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“This Orca Likes Sharks” is the 23rd episode of Season 4 of the PBS Kids show Wild Kratts. It is the 115th episode of the series overall. It premiered on April 11, 2017.
In this episode, the brothers have a run-in with a dangerous bull shark in the Amazon river. In the process of escaping the predatory fish, they discover a map, revealing a legendary orca that specializes in eating sharks. To find out if this story is true, they join an orca pack and learn all there is to them, with the help of the upgraded Dolphin Decoder and the new Orca Power Suits.
Synopsis[]
The Kratt Bros. discover there is an old wily orca who only eats large sharks; they find this hard to believe, so with the help of Aviva's dolphin decoder, modified to speak orca, the Wild Kratts go in search of the orca who likes sharks.
Plot[]
The episode begins with a live-action segment. The Kratt brothers go over the top predators in the creature world, including the legendary wolves of the sea, known as orcas (A.K.A. killer whales). Afterward, they ask their "What if?" question, and the show transitions into the cartoon segment.
In the Amazon rainforest, the Wild Kratts are floating on tres. They come across many animals, as well as their old animal friends, including Shadow, the black jaguar cub, and Chillax, the three-toed sloth. To their suprise, they also come across a shark. While Aviva, Joki, and Jimmy Z. retreat, the Kratt brothers swim underwater to find out what shark it is in the freshwater river. They identify the shark as a bull shark, one of 5 types of sharks that eat humans as prey, and one of two shark species that can survive in freshwater rivers as well as saltwater.
The bull shark then attacks the Kratt brothers, charging at them. In order to escape, Chris touches a basilisk and activates his Creature Power Suit with Basilisk Power. The shark tails him down as he runs on the water, but he's not able to clear the marathon back to the Tortuga. To help his little brother, Martin activates Pelican Power and scoops Chris into his beak. Although he's able to fly away, the shark bites off his tail feathers, and is unable to steer. Instead of landing at the Tortuga, Martin and Chris crash land on a beach. They deactivate their suits and find a bottle with an old map inside. The map shows the travels of a legendary orca that supposedly specializes in eating large sharks. They send the map to their friends, and head to the South Atlantic ocean based on the map's coordinates.
As the crew head over the search sub, the brothers enter their wetsuits and ready the Amphi-Sub. Jimmy spots the orca pod, and the Kratts launch into the ocean where they meet the pod. The orcas are very curious at the sub, and even rip off a microphone, which leads the brothers to swim with the orcas. Koki protests to the idea of swimming with killer whales, but Martin corrects her saying that no orcas have ever killed a human in the wild, with Chris adding that orcas are not whales, but really a type of dolphin. This inspires Aviva to upgrade the Dolphin Decoder to translate the orca's language.
The brothers swim carefully with the orcas, witnessing a calf hunting a yellowfin tuna. The calf herself is being hunted by a giant squid, and the brothers struggle to find a Creature Power they can use. But before they can react, the rest of the orca pod catches wind and counter attacks the squid. The pod is able to kill the squid by dismembering and mobbing it, and the cephalopod eventually sinks to the bottom of the ocean. The orcas' communication in this instance was enough for Aviva and Koki to motify the Dolphin Decodor with orca-language. Jimmy teleports it their way. They use the Decodor to speak to the orcas, including the calf that they had rescued. Martin names her, "Swirly," after the markings of her eye. Aviva then calls the brothers, informing her that she has modified the Dolphin Power Suits with Orca Powers. Jimmy teleports the discs to the Kratts, but Swirly wants to play keep-away with them. Chris uses the Decoder to trick Swirly into thinking there's tuna so that she'll drop the discs.Martin informs Chris that the male orca mentioned in the map (whom Martin has named Old Shark Tooth) would likely be on the edges of the pack, and that the best way to find an orca is to be the orca. The brothers activate Orca Power and leap out of the water with Swirly.
However, a great-white shark quickly approaches the Tortuga. Because sharks prey on small orcas, and because the Orca Power Suits are calf-size, Chris, Martin, and Swirly are all in danger. Chris takes Swirly back to her pod whilst Martin takes on the shark, taking a hit to the button on his Creature Power Vest. The shark almost eats him, but Chris is able to grab the shark by the tail and stop him. Then, a gigantic male orca, Old Shark Tooth, kills and eats the great white shark, much to the brothers' awe. Unfortunately for Martin, the shark attack has caused his Creature Power Suit to re-activate into a malfunctioned version of the Great White Shark Power Suit, making him a target for the shark eating orca. Chris is able to distract Shark Tooth while Martin reactivates Orca Powers, giving both of them the chance to examine the orca's physique and ferocity up close and personal.
The Dolphin Decoder then records a distress call from Swirly; she's being attacked by another great white shark. Martin, Chris, and Shark Tooth chase after the shark to rescue the calf, and eventually they're able to kill the shark. The three orcas make a huge splash on the Tortuga crew, ending the adventure.
The episode transitions into the concluding live action segment. The brothers inform the viewer on the many different top predators of their designated habitats, and the many different creature powers that put them at the top of the food chain. Afterward, they conclude the episode by saying "Keep on creature adventuring; we'll see you on the creature trail!"
Characters[]
Animals[]
Animated[]
Featured animals are in bold
- Orca: Old Shark Tooth, Swirly
- Jaguar: Shadow
- Plumed Basilisk (called Basilisk lizard)
- Brown-throated Sloth (called Sloth)
- Geoffroy's Spider Monkey (called Monkey)
- Scarlet Macaw (called Macaw)
- Bull Shark
- Mangrove Snapper
- Brown Pelican (called Pelican)
- Yellowfin Tuna (called Tuna)
- Giant Squid
- Great White Shark
Live Action Videos[]
Note: Live action animals are linked to Wikipedia.
- Tiger shark
- Oceanic whitetip shark
- Shortfin mako shark (called Mako shark)
- Common remora
Live Action[]
Note: Live action animals are linked to Wikipedia.
- Lion
- Siberian tiger
- Komodo dragon
- Brown bear
- American crocodile (called Crocodile)
- Gray wolf (called Wolf)
- Arctic wolf (called Wolf)
- White-tailed deer (called Deer)
- American bison
- Caribou
- Muskox
- American black bear (called Black bear)
- Cougar (called Mountain lion)
Trivia[]
- The Dolphin Decoder from the Season 2 episode, "Speaking Dolphinese" reappears and has been updated to translate orcas.
- Chris states that orcas could likely eat polar bears, dismissing it as a possible Creature Power to use whilst they're near the orca pod. This is false, as orcas and polar bears live in different habitats. This would make it impossible for orcas to have a predator-prey relationship with polar bears.
- Additionally, Chris says "Wild orcas have never attacked a human!" after receiving the Dolphin Decodor. Whilst there are no fatal attacks from wild orcas, there was one reliable report of an orca attacking an injuring a human being in 1972.
- The scenes of the grizzly bear come from the Kratt Brothers' previous (non-PBS) show Be the Creature.
- When Chris incorrectly mentioned “oceanic whitetip”, he actually showed live-action footage of a whitetip reef shark.
- The giant squid in this episode is portrayed using the colossal squid animation model.
- This episode appears to have been aired out of order in the fourth season; Swirly, and the Orca Power Suits are introduced in this episode, but previously appeared in "A Creature Christmas."
- When Chris and Martin activate their Orca Power Suits, animation is recycled from the Season 4 premiere, "The Last Largest Lobster," when they activate Lobster Powers.
Key Facts and Creature Moments[]
- Orcas are the largest type of dolphin, and are the apex predators of the ocean.
- Orcas are sometimes called killer whales, because they are such fierce hunters of other marine animals.
- Orcas are also known as wolves of the sea due to their group hunting behaviour.
- Just like most dolphins, orcas are highly intelligent and social predators that live and hunt in pods.
- Orcas are the only predators of adult great white sharks.
- Bull sharks are one of only two species of sharks that can live in freshwater rivers.
- A pod of orcas attacking and eating a giant squid.
- An adult male orca killing and eating two great white sharks.
Gallery[]
