KILLER WHALE

Size

• Length 20-32 ft. (6-9.8 m)
• Weight 3-5.5 tons (3,000-5,600 kg)

Habitat

• Widely distributed in coastal and offshore waters.
• Most common in cold nearshore waters, especially in the Northwest.

Diet

• Takes a wide variety of prey including fish, seals, baleen whales, seabirds, and sea turtles.

Reproductive

• Females give birth to a single young at any time of year.
• Young are nursed for about 2 years; females reproduce about every 5 years.
• Non-reproductive adults have been known to care for the older calf of a female with a young baby
• Dorsal fin very tall, narrow, and erect in male, smaller and falcate in female and immature.

Behavior

• Often cruises with tall fin clearly visible; breaches, spy-hops, and flipper-slaps;is not wary of boats.

Nesting

• Lives in stable pods of 3-30.
• Worldwide in all oceans, from Arctic pack ice to tropics.

Call or Noise

• Clicks are thought to be used in echolocation, screams for communication.
• Calls range from 4 to 5 kHz.

Defense against predation

• When it comes to defenses, orcas rely on echolocation, close-knit social groups, hunting ability, massive size and sharp senses.

Physical Characteristics

• Striking black-and-white coloration: white patch behind eye and white of belly extending onto rear flank.
• Gray saddle behind dorsal fin.
• Flippers large and rounded.
• Well known and unmistakable.