adult bears are never friendly with other bears, but they attack any intruders. On the other hand, a wolf raised by a human can become tame and attached to the human, like a wild wolf would behave towards its real parents.

Similarly, male sperm whales fight viciously with any other male sperm whales and they also do not hesitate to attack any boats with humans that harass them.

AFAIK, intra-specific fighting is not frequent among orcas, but they are used to have good relations between them, even with some from different pods. This may explain their lack of aggressivity against humans, as long as they are not perceived as a possible prey.

I'm interested in those examples of sperm whales attacking humans. I believe those might have been defending and not actively attacking. It is said that Mocha Dick was docile until attacked. And I think that an animal that defends itself when attacked, is a different game. I haven't heard of cases of people hunting down and fishing Orcas, like we did with Sperm Whales. Perhaps we would have had Orcas attack then?

Its not that Orcas don't eat people, they don't leave witnesses. People disappear in the ocean all the time

> But to me, the interesting question is how the orcas worked out how the great whites had livers in the first place, and why they are the best bits (big bits) to eat?

The liver is like right there inside the shark. Open it up and have a look, and take a small bite of all the bits and figure out which tastes best. Might need to cooperate with a friend.

Echolocation enables cetaceans to see the internal 3D structure already before opening.

On a related note, they synthesize reflections in their communication.

In principle, they could eat the whole shark and notice their favorite parts. That must have happened at least once. In practice, they probably learn it socially.