Orca (Orcinus Orca) – Killer Whales Of The San Juan Islands
Posted Under: General
The Orca is the biggest representative of the dolphin family (order Cetacea, subfamily Delphinidae) and a versatile predator. It’s also recognised as a Killer Whale or Great Killer Whale, although it’s not a whale. The actual Killer Whale identify is in fact a corruption of the earlier Killer of Whales, the species is actually acknowledged to feed on juvenile & small cetaceans. One more phrase for the animal is Grampus.
Characteristics:
The animals tend to be distinctively marked, with a black back, white chest and sides and a white patch behind and above, above & behind the eye. They have a heavy as well as stocky physique and a significant dorsal fin. The males can easily be up to 9.5 meters long (in excess of thirty-one ft) and weighing ten tons; females are usually smaller, attaining 8.5 metres (approximately 28 feet) at most along with a weight of seven or 8 tons. Calves at birth weight about 180 kilograms and are about 2.4 metres long (about eight feet). At 1.8m (about 6 feet), the dorsal fin of the male is taller compared to the female’s, and more up-right. From a distance, females and juveniles can be confused with various porpoise and dolphin species.
Range:
Most killer whales live in the polar regions however , they are encountered in all waters including the Mediterranean sea and Arabian Sea as well as the Gulf Islands in the Usa and British Columbia, Canada. At sea they are ordinarily observed in pods of five to twenty-five individuals, although groups of as much as 150 have also been observed together.
Diet :
An Orca’s diet depends entirely on availability, although pods can become expert and thus ignore potential feed. It is believed they require close to 60 kilograms of food each day. Their prey comprises twenty species of cetaceans, five species of pinniped (sea lions), 30 types of fish (especially salmon), seven kinds of bird and also a couple of species of squid, in addition to a range of other sea creatures, occasionally including bigger whales like Minke Whales, Fin Whales, Gray Whales, or even youthful Blue Whales. Orcas even search for and kill Great White Sharks for their nutrient rich livers as well as to remove competitors for food. It’s from their attacks on whales that they gained their label; they don’t attack people.
Orcas and man :
Orca are regarded to be too small for commercial whaling, however they’re occasionally killed because they compete with humans for fish. In the 1950s the USAF, at the request of the Icelandic government used bombers and gunners to slaughter orcas in Icelandic waters. The operation had been thought to be a great accomplishment at the time.
In recent decades, the Orca’s intelligence, trainability, impressive look & playfulness in captivity have made it a popular aquarium or zoo attraction. This, mixed together with the reality that the orca just isn’t hostile toward humans, has led to the image of the species being rehabilitated from an object of fear such as Great White Sharks to a respectable predator, worthy of toleration. Orcas in aquariums may possibly develop pathologies such as dorsal fin collapse, observed in over 60% of captive males.
