Facts about killer whales and conservation

1. (Orcinus Orca)

2. Key Facts On Killer Whales
 Anatomy
 Pod Formation
 Communication
 Food and Feeding
 Sub Species (Transient & Resident)
 Behaviour
 Distribution

3. Anatomy
 Despite their name Killer whale, orcas are actually the
largest members in the dolphin family.
 They are called whales due to their shear size, rather
than their anatomy.
 Their distinctive jet black, brilliant white and grey
markings probably make it the easiest cetacean to
identify.

4. Anatomy
 The main differences in sexes are the shape and size of
the dorsal fin and bulkiness of the body.
 Adult males are larger and have dorsal fins up to 1.8m
tall and vertical in shape.
 Whereas adult females have dorsal fins which are
much more curved and not quite as tall, standing at
1.5m.

5. Dorsal fins
 Female
 Male

6. Pod Formation
 Single individuals can be encountered in the ocean but
close-knit pods are the most typical sighting.
 Occasionally two or more pods may come together to
form super pods, which may contain up to 150 orcas.
 Members of a pod usually stay together for life and
groups of closely related pods (known as clans)
develop their own unique dialects.

7. Pod Formation
 Pods may travel in tight formation or spread across
1km of ocean.
 Killer whale pods are led by the oldest female in the
family.

9. Communication
 Like all dolphins, orcas communicate with one
another by clicks, whistles and body contact.
 Also like all cetaceans they use sonar to see their
surroundings.
 They are highly sociable and fighting within a pod
is a rare sight.
 When they are working as a team to bring down
their prey, they regularly communicate so each
individual knows what rolls to play and when.

10. Food and Feeding
 Killer whales are very versatile in what they pray upon
no matter what shape or even size.
 Animals known to make up their diet consist of
squid, octopus, fish, sea birds, turtles, seals and other
cetaceans.
 Videos have been taken of orcas attacking great white
sharks and blue whales, evidence of their capabilities.

11. Food and Feeding
 The relationship between killer whales and their prey is
rather complex.
 Pods often ignore potential prey and specialize on other
animals.
 Luckily for us humans we are not on their menu in the
wild.
 Only orcas in captivity have been known to attack people.

15. Sub Species (Transients & Residents)
Studies which have been carried out in
North America suggest that there are
two sub species of killer whale
Transients and residents.
The factors separating these sub
species are behavioral.

16. Transients
 Transients tend to form smaller pods, numbering
between 1-7 individuals.
 Explore wider areas of sea.
 Feed almost exclusively on mammals.
 Communicate to each other less.
 Stay under water for 5 – 15 minutes at a time.

17. Residents
 Residents form larger pods between 5 – 25 individuals.
 Roam over smaller areas.
 Feed mainly on fish.
 Vocalize frequently.
 Dives rarely exceed 4 minutes.

18. Behaviour
 Orcas are very sociable animals and are safe to
approach.
 They commonly breach, lob tail, flipper slap and spy
hop.
 They do also beach rub, dorsal fin slap and speed
swim.
 Whilst resting logging dose take place.

19. Behaviour
 They do however have a dark side when it comes to
attacking their prey.
 When killer whales purposely beach themselves to
snatch a seal from the coast they do sometimes play cat
and mouse.

21. Behaviour
 Despite this cruel behaviour, one video shows orcas
spy hopping, circling and attacking a seal into the
water from an ice plate.
 However as a sign of great intelligences they don't
harm it. Their just teaching the younger orcas how to
hunt.

24. Behaviour
 Breaching  Speed swimming

25. Distribution
 Killer whales are the second most widely spread
mammals on Earth, only human have conquered larger
areas.
 However the waters in which they range are patchy.
 They are more commonly found in cooler waters than
tropical.
 They live both inshore and offshore.

26. Threats and Current Status
Orcas are being taken from the wild for.
 Meat
 Marine parks
 Damage to fishing equipment
 The countries that hunt whales are
Norway, Iceland and Japan.

28. You can help protect these mighty
animals by signing up to one of
these conservation websites.

29. Websites
Killer whales conservation and research
http://www.seaworld.org/animal-info/info-
books/killer-whale/conservation.htm
Killer whales adoption programme (KWAP)
http://www.vanaqua.org/conservation/cetaceans/kw
ap.html
National parks conservation association (NPCA)
http://www.npca.org/marine_and_coastal/marine_wi
ldlife/orca.html

30. (WWF) Resident killer whales in British Columbia
http://wwf.ca/conservation/species/sarrfo/killer_wha
les/
The Pacific Wildlife Foundation (PWLF)
http://www.pwlf.org/killerwhale/conservation.htm
Vancouver Aquarium
http://www.vanaqua.org/conservationinaction/killer
whales/get_involved.htm

31. Blue voice
http://www.bluevoice.org
Wild whales conservation
programme
http://wildwhales.org/?page_id=56

32. Thank you for watching
 References
 Dorling Kindersley Handbooks WHALES DOLPHINS
AND PORPOISES. Mark Carwardine, Illustrated by
Martin Camm.