[kurthr]

Are Oraca commonly found in water that won't cause hypothermia (eg death or unconsciousness) in less than an hour?

That would be warmer 50F==10C. Anecdotally, I have only seen or heard of people seeing Orca in the PNW and Arctic where swimming without a wet/dry suit is not only uncomfortable, but deadly.

Great White shark populations OTOH are concentrated in some of the most popular and temperate swimming areas in the world. Certainly, they are everywhere I have ever been swimming/diving.

http://voices.nationalgeographic.org/files/2013/02/1104_0729...

[runeks]

Good question. But according to this map[1] there should be plenty of beaches where orcas and humans might encounter each other.

Given that orcas are able to learn how to drown white sharks, and catch birds by baiting with fish, couldn’t it just be that they have learned not to hunt humans, as they’ve experienced retaliation in the past? I’m pretty sure pre-historic humans would somehow retaliate if an orca grabbed a child from the beach and, because of that, it would make sense if orcas have simply learned not to do this.

[1] https://dailyzooniverse.files.wordpress.com/2013/11/killerwh...

[thewayfarer]

Orcas do have large populations near Antartica, Norway, and Alaska, but they also have large populations along the American West Coast, Mexico, and Australia. The Global Biodiversity Information Facility has some good maps of observation recordings around the world for these two species.

Orcas - https://www.gbif.org/species/2440483

Great white sharks - https://www.gbif.org/species/2420694

[frankmcsherry]

There is a surf spot in Morocco (Killers) named for the Orcas spotted there. They apparently show up periodically. Water is plenty warm.

[nikofeyn]

orcas, with humans, are one of the most widely distributed mammals. they live nearly everywhere.