Latest Killer Whale Stories
A new study suggests that the impact of predation on juvenile Steller sea lions in the Gulf of Alaska has been significantly underestimated, creating a “productivity pit” from which their population will have difficulty recovering without a reduction of predators. Scientists using “life history transmitters” to study Steller sea lions found evidence of age-structured predation by orcas (killer whales) and other large predators in Alaska’s Prince William Sound and adjacent areas,...
A California marine biologist and whale-watching tour operator has been charged with violating a federal law that prohibits disturbing killer whales in the Monterey Bay National Marine Sanctuary. The Associated Press reports that on Wednesday, charges were brought against Nancy Black saying that she had violated the Marine Mammal Protection Act, which, among other things, makes it illegal to feed marine mammals such as dolphins, sea lions and whales. Ms. Black, who owns and operates...
The Bio Website EurekaMag.com publishes insights into all areas of biological science. The latest insights cover Drosophila which are small flies which have been been heavily used in research in genetics as a model organism genetics, cell-biology, biochemistry, and developmental biology, and Solar Flare which is a large energy release at the sun's surface. The insight into Killer Whale covers this toothed predatory whale belonging to the oceanic dolphin family. Mannheim, Germany...
A spectacular display of nature’s sometimes cruel cycle of life was witnessed by beachgoers at Blue Cliffs Beach in Tuatapere, New Zealand when orcas, also known as killer whales, forced a group of large sharks to swim into shallow waters or risk being eaten. One shark desperate to escape from the enormous beasts even beached itself on the sand and was filmed desperately flapping around in a bid to escape the whales, which were unable to move onto the sand, reports Rick Dewbury for Daily...
More than a hundred Beluga whales are trapped in frigid water surrounded by ice floes in the Chukotka region of Russia’s Far East, and risk death unless they are rescued soon, local authorities said. The flock of gentle whales was trapped in the Sinyavinsky Strait off the Bering Sea near the village of Yanrakynnot, a statement from the Chukotka Autonomous Region said, with local governor Roman Kopin calling for the government to send an icebreaker to the region to try and free them from...
Whales have long been known to communicate through sound patterns, songs and calls. However there remains much mystery as to what these sounds mean and if whales have distinct dialects. Marine researchers, in an attempt to learn what the communications might mean, must sift through fifteen-thousand hours of recordings to better understand the dialogue among these sea mammals and so have created the Whale Song Project (aka Whale FM), a whale-song identification project that Scientific...
When both a predator and its prey are conservationally at risk, it can be difficult to find the right balance of ecosystem management to sustain and protect both. Such is the case for a particular population of orcas called southern resident killer whales and their prey, Chinook salmon, off the coast of Washington State and British Columbia, but a new detailed model of the two species may provide some guidance about what must be done to conserve both. The study, reported in the Nov. 9...
NOAA researchers offer a novel explanation for why a type of Antarctic killer whale performs a rapid migration to warmer tropical waters in a paper published this month in the science journal Biology Letters. One tagged Antarctic killer whale monitored by satellite traveled over 5,000 miles to visit the warm waters off southern Brazil before returning immediately to Antarctica just 42 days later. This was the first long distance migration ever reported for killer whales. "The whales are...
Tracking their dinner may be the best way to help North Atlantic right whales in Cape Cod Bay avoid being hit by recreational and commercial boats, according to a team of researchers who studied the whales for two years."Auto-detection buoys are making a remarkable attempt at recording the whale sounds to show when whales are in the area," said Susan Parks, assistant professor of acoustics and ecology and senior research associate, Penn State Applied Research Laboratory. "But...
SAN FRANCISCO, July 25, 2011 /PRNewswire/ -- Sea World is responsible for the death of thousands of dolphins and whales, so states former Sea World biologist Dr. John Hall. That is the thread of the first comprehensive documentary film to explore the sordid history of the captive whale and dolphin display industry. A Fall From Freedom, an 82-minute film produced by San Francisco-based EarthViews Productions, includes interviews with scientists, marine mammal biologists, former trainers,...
Latest Killer Whale Reference Libraries
Image Caption: Fossil of Feresa Attenuata, Shimonoseki Marine Science Museum KAIKYOUKAN, Japan. Credit: OpenCage/Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 2.5) The pygmy killer whale is widely distributed in tropical and sub-tropical waters worldwide. Regular sightings of this species occur off the coast of Hawaii and Japan, and also in the Indian Ocean near Sri Lanka and Lesser Antilles. In the Atlantic the pygmy killer whale has been seen off the coast of South Carolina and Senegal. This species swims in...
The Ross seal (Ommatophoca rossii) is a true seal in the Phocidae family, and can only be found on pack ice in Antarctica. This species was formally described by James Clark Ross in 1841, during his British Antarctic Expedition. It is very uncommon to see in its range and rarely leaves the pack ice, with stray individuals occurring off southeast Australia or sub-Antarctic islands. The Ross seal can reach an average length between 5.5 and 6.9 feet, although some females can reach up to 8.2...
The crabeater seal (Lobodon carcinophagus) is a true seal that can be found around the whole of Antarctica. Its range also includes small areas in South America, New Zealand, Africa, and Australia. It resides on the pack ice zone for the entire year, even as it shifts seasonally, and prefers to stay in the continental shelf area in water with a depth of less than 1,968 feet. Because the populations are so wide spread and are sufficiently mixed, there have been no subspecies found. Because...
The Antarctic Cod (Dissostichus mawsoni), also known as the Tootfish, is a species of fish of the family Nototheniidae. It produces antifreeze glycoprotein that allows it to live in the frigid waters off the coast of Antarctica. Its distribution range is generally below 65 degrees South. It is mainly caught in the Ross Sea in the austral summer but has also been recorded south of the Indian Ocean region, in the vicinity of the Antarctic peninsula, and near the South Sandwich Islands. Despite...
Walruses are large semi-aquatic mammals that live in the cold Arctic seas of the Northern Hemisphere. There are 6 populations in the arctic and 2 or 3 subspecies exist. The Pacific walrus is slightly larger, with males weighing up to 4,180 lb (1,900 kg), but Atlantic males top out at 3,500 lb (1,600 kg). The walrus should not be confused with the elephant seal. Walruses are members of the order Carnivora and suborder (or alternatively super family) Pinnipedia. They are the only members in...
