Killer Whales: Interesting and Fun Facts, Videos, Photos, and Links about Orcas
By Robin
Orca Whale
Orca Whales, AKA Killer Whales
Orca or killer whales are majestic, social ocean mammals that have always fascinated me. Below you will find some interesting facts about the orca, orca videos I like, and a few useful links.
If you have any other information you'd like to share, please leave a comment in the comment box below.
Orca Whale Anatomy Diagram
Interesting Orca Whale Facts
- Orcas are mammals that feed on fish and other sea mammals. They have been known to eat other large whales and great white sharks (see footage below).
- Orca whales are the largest species in the dolphin family.
- Orcas are highly sociable animals that swim in pods and can work together to hunt. Below is footage of a group of 3 to 4 orcas working together to create a wave to push a sea lion off of a large piece of ice.
- Female orcas, or cows, usually have 5 calves during their lifetime and usually live to be around 50.
- Male orcas, or bulls, live to about 45. Both males and females have been documented to almost 90 although this is rare.
- Male orcas on average are 23 feet long and 7-10 tons; female orcas are on average 21 feet long and 4-6 tons
- Orcas can be found in all of our oceans from the cold Antarctic to the warmer Pacific, but they prefer the cooler waters.
- Orcas can swim up to 30 mph
- Whales have up to 9 times more myoglobin in their blood than humans. Myoglobin carries oxygen through their bodies and helps them hold their breath longer.
- Orca groups are called pods
- Orcas can be classified into three groups: Resident orcas are the most commonly seen and are found in the northeastern Pacific waters and they eat primarily fish; Transient orcas feed primarily on marine mammals not fish and travel in smaller pods of usually 2-6 orcas or by themselves; Offshore orcas feed on fish, sharks and turtles and can be found in pods up to 60 whales.
- Transient orcas where first thought to be outcasts, hence the name, but recent genetic research proves that they are in-fact a different community that have not interbred with Resident or Offshore orcas for 10,000 years.
- Orcas are verbal animals and like other mammals in the ocean, use echolocation to find prey and navigate their surroundings.
- The three different types of orcas have different verbal patterns. Resident orcas are much more vocal than transient orcas. It is believed this is because Transient orcas feed mainly on marine mammals that have acute underwater hearing and need to be silent to hunt successfully; Resident orcas feed on fish that have poor underwater hearing so being vocal does not effect their hunting capabilities.
- Orca pods use different learned dialects to communicate. Each pod has its own set of sounds that distinguish them from other pods. Mother orcas have been recorded teaching their calves their pod dialect in a simpler form like a human mother teaches her child to speak.
- Orcas have social hierarchies usually led by a female
- Whaling is no longer the biggest threat to whales. In 1972 the Marine Mammal Act began protecting these magnificent animals.
- Orcas are in danger because of human contamination of their waters. Recent studies have found that they are among the most contaminated marine mammals.
- Noise pollution from motorized boats is also a having a negative effect on orcas. Noise pollution effects the echolocation of orcas causing them to work harder to find their food and in turn use more blubber that is tainted with chemicals from pollution. University of Washington researchers found that whale watching boat traffic decreased the effective use of sonar by whales 95-99%. These studies are being conducted because of the 20% decline in killer whale population since 1995.
|
VINTAGE 1967 Whitman Big Little Book #3 FLIPPER TV Show Killer Whale Trouble
Current Bid: $9.99
|
|
Vintage -The Little Big Book- Flipper Killer Whale Trouble-1967- #2003
Current Bid: $11.99
|
Books on Orca Whales
|
Fisher Price Little People Zoo Talkers Orca Whale & Book Set NEW
Current Bid: $11.87
|
|
Wyland-Hamilton Collection "Orcas" Plate & Autographed "The Art of Wyland" Book
Current Bid: $.35
|
Video of Orcas Hunting
Orca Whale vs. A Great White
My favorite video
Spy Hopping
Killer Whale vs. Kayaker
Whaling Books
|
|
Fisher Price Little People Zoo Talkers Orca Whale & Book Set NEW
Current Bid: $11.87
|
|
2006 John Yow WYLAND Twenty-Five Years at Sea WHALE DOLPHIN ETC ART BOOK
Current Bid: $9.99
|
A Few Links
- WDCS
The Whale and Dolphin Conservation Society - Adopt an Orca
Adopt an orca and support field studies of the orca in the Pacific Northwest. - The Center for Whale Research
A site dedicated to Orcas - Wikipedia
Wikipedia's page on Orca Whales
Nice video. Nice article. Thanks for sharing.
I love killer whales but I hate when sharks gets in the way!!!
I loved watching the killer whale vs great white video!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
i love orcas ther my favorit animal i love them and i whant to learn more every day and now i learn even more to day ceep posting more
A team from Caltech in Pasadena, CA recorded a pod of killer whales and confirmed their communication contained 14 million parts of information, the entire Holy Bible only contains 4 million.
i think that this article is so much fun iwould start doing a projest on this for sure
i like killer whales. my name is makaelaa allen. i love killer whales so much.
its really a useful message to all
Orcas are gentle curious and sweet.They are not killers they are kind and trained. So please don't think of them killers.Please.:)
Excellent hub! The content and the videos are excellent making it very interesting!
Great staff!
i'am wondering what are three inherited traits of a whale and what are two instincts and two learned behaviors.PLEASE ANSWER QUICK I HAVE A PPROJECT TO DO ABOUT THE KILLER WHALES!!!!!!
My favorite animal!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! 12 times more intelligent then anny dolphin. :D
can they do death rolls
killer whales are real cool, they are really big animals
Nice article about killer whales. I enjoyed the videos, as well, particularly the one where young killer whales are being taught to hunt - "the wave" technique.
imma doing a project on killer whales and the more i reasearch them the more i want to photograph them in the wild.
Nice hub , love it.
Thnx lots this helped me so much on my project!!! This is like one of the only websites that gave me sccrate facts!!!
I love killer whales and I think that its stupid to kill them, they are great sea creatures and they are really amazingly nice and I think they are awesome!
They are so col
This Helped Me On My Project.!(:
Thank You For The Intersting Facts.!!!
SAVE THE KILLER WHALES
killer whale is a good whale because it is nice to some people like people that give alot of food ti them
i love killer whales
Thanks Rob! I enjoyed this video very much and hope to see more soon.You are great at your job and you should keep up the good work!I hope you enjoy what you do because I do and so do alot of others!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
cool facts and it helps me do my homework too i like these facts i also like the videos that where there or that you posted on there and it is cool that you can have an account lastly i would like to tell you that you can also be a member
that viedio was cool
wow that is really amazing pics/i loved them
Great article! I really enjoyed it and loved the videos.
Love Orcas They are my favourite animals from now on. they are the best ever.
PS: Thanks It helped me alot in my essay.
Realy Good
PS. Thanks
what are five facts about whales (orcas)
name me five facts about orcas
Wow Kelly!! thats an intresting fact.
I love killer whales too!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Did you know that you can tell the difference of a male or feamail by its dorsel fin. Male's have a long straight dorsel fin and feamails have a curved short one.
P.S. I love killer whales they are my favourit anamail.
i think killer whales are so inspiering and beautiful. They are my favorite animal they brightened up my childhood. Everyday when I was four i would look up facts about the killer whale i just loved doing it. I always read about them I just think they are so beautiful. They bring out my bright spirituallity. If i had a Killer Whale, I would name it after my grandmother, Franny. I would just love it if i could all i want to say is billybobjoe! you probablly think your all cool because of your name well, your not!! And you should love killer whales because if you were an animal....called ''the Loser Dophin'' you would be pretty upset if someone said that th ''loser dophin'' was stupid!! thank you for your personal time to read my comment!! I LOVE THE KILLER WHALES !! !! and YOU billybobjoe, should tooo!!!!
by: Ofeelia age 11
hey billy bo joe killer whales are not stupid
i love every animal except your favorite animal
I love Squirrels
This is so awesome! I love killer whales! But I still feel sorry for sea lions! :(
THAT WAS INTERESTED.I REALLY LOVE KILLER WHALES.
I love killer Whales I just brought the doc Wolves at sea great hub
This was interesting. These large creatures are amazing.
If you would like to discuss further information about Orcas or other marine animals check out: http://www.planetflipper.com today! Here you will find up to date news and information about these remarkable animals.
Orca whales are the largest species in the dolphin family.
Did you know that killer whales (orcas) are accually a type of dolphin? They also are not "killer" but they are very gentle and curiuos. They love to be around others. There are no cases of killer whales hurting or eating a human.
Thanks, Ralph. It was a fun hub to make. Which video didn't work?
Great hub! I watched all the videos except on that wasn't available. Pictures and expecially videos make for more interesting Hubs. Watching it made me want to go out and buy a video camera so that I could take videos of the birds and animals in our back yard. And of sailing.
erin mitchell 8 years old 6 days ago
I love killer whales i would cry if i herd or saw a killer whale goteatingon tv.