Photo credit: Lars von Ritter Zahony / Ocean Image Bank

Is it a whale? Is it a dolphin? It’s an Orca! These famous marine mammals, known as ‘killer whales’, are among the most powerful and intelligent animals in the world’s oceans. Often associated with whales, orcas are actually the largest species of dolphin!  Although related to whales, due to their tapered, beak-like mouth and hydrodynamic body shape, they are far more similar to their dolphin counterparts than most other whales.

Orcas are found in every ocean around the world, making them the most widely distributed dolphin. As a result, there are many populations of orcas, most of which will never interact and have specialized their hunting and foraging behaviors to their environments.

For example, the main diet of Antarctic populations consists of seals, which are also intelligent, fast animals. The local seals will find protection atop floating icebergs, which, for most predators, makes them untouchable. The local orcas, however, use a technique called wave-washing in which they work together to push the seal into the water. The pod identifies their target and creates a battle line to charge at the seal and its iceberg, but at the last minute, they duck underwater. The momentum of their charge sends a wave hurtling towards the seal, making the surface too slippery and sending the seal scrambling into the water.

Due to past population culling, orcas are protected under the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which has allowed most populations to bounce back to healthy, balanced levels. Unfortunately, the population of orcas that live in California up to Alaska is critically endangered and has been protected under the Endangered Species Act since 2005. Due to their range, this group of orcas is also protected under Canada’s Species at Risk Act.

These animals are highly social! Most of them live in groups called pods, and they tend to stay with the pod for life. Orcas, like other dolphin species, use a series of clicks and whistles to communicate with one another. These sounds can travel far distances in the water, which is very useful for a group of animals that rely so heavily on teamwork for hunting.

These powerful predators are famous for good reason! They are highly intelligent, highly social animals who deserve our love and protection.

Sources

https://www.fisheries.noaa.gov/species/killer-whale

https://oceanconservancy.org/blog/2019/03/13/orca-not-whale/

https://www.antarctica.gov.au/about-antarctica/animals/whales/killer-whale

https://www.nationalgeographic.com/animals/article/animals-up-close-wave-washing-killer-whales#:~:text=Speeding%20toward%20a%20seal%2C%20orcas,seal%20off%20the%20ice%20floe.

Article Written by Izzy Lutz

Foreword by Austin Wise:

Ever since I was a kid, I have had an innate infatuation with animals. I was constantly playing with animal toys, particularly ocean animals. One day, my parents introduced me to the movie Free Willy, which centers around a young boy forming a bond with a captive Killer Whale named Willy and doing everything he can to help return the animal to the wild. I was hooked. From that day on, I was obsessed with Killer Whales, wanting to learn everything there is to know about them. As a marine scientist now, I have come to learn about the 10 fascinating ecotypes of Killer Whales, their vast differences in prey and hunting grounds, and their extraordinarily social and complex way of life. Any chance I get, I am happy to talk anyone’s ear off about these amazing creatures.