? Orca Conservation status: Lower risk
Orca, jumping upside-down.
Scientific classification
Kingdom: Animalia Phylum: Chordata Class: Mammalia Order: Cetacea Family: Delphinidae Genus: Orcinus Species: O. orca
Binomial name
Orcinus orca Linnaeus, 1758
Orca range (in blue)

The Orca (Orcinus orca), also known as the Killer Whale or Grampus, is the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. It is the second-most widely distributed mammal on Earth (after humans) and is found in all the world's oceans. It is also a versatile predator, eating fish, turtles, birds, seals, sharks and even other juvenile and small cetaceans. This puts the Orca at the pinnacle of the marine food chain. The orca also attacks other whales, in particular Gray Whales. Photograph of an orca at Sea World. ... Scientific classification or biological classification is how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Phyla Porifera (sponges) Ctenophora (comb jellies) Cnidaria (coral, jellyfish, anenomes) Placozoa (trichoplax) Subregnum Bilateria (bilateral symmetry) Acoelomorpha (basal) Orthonectida (flatworms, echinoderms, etc. ... Typical Classes Subphylum Urochordata - Tunicatas Ascidiacea Thaliacea Larvacea Subphylum Cephalochordata - Lancelets Subphylum Myxini - Hagfishes Subphylum Vertebrata - Vertebrates Petromyzontida - Lampreys Placodermi (extinct) Chondrichthyes - Cartilaginous fishes Acanthodii (extinct) Actinopterygii - Ray-finned fishes Actinistia - Coelacanths Dipnoi - Lungfishes Amphibia - Amphibians Reptilia - Reptiles Aves - Birds Mammalia - Mammals Chordates (phylum Chordata) include the vertebrates, together with... Orders Subclass Multituberculata (extinct) Plagiaulacida Cimolodonta Subclass Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Subclass Triconodonta (extinct) Subclass Eutheria (includes extinct ancestors)/Placentalia (excludes extinct ancestors) Afrosoricida Artiodactyla Carnivora Cetacea Chiroptera Cimolesta (extinct) Creodonta (extinct) Condylarthra (extinct) Dermoptera Desmostylia (extinct) Embrithopoda (extinct) Hyracoidea Insectivora Lagomorpha Litopterna (extinct) Macroscelidea Mesonychia (extinct) Notoungulata (extinct) Perissodactyla Pholidota Plesiadapiformes... Suborders Mysticeti Odontoceti (see text for families) The order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. ... Genera See text Oceanic dolphins are the members of the Delphinidae family of cetaceans. ... In biology, binomial nomenclature refers to the formal method of naming species. ... Carolus Linnaeus Carl Linnaeus, also known after his ennoblement as Carl von Linné â–¶(?), and in English usually under the Latinized name Carolus Linnaeus (May 23, 1707 – January 10, 1778), was a Swedish botanist who laid the foundations for the modern scheme of taxonomy. ... 1758 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... Download high resolution version (1357x628, 39 KB) (C) Pcb21, 2004; Vardion, 2003. ... Genera See text Oceanic dolphins are the members of the Delphinidae family of cetaceans. ... Scientific classification or biological classification refers to how biologists group and categorize extinct and living species of organisms. ... Orders Subclass Multituberculata (extinct) Plagiaulacida Cimolodonta Subclass Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Subclass Triconodonta (extinct) Subclass Eutheria (includes extinct ancestors)/Placentalia (excludes extinct ancestors) Afrosoricida Artiodactyla Carnivora Cetacea Chiroptera Cimolesta (extinct) Creodonta (extinct) Condylarthra (extinct) Dermoptera Desmostylia (extinct) Embrithopoda (extinct) Hyracoidea Insectivora Lagomorpha Litopterna (extinct) Macroscelidea Mesonychia (extinct) Notoungulata (extinct) Perissodactyla Pholidota Plesiadapiformes... Binomial name Homo sapiens Linnaeus, 1758 Subspecies Homo sapiens idaltu(extinct) Homo sapiens sapiens Homo (genus). ... This snapping turtle is trying to make a meal of a Canada goose, but the goose is too wary. ... Families See text Turtles are reptiles of the order Chelonia, most of whose body is shielded by a special bony or cartilagenous shell developed from their ribs. ... Families Odobenidae Otariidae Phocidae Pinnipeds (fin-foots, lit. ... Orders Hexanchiformes Squaliformes Pristiophoriformes Squatiniformes Heterodontiformes Orectolobiformes Carcharhiniformes Lamniformes Sharks are a group (superorder Selachimorpha) of fish, with a full cartilaginous skeleton, a streamlined body plan, with normally 5, but up to 7 (depending on species) gill slits along the side of, or beginning slightly behind, the head (in some... Suborders Mysticeti Odontoceti (see text for families) The order Cetacea includes whales, dolphins and porpoises. ... Food chains and food webs or food networks describe the feeding relationships between species in a biotic community. ... Binomial name Eschrichtius robustus Lilljeborg, 1861 Grey Whale range The Grey Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) is a whale which travels between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. ...

The name "killer whale" reflects the animal's reputation as a magnificent and fearsome sea mammal that goes as far back as Pliny the Elder's description of the species. Today it is recognized that the Orca is neither a whale (except in the broad sense that all cetaceans are whales) nor a danger to humans. No attack on a human by an Orca in the wild has ever been recorded. There have, however, been isolated reports of captive Orcas attacking their handlers at marine theme parks. Sea mammal may refer to any mammal that lives in water, usually ocean. ... Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19c portrait. ... Whales are the largest species of exclusively aquatic placental mammals, members of the order Cetacea, which also includes dolphins and porpoises. ... A 335,000 U.S. gallon (1. ...

Naming

The name "Orca" (plural "Orcas") was originally given to these animals by the ancient Romans, possibly borrowed from the Greek word ὄρυξ which (among other things) referred to a species of whale. Ancient Rome was a civilization that existed in Europe, North Africa, and the Middle East between 753 BC and its downfall in AD 476. ...

The name "killer whale" is widely used in common English. However since the 1960s "orca" has steadily grown in popularity as the common name to identify the species and is now more popular than the traditional name amongst those in the field. The 1960s in its most obvious sense refers to the decade between 1960 and 1969, but the expression has taken on a wider meaning over the past twenty years. ...

There are several reasons for the change. First, having the word whale in the name of a species that is really a dolphin causes confusion. Second, the species is called orca in most other European languages and, as there has been a steady increase in the amount of international research on the species, there has been a convergence in naming.

Furthermore, the killer in "killer whale" is often wrongly assumed to imply that the creature is a killer of humans, an attitude amplified by an unfortunate movie seeking to capitalize from the buzz from Jaws (1975). Orca: The Killer Whale (1977) starred Richard Harris and Bo Derek. It is thought this long standing and often fearful reputation can be put to rest by using the more neutral name of orca. Jaws (1975) is an American film, based upon a bestselling novel by Peter Benchley, which itself was based loosely on the true story of the Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916. ... Orca is a 1977 horror film directed by Michael Anderson and produced by Dino De Laurentiis and starring Richard Harris and Charlotte Rampling. ... Richard Harris as Marcus Aurelius in Gladiator. ... Bo Derek Bo Derek (born Mary Cathleen Collins on November 20, 1956, Long Beach, California) is an American film actress and model of Irish, German and Dutch descent. ...

A pod of Orcas is capable of taking down a large whale. It is commonly thought that 18th-century Spanish sailors dubbed these creatures asesina ballenas, or "whale killer" for this reason. However, this title was improperly translated into English as "killer whale". The term became so prevalent that Spanish speakers commonly used its retranslation of ballena asesina. This practice has further strengthened the case for using orca.

There are still many who prefer the original name, believing it to be an appropriate description of a species that does indeed kill many animals, including other cetaceans. These supporters of the original name point out that the naming heritage is not limited to Spanish sailors. Indeed the genus name "Orcinus" means "from Hell" (see Orcus) and although the name "orca" (in use since antiquity) is probably not etymologically related, the assonance might have given some people the idea that it means "whale that brings death," or "demon from hell." In Roman mythology, Orcus was a god of the underworld, punisher of broken oaths, more equivalent to Pluto than to the Greek Hades. ... SO LOOPY Assonance is the repetition of vowel sounds within a short passage of verse or prose. ...

It is noteworthy that the name of this species is similarly intimidating in many non-European languages. To the Haida people native to the islands of Haida Gwaii off the coast of British Columbia, the animal was known as skana or "killing demon". The Japanese call them shachi (鯱), whose kanji character combines the radicals for fish (魚) and tiger (虎). Haida Haida Copper Shield The Haida are an indigenous people of the west coast of North America. ... The Queen Charlotte Islands or Haida Gwaii are an archipelago off the north-west coast of British Columbia, Canada, consisting of two main islands: Graham Island in the North, and Moresby Island in the south. ... Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Splendour without diminishment) Other Canadian provinces and territories Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campagnolo Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Area 944,735 km² (5th) • Land 925,186 km² • Water 19,549 km² (2. ... Japanese writing Kanji 漢字 Kana 仮名 Hiragana 平仮名 Katakana 片仮名 Uses Furigana 振り仮名 Okurigana 送り仮名 Rōmaji ローマ字 Category Kanji (漢字 â–¶(?), literally Han characters) is the name of Chinese characters in the Japanese language. ... The left part of mā, a Chinese character meaning mother, is a radical that means woman A radical (from Latin radix, meaning root) is a basic identifiable component of every Chinese character. ...

Taxonomy and evolution

The Orca is the sole species in the genus Orcinus. It is one of thirty-five species in the dolphin family. Like the Sperm Whale genus Physeter, Orcinus is a genus with a single, abundant species with no immediate relatives from a cladistic point of view, thus palaeontologists believe that the Orca is a prime candidate to have an anagenetic evolutionary history — that is the evolution of ancestral to descendant species without splitting of the lineage. If true, this would make the Orca one of the oldest dolphin species, although it is unlikely to be as old as the family itself, which is known to date back at least five million years. Binomial name Physeter macrocephalus Linnaeus, 1758 Sperm Whale range (in blue) The Sperm Whale (Physeter macrocephalus) is the largest of the toothed whales and is believed to be the largest toothed animal to ever inhabit the planet. ... Greek clados = branch) or phylogenetic systematics is a branch of biology that determines the evolutionary relationships of living things based on derived similarities. ... A paleontologist carefully chips rock from a column of dinosaur vertebrae. ... Anagenetic evolution refers to the evolution of an ancestral species to a descendant species without a split of lineage. ...

Physical characteristics

The animals are distinctively marked, with a black back, white chest and sides and a white patch above and behind the eye. They have a heavy and stocky body and a large dorsal fin with a dark gray "saddle patch" behind it. Males can be up to 9.5 m long (31 ft) and weigh in excess of 6 tons; females are smaller, reaching up to 8.5 m (28 ft) and a weight of about 5 tons. Calves at birth weigh about 180 kg and are about 2.4 m long (8 ft). Unlike most dolphins, the caudal fin of an Orca is large and rounded — more of a paddle than other dolphin species. At about 1.8 m (6 ft), the dorsal fin of the male is taller than the female's, and is more of a triangle shape — a tall, elongated isosceles triangle, whereas the dorsal fin of the female is shorter and shaped like a scythe. Nicks, cuts and scrapes on these fins, as well as distinctive features of each fin, help scientists identify individuals. Dorsal Fin of the Orca A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of fishes, whales, dolphins and porpoises. ... The word ton or tonne is derived from the Old English tunne, and ultimately from the Old French tonne, and referred originally to a large cask with a capacity of 252 wine gallons, which holds approximately 2100 pounds of water. ...

Large male Orcas are very distinctive and are unlikely to be confused with any other sea creature. When seen from a distance in temperate waters, females and juveniles can be confused with various other species, such as the False Killer Whale or Risso's Dolphin. Binomial name Pseudorca crassidens (Owen, 1846) False Killer Whale range The False Killer Whale (Pseudorca crassidens) is a cetacean and one of the larger members of the oceanic dolphin family (Delphinidae). ... Binomial name Grampus griseus (G. Cuvier, 1812) Rissos Dolphin range The Rissos Dolphin (Grampus griseus) is the only species of dolphin in the genus Grampus. ...

Most life history data about orcas has been obtained from long-term surveys of the population off the coasts of British Columbia and Washington and by monitoring captive whales. Due to the completeness of the study and highly structured nature of the pods in this population, the information is detailed and accurate; however, transient groups and groups in other oceans may have slightly different characteristics. Females become mature at around 15 years of age. From then they have periods of polyestrous cycling with non-cycling periods of between three and sixteen months. The gestation period varies from fifteen to eighteen months. Mothers calve, with a single offspring, about once every five years. In analysed resident pods, birth occurs at any time of year, with the most popular months being those in winter. New-born mortality is very high — one survey suggested that nearly half of all calves fail to reach the age of six months. Calves nurse for up to two years, but will start to take solid food at about twelve months. Cows breed until the age of 40, meaning that on average they raise five offspring. Typically females live to the age of fifty, but may survive well into their eighties or nineties in exceptional cases. Males become sexually active at the age of 15, and live to about 30 on average, and to 50 in exceptional cases. Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Splendour without diminishment) Other Canadian provinces and territories Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campagnolo Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Area 944,735 km² (5th) • Land 925,186 km² • Water 19,549 km² (2. ... State nickname: The Evergreen State Other U.S. States Capital Olympia Largest city Seattle Governor Christine Gregoire (D) Senators Patty Murray (D) Maria Cantwell (D) Official language(s) None Area 184,824 km² (18th)  - Land 172,587 km²  - Water 12,237 km² (6. ... The estrus cycle (also Å“strus or estrous cycle) refers to the recurring physiologic changes that are induced by reproductive hormones in most mammalian placental females (humans and great apes are the only mammals who undergo a menstrual cycle instead). ... The Gestation period in a viviparous animal refers to the length of its pregnancy. ...

Range

The orca is the second-most widely distributed mammal in the world, after the human. They are found in all oceans and most seas including (unusually for cetaceans) the Mediterranean and Arabian Seas. Cooler temperate and polar regions are preferred, however. Although sometimes spotted in deep water, coastal areas are generally preferred to pelagic environments. Satellite image The Mediterranean Sea is a part of the Atlantic Ocean almost completely enclosed by land, on the north by Europe, on the south by Africa, and on the east by Asia. ... Map of the Arabian Sea. ... For other uses of the word pole, see Pole (disambiguation). ... Diagram of the layers of the pelagic zone. ...

The Orca is particularly highly concentrated in the northeast Pacific Basin, where Canada curves into Alaska, off the coast of Iceland and off the coast of northern Norway. They are regularly sighted in Antarctic waters right up to the ice-pack and indeed are believed to venture under the pack and survive breathing in air pockets like the beluga does. In the Arctic, however, the species is rarely seen in winter, as it does not approach the ice pack. It does visit these waters during summer. State nickname: The Last Frontier, The Land of the Midnight Sun Other U.S. States Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Governor Frank Murkowski (R) Senators Ted Stevens (R) Lisa Murkowski (R) Official language(s) English Area 663,267 mi² / 1,717,854 km² (1st)  - Land 571,951 mi² / 1,481... This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Polar ice consists of sea ice formed from the freezing of sea water, as well as ice sheets and glaciers formed from the accumulation and compaction of falling snow. ... Binomial name Delphinapterus leucas (Pallas, 1776) Beluga range The Beluga Whale or White Whale (Delphinapterus leucas) is an Arctic and sub-arctic species of cetacean. ...

Information for off-shore regions and tropical waters is more scarce but widespread, if not frequent; sightings indicate that the orca can survive in most water temperatures. No estimate for the total worldwide population exists. Local estimates include 70-80,000 in the Antarctic, 8,000 in the tropical Pacific (although tropical waters are not the orca's preferred environment, the sheer size of this area — 19 million square kilometres — means there are thousands of whales), up to 2,000 off Japan, 1,500 off the cooler northeast Pacific and 1,500 off Norway. Adding very rough estimates for unsurveyed areas, the total population could be around 100,000.

Social interaction

Orcas often raise their body out of the water in a behaviour called spyhopping. Scientists debate its purpose.

Orcas have a complex system of social grouping. The basic unit is the matriline, which consists of a single female Orca (the matriarch) and her descendants. The sons and daughters of the matriarch form part of the line as do the sons and daughters of those daughters (the sons and daughters of the sons join the matriline of their mates) and so on down the family tree. Because females can live for up to ninety years, it is not uncommon for four or even five generations of Orcas living in the same line. These matrilineal groups are highly stable over many years. Individuals will only split off from their matrilineal group for up to a few hours at a time in order to mate or forage. No permanent casting out of an individual from a matriline has ever been recorded. The average matriline size as recorded in northeast Pacific waters is nine animals. Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1180x850, 307 KB)A spyhopping Orca in the Ross Sea. ... Image File history File links Download high resolution version (1180x850, 307 KB)A spyhopping Orca in the Ross Sea. ... Whales exhibit various types of physical behaviour when they surface. ... Matrilineality is a system in which one belongs to ones mothers lineage; it may also involve the inheritance of property or titles through the female line. ... A matriarch or clan-mother or chief is a mother, or other female person in a family who is responsible for the well-being of the clan or kinship. ... Headline text Example of family tree A tree is generally the totality of ones ancestors, or specifically, a chart used in genealogy to show the family by and often also places and occupations) connected by various types of line unions, and progeniture. ...

Matrilines tend to congregate with a small number of other matrilines to form a pod, consisting on average of about 18 animals. Members of a pod all have the same dialect (see the song section below) and consist of closely related matriline fragments. Unlike matrilines, pods will split apart for days or weeks at a time in order to carry out foraging before joining back together. The largest recorded pod is 49 animals. Look up pod on Wiktionary, the free dictionary. ...

The next level of grouping is the clan. A clan consists of those pods which have a similar dialect. Again the relationship between pods appears to be genealogical, consisting of fragments of families with a common heritage on the maternal side. Different clans can occupy the same geographical area; pods from different clans are often recorded traveling together. When resident pods come together to travel as a clan, they greet each other by forming two parallel lines akin to a face-off before mingling with each other. The term Parallel has a number of important meanings: Parallel (geometry) occurs in geometry. ...

The final layer of association, perhaps more arbitrary and devised by humans rather than the other very natural divisions, is called the community and is loosely defined as the set of clans that are regularly seen mixing with each other. Communities do not follow discernible familial or vocal patterns.

In the northeast Pacific there have been three communities identified:

• The southern community (1 clan, 3 pods, 92 orcas as of 2005, counting Luna (L98))
• The northern community (3 clans, 16 pods, 214 orcas as of 2000)
• The south Alaskan community (2 clans, 11 pods, 211 orcas as of 2000)

It should be emphasized that these hierarchies are valid for resident groups only. Transient, mammal-eating groups are generally smaller because, although they too are based on matrilines, males are much more likely to split off to live a solitary life. However, transient groups still have a loose connection defined by their dialect. 2005 (MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Luna (L98) Luna (L98) is a young male orca that was born into the Southern Resident community in British Columbia and Washington, in the year 1999. ...

The day-to-day behaviour of Orcas is generally divided into four activities: foraging, traveling, resting and socializing. Orcas are generally enthusiastic in their socializing, exhibiting a wide range of breaching, spyhopping, tail-slapping and head-stands. All-male groups often interact with erect penises. Whether this interaction is part of play or a display of dominance is not known. Whales exhibit various types of physical behaviour when they surface. ... Whales exhibit various types of physical behaviour when they surface. ... The penis (plural penises) or phallus (plural phalli) is the external male sexual organ of some animals, and, in mammals, the external male organ of urination. ... Dominance in the context of biology and anthropology is the state of having high social status relative to other individuals, who react submissively to dominant individuals. ...

Diet

A male orca with typical giant erect dorsal fin swims in the waters near Tysfjord, Norway

There are 3 "types" of orcas studied off the North West American coast, residents, transients and offshores. Residents orcas only eat fish, transients eat seals, and other whales (other than orcas), and not enough is known about offshores to confirm their diet. Download high resolution version (1054x481, 99 KB)This image (C) User:Pcb21, 2002. ... Download high resolution version (1054x481, 99 KB)This image (C) User:Pcb21, 2002. ... The municipality Tysfjord in the county of Nordland, Norway, has 2,283 inhabitants as of January 1, 2002. ...

The array of species on which Orcas prey is extremely diverse. Specific populations tend to specialize on particular prey species, even at the expense of ignoring other potential prey. For example, some populations in the Norwegian and Greenland sea specialise on herring and follow that fish's migratory path to the Norwegian coast each autumn. Other populations in the area prey on seals. Orcas are the only mammals with this diversification of feeding among overlapping species. Family Clupeidae This article needs to be cleaned up to conform to a higher standard of quality. ... Autumn (often referred to as fall in North America) is one of the four temperate seasons, the transition from summer into winter. ... Orders Subclass Multituberculata (extinct) Plagiaulacida Cimolodonta Subclass Palaeoryctoides (extinct) Subclass Triconodonta (extinct) Subclass Eutheria (includes extinct ancestors)/Placentalia (excludes extinct ancestors) Afrosoricida Artiodactyla Carnivora Cetacea Chiroptera Cimolesta (extinct) Creodonta (extinct) Condylarthra (extinct) Dermoptera Desmostylia (extinct) Embrithopoda (extinct) Hyracoidea Insectivora Lagomorpha Litopterna (extinct) Macroscelidea Mesonychia (extinct) Notoungulata (extinct) Perissodactyla Pholidota Plesiadapiformes...

The Orca is the only cetacean species to regularly prey on other cetaceans. Twenty-two species have been recorded as preyed on, either through an examination of stomach contents, examining scarring on the other cetacean's body, or by simply observing the feeding activity. Pods of Orcas will even prey upon larger whales such as Fin Whales, Minke Whales, Grey Whales, or even young Blue Whales. A group of Orcas take a young Blue Whale by chasing it and its mother through the sea, wearing them out. Eventually the orcas manage to separate the pair and then surround the younger whale, thereby preventing it from returning to the sea's surface in order to breathe. Once the whale has drowned, the orcas are free to feed on it. The stomach (Gaster) In anatomy, the stomach (in ancient Greek στόμαχος) is an organ in the alimentary canal used to digest food. ... Scar after recent surgery on the left forearm A scar results from the biologic process of wound repair in the skin and other tissues of the body. ... Finback redirects here. ... Binomial name Balaenoptera acutorostrata Lacepede, 1804 Binomial name Balaenoptera bonaerensis Burmeister, 1867 Minke Whale range Antarctic Minke Whale range Dwarf Minke Whale range The Minke Whale or Lesser Rorqual is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales. ... Binomial name Eschrichtius robustus Lilljeborg, 1861 Grey Whale range The Grey Whale (Eschrichtius robustus) is a whale which travels between feeding and breeding grounds yearly. ... Binomial name Balaenoptera musculus (Linneus, 1758) Blue Whale range The Blue Whale (Balaenoptera musculus) is a marine mammal belonging to the suborder of baleen whales. ...

There has also been one recorded case of probable Orca cannibalism. A study carried out by V. I. Shevchenko in the temperate areas of the South Pacific in 1975 recorded two male Orca whose stomachs contained the remains of other Orcas. Of the 30 Orcas captured and examined in this survey, 11 had empty stomachs — an unusually high percentage that indicates the Orca were forced to cannibalism through a lack of food. Cannibalism in Brazil in 1557 as described by Hans Staden. ... 1975 (MCMLXXV) was a common year starting on Wednesday (the link is to a full 1975 calendar). ...

More commonly, Orcas prey on 30 species of fish, particularly salmon (including chinook and coho), herring, and tuna. Basking sharks, oceanic whitetip sharks, and very occasionally even great white sharks are taken for their nutrient-rich livers. There is also believed to be an element of competition elimination in taking these sharks. Other marine mammals, including most species of seal and sea lion, are also taken by polar populations. Walrus and sea otters are taken less frequently. Seven species of bird are also taken, including all penguin species as well as sea birds such as cormorants. Cephalopods, such as octopuses and a wide range of squids, are also targets. Groups Conodonta Hyperoartia Petromyzontidae (lampreys) Pteraspidomorphi (early jawless fish) Thelodonti Anaspida Cephalaspidomorphi (early jawless fish) Galeaspida Pituriaspida Osteostraci Gnathostomata (jawed vertebrates) Placodermi Chondrichthyes (cartilaginous fish) Acanthodii Osteichthyes (bony fish) Actinopterygii (ray-finned fish) Sarcopterygii (lobe-finned fish) Actinistia (coelacanths) Dipnoi (lungfish) A fish is a poikilothermic (cold-blooded) water-dwelling... The Chinook or King Salmon is the largest salmon in North America and can grow up to 58 long and 126 pounds. ... Chinook has several meanings: The Chinookan nation of Native Americans of the Pacific Northwest, which inhabited the lower Columbia River valley in what is now Washington, Oregon, and British Columbia. ... Binomial name Oncorhynchus kisutch (Walbaum, 1792) The Coho salmon (Oncorhynchus kisutch - from the Russian Kisutch - кижуч) is a species of anadromous fish in the salmon family. ... Species Thunnus alalunga Thunnus albacares Thunnus atlanticus Thunnus maccoyii Thunnus obesus Thunnus orientalis Thunnus thynnus Thunnus tonggol Tuna are several species of ocean-dwelling fish in the family Scombridae, mostly in the genus Thunnus. ... Binomial name Cetorhinus maximus (Gunnerus, 1765) The Basking Shark (Cetorhinus maximus), also known as the Bone Shark, is the second largest fish alive, after the Whale Shark. ... Binomial name Carcharhinus longimanus (Poey, 1861) The Oceanic Whitetip Shark (Carcharhinus longimanus) is a large pelagic shark of tropical and warm temperate seas. ... Binomial name Carcharodon carcharias (Linnaeus, 1758) The Great White Shark (Carcharodon carcharias), also known as White Pointer, White Shark or Amaletz, is an exceptionally big lamniform shark found in coastal surface waters in all major oceans. ... Families Odobenidae Otariidae Phocidae Pinnipeds (fin-foots, lit. ... Genera Eumetopias Zalophus Otaria Neophoca Phocarctos A sea lion is any of several marine mammals of the family Otariidae. ... Binomial name Odobenus rosmarus (Linnaeus, 1758) Subspecies Walruses are large semi-aquatic mammals that live in the cold Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. ... Binomial name Enhydra lutris (Linnaeus, 1758) The Sea Otter (Enhydra lutris) is a large otter native to the North Pacific, from northern Japan and Kamchatka west across the Aleutian Islands south to California. ... Genera Aptenodytes Eudyptes Eudyptula Megadyptes Pygoscelis Spheniscus Penguins (order Sphenisciformes, family Spheniscidae) are an order of flightless birds living in the southern hemisphere. ... Genera Nannopterum Phalacrocorax Leucocarbo The Phalacrocoracidae family of birds is represented by about thirty species of cormorants and shags. ... Orders Sepiida Sepiolida Spirulida Teuthida Octopoda Vampyromorphida Nautilida The Cephalopods (head-foot) are the mollusk class Cephalopoda characterized by bilateral body symmetry, a prominent head, and a modification of the mollusk foot, a muscular hydrostat, into the form of arms or tentacles. ... Families 14 in two suborders, see text. ... Suborders Myopsina Oegopsina Squids are the large, diverse group of marine cephalopods, popular as food in cuisines as widely separated as the Korean and the Italian. ...

Orcas are very inventive and playful in their killing. They sometimes will throw seals to one another through the air in order to stun and kill the animal. While salmon are usually hunted by a single orca or a small group of individuals, herring are often caught using carousel feeding: the orcas force the herring into a tight ball by releasing bursts of bubbles or flashing their white underside. The orcas then slap the ball with their tail flukes, either stunning or killing up to 10-15 herring with a successful slap. The herring are then eaten one at a time. Carousel feeding has only been documented in the Norwegian orca population and with some oceanic dolphin species. Sea lions are killed by head-butting or by being slapped and stunned by a tail fluke. Head butting is a fighting technique that uses the cranium to strike an opponents face to cause injury or a knockout. ...

An orca in Friendship Cove discovered that it could regurgitate fish onto the surface, attract sea gulls, and eat them. Other orcas then learned the behavior by example.[1] Genera Pagophila Larus Rissa Creagus Xema Rhodostethia Gulls are seabirds in the family Laridae and subfamily Lari. ...

More specialized feeding techniques are used by various populations around the world. In Patagonia, orcas feed on southern sea lion and elephant seal pups by forcing them on to beaches, even to the extent of stranding themselves, albeit temporarily. Orcas will spy-hop to locate seals resting on ice floes, and then create a wave to wash over the floe, causing the seal to be thrown into the water where a second orca waits to kill it. Species M. leonina M. angustirostris There are two species of elephant seal. ... Whales exhibit various types of physical behaviour when they surface. ...

On average, the orca eats 60 kg of food each day. With this huge variety of prey, and no predators other than man, the orca is very much at the top of the food chain. Food chains and food webs or food networks describe the feeding relationships between species in a biotic community. ...

Song

Orcas, like this one spotted near Alaska, commonly breach, often lifting their entire body out of the water.

As with other dolphins, orcas are very vocal animals. They produce a variety of clicks and whistles that are used for communication and echolocation. The vocalization types vary with activity. While resting, perhaps unsurprisingly, they are much quieter, merely emitting an occasional call that is distinct from those heard when engaging in more active behaviour. Taken from German Wikipedia, who took it from the NOAA, (US Gov employee photo, thus public domain). ... Whales exhibit various types of physical behaviour when they surface. ... See: Animal echolocation: animals emitting sound waves and listening to the echo in order to locate objects or navigate. ...

Resident pods of orcas tend to be much more vocal than transient groups. Scientists surmise that there are two main reasons for this. Firstly, resident orcas stay within the same social groups for much longer, thus developing more complicated social relationships resulting in greater vocalizations. Transient groups tend to stay together for much more fleeting amounts of time (usually just a period of hours or days) and thus communicate less. Secondly, transient orcas are much more likely to feed on marine mammals than fish-loving resident pods. Orcas hunting for mammals to eat naturally must be quieter to avoid the possibility of detection. For this reason, orcas that are hunting tend to use just a single click (called a cryptic click) for echolocation rather than the long train of clicks observed in other species.

Resident pods have regional dialects. Each pod has its own songs or sets of particular whistles and clicks that it will repeat over and over. Every member of the pod seems to know all the songs of the pod, so it is not possible to identify a single animal using voice alone, only a dialectal group. A particular song might be known by only one group or shared among several. The degree to which two groups have their songs in common appears to be a function of their genealogical closeness rather than their geographical closeness. Two groups that share a common set of ancestors but have grown apart in distance are likely to have a similar set of songs. This suggests that songs are passed from mother to child during the nursing period.

See also: Whale song Humpback whales are well known for their songs Whale song is the sounds made by whales to communicate. ...

Orcas in history

Although only scientifically identified as species in 1758, the orca has been known to man since prehistoric times. The desert culture of Nazca created a Nazca line representing an orca sometime between 200 BC and AD 600. 1758 was a common year starting on Sunday (see link for calendar). ... A dune in the Egyptian desert Desert in California In geography, a desert is a landscape form or region that receives little precipitation - less than 250 mm per year. ... -1... Satellite picture of an area containing lines. ... Centuries: 3rd century BC - 2nd century BC - 1st century BC Decades: 250s BC 240s BC 230s BC 220s BC 210s BC - 200s BC - 190s BC 180s BC 170s BC 160s BC 150s BC Years: 205 BC 204 BC 203 BC 202 BC 201 BC - 200 BC - 199 BC 198 BC... For other uses, see number 600. ...

The first description of an orca is given in Pliny the Elder's Natural History (written circa 50 BC). The aura of invincibility around the all-consuming orca was well-established by this time. Having watched the public slaughtering of a whale stranded at a harbor near Rome, Pliny writes, "Orcas, (the appearance of which no image can express, other than an enormous mass of savage flesh with teeth), are the enemy of [other whales]... they charge and pierce them like warships ramming." Pliny the Elder: an imaginative 19c portrait. ... Centuries: 2nd century BC - 1st century BC - 1st century Decades: 100s BC 90s BC 80s BC 70s BC 60s BC - 50s BC - 40s BC 30s BC 20s BC 10s BC 0s BC Years: 55 BC 54 BC 53 BC 52 BC 51 BC 50 BC 49 BC 48 BC 47... City motto: Senatus Populusque Romanus – SPQR (The Senate and the People of Rome) Founded 21 April 753 BC mythical, 1st millennium BC Region Latium Mayor Walter Veltroni (Left-Wing Democrats) Area  - City Proper  1290 km² Population  - City (2004)  - Metropolitan  - Density (city proper) 2,546,807 almost 4,000,000 1...

Indigenous tribes in the Pacific Northwest of North America such as the Tlingit, Haida, and Tsimshian featured the orca prominently in their religion and artwork. The term indigenous peoples has no universal, standard or fixed definition. ... Darker red states are always part of the Pacific Northwest. ... World map showing North America A satellite composite image of North America North America is a continent in the northern hemisphere bordered on the north by the Arctic Ocean, on the east by the North Atlantic Ocean, on the south by the Caribbean Sea, and on the west by the... A Tlingit totem pole in Ketchikan ca. ... Haida Haida Copper Shield The Haida are an indigenous people of the west coast of North America. ... Members of the Tsimshian tribe enjoying a tea party near Fort Simpson, British Columbia, c. ...

Orcas and modern man

Orcas swimming in Prince William Sound off the Alaskan coast.

Download high resolution version (1050x698, 637 KB)An Orca (Orcinus orca) in Prince William Sound, Alaska. ... Download high resolution version (1050x698, 637 KB)An Orca (Orcinus orca) in Prince William Sound, Alaska. ... Prince William Sound, on the south coast of Alaska. ... State nickname: The Last Frontier, The Land of the Midnight Sun Other U.S. States Capital Juneau Largest city Anchorage Governor Frank Murkowski (R) Senators Ted Stevens (R) Lisa Murkowski (R) Official language(s) English Area 663,267 mi² / 1,717,854 km² (1st)  - Land 571,951 mi² / 1,481...

Hunting

Orcas were targeted in commercial whaling for the middle part of the twentieth century once stocks of larger species had been depleted. Commercial hunting of orcas came to an abrupt halt in 1981 with the introduction of the moratorium on all whaling. (Although from a taxonomic point of view an orca is a dolphin rather than a whale, it is sufficiently large to come under the purview of the International Whaling Commission.) The crew of the oceanographic research vessel Princesse Alice, of Albert Grimaldi (later Prince Albert I of Monaco) pose while flensing a catch Whaling is the hunting and killing of whales. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The International Whaling Commission (IWC) was set up by the International Convention for the Regulation of Whaling on December 2, 1946 with a headquarters in Cambridge, England. ...

The greatest hunter of orcas was Norway which took an average of 56 animals per year from 1938 to 1981. Japan took an average of 43 animals from 1946 to 1981. (War year figures are not available but are likely to be fewer). The Soviet Union took a few animals each year in the Antarctic, with the extraordinary exception of the 1980 season when it took 916. 1938 (MCMXXXVIII) was a common year starting on Saturday (link will take you to calendar). ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1946 (MCMXLVI) was a common year starting on Tuesday. ... 1981 (MCMLXXXI) is a common year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... 1980 (MCMLXXX) was a leap year starting on Tuesday. ...

Today, no country carries out a substantial hunt. Japan usually takes a few individuals each year as part of its controversial program of "scientific research." A similarly small level of subsistence whaling is carried out by Indonesia and Greenland. As well as hunting for their meat, orcas have also been killed because of their competition with fishermen. In the 1950s the United States Air Force, at the request of the Government of Iceland, used bombers and riflemen to slaughter orcas in Icelandic waters because they competed with humans for fish. The operation was considered a great success at the time by fishermen and the Icelandic government. However, many were unconvinced that orcas were responsible for the drop in fish stocks, blaming overfishing by humans instead. This debate has led to repeated studies of North Atlantic fish stocks, with neither side in the whaling debate giving ground since that time. Look up Country in Wiktionary, the free dictionary In political geography and international politics a country is a political entity with its own territory and citizens, subject to international law. ... // Events and trends The 1950s in Western society was marked with a sharp rise in the economy for the first time in almost 30 years and return to the 1920s-type consumer society built on credit and boom-times, as well as the the baby boom from returning GIs who... The United States Air Force (USAF) is the aviation branch of the United States armed forces. ... Iceland is a republic. ... A bomber is a military aircraft designed to attack ground targets, primarily by dropping bombs. ... A rifle is a firearm that uses a spiral groove cut into the barrel to spin a projectile (usually a bullet), thus improving accuracy and range of the projectile. ...

The orca is also occasionally killed out of fear of its reputation. No human has ever been attacked by an orca in the wild, but sailors in Alaska shoot the animal occasionally with concern for their own lives. This fear has generally dissipated in recent years due to better education about the species, including the appearance of orcas in aquariums and other aquatic attractions. A 335,000 U.S. gallon (1. ...

Captivity

The orca's intelligence, trainability, striking appearance, playfulness in captivity, and its sheer size have made it a popular exhibit at aquariums and other aquatic attractions such as aquatic theme parks. The first orca capture and display took place in Vancouver in 1964. Over the next 15 years around sixty or seventy orcas were taken from Pacific waters for this purpose. In the late 1970s and the first half of the 1980s, orcas were generally taken from Icelandic waters (fifty in the five years to 1985). Since that time, orcas have been successfully bred in captivity and wild specimens are considerably rarer. Orcas in captivity may develop pathologies such as dorsal fin collapse, seen in 60-90% of captive males. The term Animal intelligence is currently used in three distinct but overlapping ways: as a synonym for animal cognition, to pose the question “are animals intelligent?”, or to denote a discussion of relative levels of intelligence in different animal species. ... Members of Parliament Libby Davies, Ujjal Dosanjh, David Emerson, Hedy Fry, Stephen Owen Members of the Legislative Assembly Gordon Campbell, David Chudnovsky, Adrian Dix, Colin Hansen, Jenny Kwan, Lorne Mayencourt, Wally Oppal, Gregor Robertson, Shane Simpson, Carole Taylor Mayor Sam Sullivan City Manager Judy Rogers Governing Body Vancouver City Council... For the Nintendo 64 emulator, see 1964 (Emulator). ... This article is about the year. ... Dorsal Fin of the Orca A dorsal fin is a fin located on the backs of fishes, whales, dolphins and porpoises. ...

There have been incidents with orcas in captivity attacking humans. In 1991, a group of orcas killed a trainer named Keltie Byrne at Sealand in Victoria, British Columbia (where employees were not allowed in the water with orcas), apparently not knowing she could not survive underwater. In 1999, at the SeaWorld park in Orlando, Florida, one of the same orcas allegedly killed a tourist who had sneaked into the orca's pool at night[2]. (The dead tourist, who was otherwise physically unharmed, was also thought to be a victim of hypothermia.) In late July 2004, during a show at the SeaWorld park in San Antonio, Texas, an orca pushed its trainer of ten years underwater and barred the way to the rim of the pool; the trainer could only be rescued from the raging animal after several minutes. 1991 (MCMXCI) is a common year starting on Tuesday of the Gregorian calendar. ... The arms of Victoria. ... 1999 (MCMXCIX) is a common year starting on Friday, and was designated the International Year of Older Persons by the United Nations. ... For the unrelated theme park in Australia, see Sea World. ... Skyline of Orlando at night, from across Lake Eola The city of Orlando is the county seat of Orange County, Florida. ... A tourist boat travels the River Seine in Paris, France Tourism can be defined as the act of travel for the purpose of recreation, and the provision of services for this act. ... Hypothermia is a medical condition in which the victims core body temperature has dropped to significantly below normal and normal metabolism begins to be impaired. ... 2004 (MMIV) was a leap year starting on Thursday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Downtown San Antonio as viewed from the Tower of the Americas Nickname: Alamo City Location in Texas Founded Incorporated 1731   County Bexar County Mayor Phil Hardberger Area  - Total  - Water 1,067. ...

One of the more infamous incidents involving orca aggression took place in August 1989, when a dominant female whale, Kandu V, struck a newcomer whale, Corky II, with her mouth during a live show. Corky II had been imported from Marineworld California just months prior to the incident. According to reports, a loud smack was heard across the stadium. Although trainers tried to keep the show rolling, the blow severed an artery near Kandu V's jaw, and she began spouting blood. The crowd was quickly ushered out, and after a 45-minute hemorrhage, Kandu V died. Opponents of these shows see these incidents as supporting their criticism. 1989 (MCMLXXXIX) is a common year starting on Sunday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Corky (II) is a female orca (also known as a killer whale) from the A5 Pod in British Columbia, Canada. ...

SeaWorld continued to be implicated in unfair practices by keeping orcas taken from the wild, and came under criticism from the Born Free Foundation over its continued captivity of the orca Corky II, who they want to be returned to its family in the A5 Pod—a large pod of orcas in British Columbia, Canada [3]. The Born Free Foundation originated in 1984 as the Zoo Check Campaign in Great Britain by actors Virginia McKenna her husband Bill Travers along with their son Will Travers and four associates. ... A5 pod is a name given to a group of orcas (Orcinus orca) found off the coast of British Columbia, Canada. ... Motto: Splendor Sine Occasu (Splendour without diminishment) Other Canadian provinces and territories Capital Victoria Largest city Vancouver Lieutenant-Governor Iona Campagnolo Premier Gordon Campbell (BC Liberal) Area 944,735 km² (5th) • Land 925,186 km² • Water 19,549 km² (2. ...

Popular culture

As late as the 1970s, orcas were depicted negatively in fiction as ravenous predators whose behavior caused heroes to interfere to help a prey animal escape. The most extreme example is the poorly received film Orca (an obvious attempt to duplicate the success of Jaws) which featured the story of a male orca going on a vengeful rampage after its pregnant mate is killed by humans. Jimmy Beertow is the most famous pornstar of this decade he starred in movies such as BackDoorSluts3 and the Famous Schoolhouse Confessions Parts 1 through 6. He ultilized the secret school location made famous by the series. ... Films are produced by recording actual people and objects with cameras, or by creating them using animation techniques and/or special effects. ... Orca is a 1977 horror film directed by Michael Anderson and produced by Dino De Laurentiis and starring Richard Harris and Charlotte Rampling. ... Jaws (1975) is an American film, based upon a bestselling novel by Peter Benchley, which itself was based loosely on the true story of the Jersey Shore Shark Attacks of 1916. ...

However, the increased research of the animal and its popularity in public venues brought about a dramatic rehabilitation of the animal's public image. The sentiment about the animal grew to more as a respected predator that poses little actual threat to humans, much as the North American wolf's image has been changed. Political highlights of North America North America is the third largest continent in area and the fourth ranked in population. ... Wolf Wolf Man Mount Wolf Wolf Prizes Wolf Spider Wolf 424 Wolf 359 Wolf Point Wolf-herring Frank Wolf Friedrich Wolf Friedrich August Wolf Hugo Wolf Johannes Wolf Julius Wolf Max Franz Joseph Cornelius Wolf Maximilian Wolf Rudolf Wolf Thomas Wolf As Name Wolf Breidenbach Wolf Hirshorn Other The call...

The movie Free Willy (1993) focused on the quest for freedom for a captive orca. The whale starring in the movie, Keiko, was originally caught in Icelandic waters. After rehabilitation at the Oregon Coast Aquarium in Newport, Oregon, he was later returned to the waters of the Nordic countries, his native habitat, but continued to be dependent on humans until he died of pneumonia in December 2003. Free Willy is a 1993 Warner Brothers film about a boy who befriends an orca (aka a killer whale). Spoiler warning: When fishermen separate a young orca whale (Willy) from his parents, he ends up in a fish bowl at a marina. ... Keiko at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. ... Look up Rehabilitation on Wiktionary, the free dictionary Rehabilitation is the restoration of lost capabilities, or the treatment aimed at producing it. ... The Oregon Coast Aquarium is an aquarium in Newport, Oregon. ... Newport is a city located in Lincoln County, Oregon, USA. It was incorporated in 1882, though the name dates back to the establishment of a post office in 1868. ... The Nordic countries (Greenland not shown) The Nordic countries is a term used collectively for five countries in Northern Europe. ... Pneumonia is an illness in which the small, air-filled sacs in the lungs (alveoli) responsible for absorbing oxygen from the atmosphere become inflamed and flooded with fluid. ... 2003 (MMIII) is a common year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar. ...

Environmental threats

The Exxon Valdez oil spill had a particularly adverse effect on the Alaskan orca population. One pod was caught in the spill; though the pod successfully swam to clear water, eleven members of the pod (about half) died in the following days and weeks. The spill had a longer-term effect in reducing the amount of available prey, such as salmon, and has thus been responsible for a local population decline. In December 2004, scientists at the North Gulf Oceanic Society said that the pod (called the AT1 pod) now only came to seven in number, having failed to reproduce at all since the spill. The population is expected to become completely extinct. Press Telegram report on the pod Exxon Valdez was the original name of an oil tanker owned by the Exxon oil company. ...

Like other animals at the highest trophic levels of the food chain, the orca is particularly susceptible to poisoning via accumulation of Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) in the body. A survey of animals off the Washington coast found that PCB levels in orcas were higher than those in harbour seals in Europe that have been sickened by the chemical. However, no direct evidence of sickness in orcas has been found. The most likely effect, if any, would be a reduced rate of reproduction. On November 15, 2005 the United States government listed the Puget Sound Orca as an endangered species due to deterioration of the three pods which spend most of the year in Puget Sound in Washington State. Food chains and food webs or food networks describe the feeding relationships between species in a biotic community. ... Labelling transformers containing PCBs Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) are a class of organic compounds with 1 to 10 chlorine atoms attached to biphenyl and a general structure of C12H10-xClx. ... This article deals with the U.S. state. ... Binomial name Phoca vitulina Linnaeus, 1758 Common or Harbour Seals (Phoca vitulina) are true seals of the Northern Hemisphere. ... A satellite composite image of Europe Europe is the worlds second-smallest continent in terms of area, with an area of 10,600,000 km² (4,140,625 square miles), making it larger than Australia only. ... 2005 (MMV) is a common year starting on Saturday of the Gregorian calendar. ... Puget Sound Puget Sound is an arm (sound) of the Pacific Ocean in the Pacific Northwest of the United States. ...

Other environmental pressures facing orcas include extensive whale-watching which some research indicates changes whale behavior. Heavy ship noise has caused some groups of orca to change the frequencies of their songs and calls. Whale watching off the coast of Bar Harbor, Maine. ... Sine waves of various frequencies; the lower waves have higher frequencies than those above. ...

Famous Orca

• Shamu — performs along with Baby Shamu and Grandbaby Shamu at SeaWorld

• Keiko — performed in the first of the three Free Willy movies.

The Shamu logo Shamu performing Shamu is the name of SeaWorlds iconic killer whale. ... For the unrelated theme park in Australia, see Sea World. ... Keiko at the Oregon Coast Aquarium. ... Free Willy is a 1993 Warner Brothers film about a boy who befriends an orca (aka a killer whale). Spoiler warning: When fishermen separate a young orca whale (Willy) from his parents, he ends up in a fish bowl at a marina. ...

Media

A Killer whale's song ( info) A killer whale's song, at a distance ( info) Vocalizations of a Killer Whale ( info) Problems listening to the files? See media help.

Image File history File links Gnome-speakernotes. ... Killer whale. ... Killer whale simple. ... Killer whale residents broadband. ...

References

• Hoyt, Erich (December 1998). Orca: The Whale Called Killer, Camden House Publishing. ISBN 0920656250.
• Ford, John K.B. (February 2002). "Killer Whale" Encyclopedia of Marine Mammals, pp669–675, Academic Press. ISBN 0125513402.
• Folkens, Pieter A., Brent S. Stewart, Phillip J. Clapham, James A. Powell (April 2002). National Audubon Society Guide to Marine Mammals of the World, Randall Reeves (Illustrator), Alfred A. Knopf. ISBN 0375411410.
• Shevchenko, I.V. (1975). "Kharakter vzaimootnoshenii kasatok i drugikh kitoobraznykh (The nature of interrelationships between Killer Whales and Other Cetaceans)" Morskie mlekopitayushchie, pp173–175. (The author describes his discovery of orca cannibalism; in Russian, transliterations vary).

Other resources

• Graeme Ellis, Bruce Obee. Guardians of the Whales, Whitecap Books. ISBN 1551100347.
• John K.B. Ford, Graeme Ellis, Kenneth C. Balcomb. Killer Whales, UBC Press. ISBN 0774804696.

External links

• 70South - information on the Killer Whale
• Monterey Bay Whale Watch Photos: Killer Whales Attacking Gray Whales
• Predation Behavior of Transient Killer Whales in Monterey Bay, California
• Killer Whale image archive showing orca from Arctic Norway
• Killer Whale Pictures showing Offshore, Resident and Transient Killer Whales from Canada,BC
• Research project studying Killer whales in the Norwegian Arctic
• Killer Whale facts
• theme parks featuring captive "killer whales"
• New Zealand, Papua New Guinea and Antarctic orca research