![]() ![]() The greatest threat to these whales comes from the degradation and disturbance of their habitat. Killer whales are very vocal animals and communicate with each other using whistles and clicks via echolocation, and through physical behavior such as breaching, slapping their tail or flippers, and ‘spyhopping’, when they lift their head above the water to view their surroundings. These activities may have a variety of purposes, such as courtship, communication, dislodging parasites, or play. They frequently engage in surface behavior such as breaching (jumping completely out of the water) and tail-slapping. Killer whales spend their days foraging, traveling, resting, and socializing. They spend most of their time at shallow depths, but occasionally dive several hundred meters depending on their prey. Killer whales are sometimes called "wolves of the sea", because they hunt in groups like wolf packs. Pod members learn skills through apprenticeships, such as hunting and parenting. Killer whales may share prey and seldom leave the pod for longer than a few hours. They have limited dispersal from their maternal pod. Individuals in pods are usually related to each other and consist of about 20% adult males, and 20% calves, with the rest being females and young males. They travel in pods of between 3 and 50 individuals, led by females. Killer whales are highly social animals they are active during the day and sleep at night. Transient pods have been sighted from southern Alaska to central California. ![]() Despite decades of research, where these animals go for the rest of the year remains unknown. Each summer, the same individuals appear off the coasts of British Columbia and Washington. Migration patterns of KIller whales are poorly understood. They usually prefer water 20 to 60 meters deep, but also travel through shallow waters along the coast. However, they are merely seasonal visitors to Arctic waters and do not approach the pack ice in the summer. In the Antarctic, Killer whales range up to the edge of the pack ice and are believed to venture into the denser pack ice, finding open leads much like beluga whales in the Arctic. They also inhabit many inland or partially-enclosed seas, such as the Gulf of California, the Gulf of Mexico, the Mediterranean, the Arabian Gulf, and the Red Sea. Killer whales are considered a cosmopolitan species and occur in all oceans, from the Antarctic and Arctic regions to tropical seas. Antarctic, Neotropical, Palearctic, Nearctic, Oceanian, Australasian, Indomalayan, Afrotropical ![]()
0 Comments
Leave a Reply. |