Orcas

This is an Orca, more commonly known as a Killer Whale. You may know about them from various films and doccumentaries such as Free Willy and Blackfish. In media, they are often portrayed as evil and deadly, and in some cases this can be true, however there is so much more to them.

Surprisingly enough, Orcas are a part of the Oceanic Dolphin family, making them dolphins despite their large appearence. Other members of this family include; Tucxi, Long beaked common dolphins, long finned pilot whales and dusky dolphins.

They are an apex predator, meaning that they are not threatened or eaten by any animals. Despite this status, many of them eat fish while some of them go after other sea mammals such as seals. In some cases they have been known to eat Baleen whale calves and adults in some very rare cases. They live in all oceans from tropical to arctic, however they are not found in the Baltic and Black seas.

They live in family pods with a matriarchal structure, meaning that the females are in charge. There is a theory that different pods have different cultures and languages based on the sounds and hunting tecniques they use.

Some groups of Orcas are considered endangered, this is sadly due to loss of prey, pollution and habitat loss. Another threat to them is being captured for Marine parks, due to this in 2005 the population of Orcas in the British Columbia and Washington were put on the endangered list.

Orcas are black and white in appearance, being mainly black with a white belly and sides and a little white patch above the eye. They have a large dorsal fin that can reach up to 5'9 long. They have very strong, powerful jaws. The middle and back teeth help hold prey in place while they are jerked around in an attempt to kill them.

They are the largest of the Dolphin family still living, males can grow up to 20 - 26ft long. Males can weigh up to 6 tonnes. Females are typically smaller being 16 - 23ft long and up to 4 tonnes. Babies are born to be an average of 180kg and 7'9ft long.

Males and females have differently sized dorsal fins, which is a type of sexual dymorphism. Females have smaller dorsal fins.

Orcas are very smart and very capable animals. They have good eyesight above water, good hearing, and great sense of touch. They also use echolocation to find prey underwater.

Orcas do not have a territory like other apex predators, they are nomadic and travel constantly. In their groups, its purely familial, with children staying with their mothers throughout adulthood. They have emotional intelligence and a real sense of self and caring. In the wild, there are no records of attacks on people. The only occurences of them attacking people is in captivity. There are notes of mass strandings, this is when one Orcas gets beached (on land) and the others in the pod do the same as solidarity. It shows how close all these animals are, but at the same time its very sad to see.

Orcas are very playful animals and have intelligence outside of emotinal, in Alaska there are stories of them stealing fish from boats and outsmarting the fishermen. In the wild, interactions with humans are fun and curious. They move objects that people are trying to get in a teasing way. they even throw ice after they see a person throw a snowball.

I hope you learned something today, see you next time!
-Dari