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Orcas (Orcinus orca) are also known as killer whales. There black and white coloration is familiar to many from trips to Sea World types of parks to the movie Free Willy. In fact, their dorsal and back patches can identify individual Orcas, as these are as unique to each Orca as fingerprints are to a human.
Male Orcas can reach 31 feet long and weigh in at over eight tones. They can even have a dorsal fin that is up to six feet tall. Females can grow to 22 feet and weigh around four tons. Their dorsal fins usually grow only to three feet. It has been found that Orcas reach sexual maturity about the same time as humans and they have a life span of up to 80 years.
Orcas may look like a fish but are actually mammals and members of the dolphin family. It is because of their size many mistake them for members of the whale family.
Their births usually occur in the autumn and winter months while their gestational period lasts over 16 months.Newborn Orcas can weigh up to 400 pounds and be six to seven feet long. After birth they will nurse up to 18 months.
Although Orcas are in all the world’s oceans, they are social creatures that stay within their own pods or family groups. A pod can include up to 50 members.
It is interesting to know that individual pods have their own distinct dialect as humans would have accents from various regions. It is through this dialect that members of the pod recognize each other.
One of the things the Free Willy foundation was searching for while setting up Keiko’s release was a pod that had the same dialect as Keiko. Recordings were made and compared to all the know pods to hopefully find the family he was taken from 18 years previously.
This search was similar to a needle in a haystack. Orcas usually favor the coastal or cool waters but can also be found in the polar ice areas. Some pods are stationary and live their entire lives in a small area while others migrate over enormous distances.
Unlike most marine animals, Orcas are voluntary breathers and need to literally be “half awake” at all times. Their brain has the ability to split activities so they sleep with half their brain while the other half keeps the body still breathing.
There are three categories of Orcas, resident, transient and offshore.
The transient Orca is at the top of the ocean’s food chain and they feed off of a variety of marine life including other mammals. They work as a group when hunting and can bring down prey even large then themselves such as the great blue whale. Other food sources for the transient Orca are sharks, sea lions, otters, penguins, dolphins, birds, squid and octopi.
Old time mariners named Orcas “killer whales” after watching the transient ones during their hunt and eating times. Although there are many myths concerning Orcas, there has never been an actual confirmed report of a human being killed by one in the wild.
Resident Orcas have been the easiest for scientists to study because they tend to stay in a certain area. They are known to have matriarchal pods that are generally made up of generations of females and their calves.
There is little true information concerning the offshore Orca. These Orcas live far out to sea and it has been virtually impossible to track and study these animals.
Although whale hunters have hunted the Orca, they haven’t caused the annihilation of so many as they have in so many other species. Whalers aren’t the only predator to the Orca.
In some areas they are perceived as competition by fisherman and killed while in the Pacific Northwest and Iceland those wanting to make money by selling the creatures as aquarium show animals have abducted Orcas from their families.
Regardless of who is hunting the Orca, there remains one simple fact; the greatest danger to these magnificent animals comes from man himself. A predator that has caused the extinction of so many species of animals that may some day focus its attention on these glorious creatures as well.
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