🐋
Orca
Orcinus orca
Marine mammals · Data deficient
vs
🐻❄️
Polar bear
Ursus maritimus
Carnivores · Vulnerable
2 clips name both of them
3.8 million views between them.
Orca outweighs Polar bear 12× — 4,300 kg against 372 kg. Both figures are averages across males and females.
Tale of the tape
Body mass
4,300 kg
🐋 Orca · COMBINE
372 kg
🐻❄️ Polar bear · COMBINE
Shoulder height
no figure yet
🐋 Orca
1.45 m
🐻❄️ Polar bear
Body length
9.23 m
🐋 Orca · COMBINE
2.25 m
🐻❄️ Polar bear · COMBINE
Top speed
no figure yet
🐋 Orca
39 km/h
🐻❄️ Polar bear
Bite force
no figure yet
🐋 Orca
2,121 N
🐻❄️ Polar bear
Maximum lifespan
100 yr
🐋 Orca · COMBINE
45 yr
🐻❄️ Polar bear · COMBINE
Bars are sized against the larger of the two figures. Bite force figures come from individual studies and vary a lot between sources.
Animals caught on camera
Real footage of the animals on this site — hunting, fighting, and getting on with it.
Graphic clips stay hidden unless you pick Graphic.
Shared ancestry
The closest group they share is Laurasiatheria (superorder), home to 4,193 species.
They last shared an ancestor about 64 million years ago.
Estimates range from 58 to 76 million years; the figure above is the middle estimate.
About this estimate
Dates from Upham, Esselstyn & Jetz 2019, PLoS Biology 17:e3000494 (CC0).