Killer Whales Research Paper

Words: 507
Pages: 3

Killer whales (Orcinus orcas) are massive mammals that live all over the planet. They are the biggest dolphins in existence and are fierce and powerful carnivorous predators.

Killer Whales are apex predators, (at the top of the food chain). No other animals (except for humans) hunt Killer Whales. Their diets consist of seabirds, squid, octopuses, sea turtles, sharks, sea lions, seals, rays and fish. They also eat most marine mammals excluding river dolphins and manatees.

A Killer Whale's body is cylindrical (of a cylinder shape) and tapers (starts off wide and goes narrow) at both ends to form an aerodynamic shape. They are considered the largest species of the dolphin family. They weigh up to 5,443 kilograms and grow to 7 to 9.7 meters, that is almost as long as a school bus. The largest Killer Whale ever recorded was 32 feet (9.8 m) long. These creatures are black and white, with a gray patch called a saddle or a cape on the back, just behind the dorsal fin. They are black and white because it helps to camouflage themselves by hiding their outline in the water.

Other than humans, killer whales are widely spread mammals although there are not that many of them. They live in the oceans and seas surrounding most coastal countries. They adapt very well to any climate. For example, they can live in the warm waters near the
…show more content…
There are two different kinds of pods, a resident pod is less aggressive and tends to prefer fish and the transient pods act much like wolf packs and are much more aggressive. Killer Whales use echolocation to talk to each other and hunt. They will make a sound that travels through the water until sound waves hit an object. Then the sound wave will bounce back to them. Using this technique they are able to detect where objects and other Killer Whales are in the area. They can also find out the size and shape of an object using