The Orca

Never try to hurt two kids of animals : elephants and orcas. Why? Those two animals never forget. Once you hurt them, you can’t run from them forever. They will keep the picture of you in their eyes and brains.

The Orca or “Killer Whale” can be found in all oceans of the world. Many are found in the arctic. The Orca is a striking sight,all black with a white underbelly and white around the eyes. It has many sharp teeth that can be up to 5 inches long. These help it to catch and eat its prey. The Orca feed on fish, seal, sea others, walrus and sometimes other small whales. Orcas are very strong swimmers. Aided by their large flippersthey can move through the ocean at up to 25 miles per hour. The Orca is quite a social animal. It travels with 5-20 members of its extended family known as its pod. The family has specific calls and even hunts together sometimes. Calves are already 8 feet long at birth! Adultmales grow to 27 feet and females are usually slightly smaller. You can spot an Orca in the water by lookinh for its large dorsal fin. These fins can be six feet tall. The tlingit people of Alaska’s seacost create powerful images of the killer whale in their artwork.

General Description
The Orca or killer, whale is the largest member of the dolphin family. Orcas have long, rounded bodis with large dorsal fins at the middle of their backs. Their black bodies are marked with white patches on the underside and near the eyes.
The Orca is a toothed whale that is an efficient predator, even attacking huge young blue whales. Their only enemy is human beings. Orcas live in small, close-knit, life-long pods and have 1 blowhole. The killer whale belongs to the family of dolphins and is the biggest dolphin. It is sometomes called the “wolf of the sea” because its behaviour is similar to that of wolves.

Size
Orcas grow to be about 27-33 feet (8-10 m) long., weighing more than 8,000-12,000 pounds (3600-5400 kg). the male orca is larger than the female.

Skin,Shape, and Fins
The Orca’s skin is mostly black with distinctive white patches. Orcas have stocky bodies and a rounded head with a distinctive beak. They have a tall, falcate dorsal fin and large, paddle-like flippers. The dorsal fin of the male is taller and more upright than that of the female.

Died and Teeth
Orcas are efficient hunters that eat a very diverse diet of fish, squid, sharks, turtles, octopi, and birds. They have even been known to attack young blue whales and the other large whales. They have 10-13 pairs of large,interlocking conical,
enamelled teeth distributied in both the upper and lower jaws. The teeth curve inwards and backwards-this help the orca catch its prey. Teeth average about 7,6cm long. An average-sized orca will eat 250 kg of food day.

Social Groups
Orcas are highly
social animals that travel in groups called pods. Pods usually consists of 5 to 30 whales, although some pods may combine to form a group of 100 or more. Orcas are very animals. The bonds between the close-knit members of Orca pods are strong and last for life. Thre are 3 types of Orca : residents, transients, and offshores.

Speed
Orcas are very fast swimmers. They can swim up to 48 km in bursts in order to catch prey.

VOCALIZATION
Orca vocalizations include clicks used in echolocation, whistles, and scream-like pulses. The sounds are used to communicate with other orcas, for mating purposes, and for locating prey.

Habitat and Range
Orcas whales live in waters ranging from tropical to arctic, and both coastal and deep oceanic waters. They are found in all the world’s oceans and most of the seas.
Migration
Orcas don’t make long, seasonal migrations. They may, however, cover an area of hundreds of miles in order to find seasonal prey.

Life Span
Male orcas have a life expectancy of 50-60 years. Female have a life expectancy of 90 years.