By: Matthew Adams

THE KILLER WHALE

Classification

Physical characteristics

1. The orca’s eye is below the eye spot

2. It has a saddle behind the dorsal fin

3. Female dorsal fin=3ft 4. Male dorsal fin=6ft

Compare

6ft

3ftFEMALE

MALE

Distribution

The orca lives basically in every aquatic habitat

Mostly along shorelines for food

Don’t migrate if there is plenty food, good temperature and not a lot of pollution

Orcas live from the tip of Alaska down to the ice of Antarctica

If there is plenty of food orcas stay in most bodies of water

Habitat

The orca is data deficient and therefore has no conservation status

The combination of potential declines driven by depletion of prey resources and the effects of pollutants is believed sufficient that a 30% global reduction over three generations

Conservation

DD

The bond between a mom and her offspring is like no other

Rarely does the calf leave its mother

Mother gives birth to one calf tail first after a gestation period of 15-17 months

the female orca is mature at 6-10 years old and males mature at 12-16 years old

Parental care

• The killer whale lives up to 30 years if it is male and 50 if it is female

• However in captivity the average is about 5-12 years depending on the generation

Longevity and mortality

The killer whale if healthy rules the sea and is the top of the food chain

The killer whale is known to eat anything that it finds

Diet/predator relationships

The orca does not undergo torpor because it has voluntary breathing and needs to be half awake at all times

o The orca is fascinating to us so humans use it for

o Zoos

o Circuses and shows

o Skin

o We once shot a couple with our naval aviators when they messed with the fishing turn outs in iceland

Human relationships

Top of the food chain

Sharks are scared of and run from orcas

Scientist are trying to make a shark repellent

The orca supposedly got the name killer whale from a miss-communication of “whale killer”

The only human attack was on a surfer who was later spat out when the orca maybe realized that it was a mistake

Fun facts

Works Cited

B, Ford John K. Killer Whales : the Natural History and Genealogy of Orinus orca in British Columbia and Washington State. Seattle: UBC, 2000. Print.

Carwardine, Mark. Killer Whales. Illus. Tony Stone. New York: DK, 2001. Print.

Gordon, David George, and Chuck Flaherty. Feild Guide to the Orca. Seattle: Sasquatch, 1990. Print.

"Killer Whales: Longevity and Causes of Death." Sea World. N.p.: n.p., n.d. N. pag. Sea world. Web. 18 Mar. 2013. <http://www.seaworld.org/infobooks/KillerWhale/deathkw.html>.

"Orcanius orca." Iucn Redlist. N.p., n.d. Web. 17 Feb. 2013. <http://www.iucnredlist.org/details/15421/0>.

Vicki, Leon. A Pod of Killer Whales: The Mysterious Life of the Intelligent Orca. Montrose: London Town, 2006. Print.

Thank you