Domesticated Killer Whales/Humans

[Umbral]

OK, not totally domesticated, but a good start:

The killer whales of Eden

Apparently this is quite well known, and I never heard of it, or saw it mentioned on this site. Have I just missed it totally?

A pod of Killer Whales herding whales into a bay for whalers to kill, helping the whalers to pull ropes, and sharing the kills. With a whale who specialized in alerting the humans. For almost 100 years.

Not sure who were on the path to domestication though, more a muturalism thing.

 

[The Kiat]

How do you plan on domesticating a species at least as smart as you? Not to mention far larger and they know it.

Sure, you can work with them, but domestication involves stuff like selective breeding. That is why house cats are technically domesticated.

 

[SunDeep]

How do you plan on domesticating a species at least as smart as you? Not to mention far larger and they know it.

Sure, you can work with them, but domestication involves stuff like selective breeding. That is why house cats are technically domesticated.

Well, it does say 'Domesticated Killer Whales/Humans'. Both would probably perceive the other species as their 'pets'... (so 'domesticated' cats would probably be a decent analogy)

 

[Umbral]

How do you plan on domesticating a species at least as smart as you? Not to mention far larger and they know it.

Its not a proposal, or an ATL. It actually happened it seems. Not that the Orcas can be called domesticated (or the humans) but there was the start of a convergence.

Technically, I suppose you could control breeding by closing them off in fjords, but I don't see why you'd bother. They'd take care of that themselves, the individuals best at working with humans would be able to get more food.

 

[The Kiat]

Well, it does say 'Domesticated Killer Whales/Humans'. Both would probably perceive the other species as their 'pets'... (so 'domesticated' cats would probably be a decent analogy)

I'd say our relationship with the felines is more symbiotic. We protect them from predators while they protect are grain supplies and farms from vermin. Obviously, that's not very applicable in an urban environment (and house cats are more a pest than anything else in such cases). They are most certainly not dependent upon us.

Orcas thinking of humans as their pets, perhaps. Gorillas have kept pets, but their psychology is far closer to ours than any dolphin. Do Orca even have a concept of pet or property or anything like that?

 

[SunDeep]

I wonder- if this happens early enough, could you see things progressing to a stage where the 'domesticated' Orca populations can understand the human language, and get their human hunting companions to understand them well enough for our two species to pull off the feat of speaking to one another? Because ITTL, it'd be pretty interesting to find out just how sentient Orcas actually are...