Killer Whales





first steps: gestation period on average lasts around 17 months and there is no specific breeding season. Some regions go have peak seasons. The northeast pacific ocean, many calves are born between October and March. However males are producing sperm all year round (with peaks from March to June).

Just one calf if born at a time, in the water. Mst calves come out tail first but SeaWorld has recorded head first deliveries. At birth they are usually 8,5 feet long and between 265- 353 pounds. When they are born their dorsal fins and tails are very flexible and fragile (because it helps during birth) but they do gradually get more stiff. Where adult killer whales are white, the young is yellow or cream and will remain this color for the first year.

They nurse for around a year but have been known to nurse for two. The killer whale milk his very high in fat which helps the calf develop thick blubber. They nurse for several seconds at a time and do this several times an hour. Just after birth they can nurse for up to 45 minutes at a time. The usually grow 25 inches in their first year and can gain 882 pounds. They will grow 21 inches in their second year, Because they are small, tides can be very forceful towards the calf. So they swim the the slipstream of the mother.



Home: Pods are actually family. An orca that is born within a pod stay in that specific pod for the rest of its life. Its similar to living with you sisters brothers cousins aunt and uncle's for your whole life. It is extremely rare for an orca to venture away from their pod therefore extremely rare that an outside orca is accepted. Each pod has its own way of communicating with each other. They use speaks whiles or even blow bubbles.

There are two types of pods, a resident pod, that is not very aggressive and prefer to hunt on fish and the Transient pod which behave like wolf packs, are much more aggressive and feed on large mammals.

Orcas are on the top of their food chain. They are not hunted by any mammals, except humans.



<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.44;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Power: Social structure of the orcas are very complex and are usually organized within family. Some quads will change a “leader” for breeding purposes (who is the strongest, and can make the strongest babies).

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<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.44;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Courtship: The whales have a ritual where many family groups come together with large male orcas to approach the females of another group. Males will sometimes fight for one female. They are known for “sexual play” when they’re not mating they will jump out of the water together, just as dolphins do.

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.44;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"> <span style="color:rgb(0,0,0);font-family:Arial;font-size:16px;line-height:1.44;white-space:pre-wrap;">Below are videos of Killer whales in action

<p dir="ltr" style="line-height:1.44;margin-top:0pt;margin-bottom:0pt;"><span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Arial;color:#000000;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:none;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">Intelligence of the Killer whale. Orcas using a group effort to push a small mammal into the water: <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Arial;color:#1155cc;font-weight:normal;font-variant:normal;text-decoration:underline;vertical-align:baseline;white-space:pre-wrap;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p3xmqbNsRSk

<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);white-space:pre-wrap;">Killer whale attacks shark: <span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(17,85,204);text-decoration:underline;white-space:pre-wrap;">https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0tHW1gVnNtM<span style="font-size:16px;font-family:Arial;color:rgb(0,0,0);white-space:pre-wrap;">