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Information on a killer whale for an essay
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What do you think about of Killer Whales when you see them? The whale is 35 feet long and weighs up to 9 tons. That is 18,000 pounds! The Killer Whale looks like a fast submarine. Killer Whales have rounded flippers, and their bodies are very long and round. Also their tails are very narrow compared to the body. The colors of the Killer Whale are Black and white. Female Killer Whales have smaller fins then the males. Killer Whales have teeth that look like pegs.
The Killer Whale has many prey and very little predators. They eat fish, squid, seabirds, seals, sea lions, smaller dolphins, porpoises, walruses, other whales, and also turtles. The Killer Whale eats many animals to survive. The Killer Whales hunt in packs 4 to 40. When the
Killer Whales hunt they seek their prey and circle it. They all take turns and biting the prey. When the Killer Whale is by itself it eats the prey whole. The Killer Whales’ predators are sometimes other Killer Whales and sometimes large sharks. The Killer Whales come up from the water to see where their predators are. Killer Whales live all over the world in saltwaters, bays, and oceans, including the west coast of The United States and Canada. They live in cooler climates and live in coastal waters. The Killer Whale has a lot of cool and interesting facts about them. The Killer Whale has a blowhole and when they are under water the blow hole is closed. Killer Whales travel in groups and the groups they travel in are called pods. The female gives birth every 3 to 10 years. The pregnancy is between 15 and 17 months. The females only have one calf at a time. When the calf is born it has a yellow tint until it is 1 year old. The life span of the Killer whale is between 30 to 50 years. When the Killer Whale is in water, it can swim up to a speed of 35 mph. The calf Killer Whale eats up to 45 g of food a day. The calf’s body weight is 5 % of the food they eat and that is equal to 500 pounds. Did you know calf Killer Whale is 5 times the size of a human! In conclusion the Killer Whale is a beautiful animal. I hope as the century continues the population grows.
Keeping these huge animals in small pools does not seem right. Big mammals are not meant to be in small pools. When these mammals are born they stay with there mother all of their lives. They never leave their mothers until they are captured and put in small pools which is not right. Killer whales hunt in pods, the oldest female in the pod is usually the group leader. Each pod has its own set of whistles, clicks, and calls that only members of the pod recognize similar to having a unique language. Members of many pods hunt in teams. For example, they may work together to create waves to knock a seal from an ice floe and into the open water. In many pods,...
One of the things this company claims is that the killer whales actually live longer in their care. According to the website Sea World of Hurt, this is completely false, killer whales in the wild have a similar life span to humans, they can live from anywhere to 50-100 years. Held captive, these animals hardly live past twenty-five years. In the wild, an orcas dorsal fin is straight, which is the way it should be. In captivity, you will mostly see their dorsal fins flopped over or completely collapsed.
A hero is someone who will attempt everything in their power to help others and risk everything they have to help others. In the movie, The Whale Rider, you can clearly see all the elements of The Hero’s Journey. A young girl named Paula Apirana, is living in a small village with her grandparents. Paika’s dad, who is living in Spain, returns to see Paula and proposes that she should come live with him. She declines the offer and decided to stay with her grandparents. Paula then secretly tries to learn the important ritual, that only males are allowed to learn. Her grandpa, Paka, gets extremely angry at her until he realizes that she is the “chosen one” to perform the ritual. Paika goes through many difficult challenges, however she manages
Image sitting on the beach one July morning. The sun is beaming down and decide to go for a swim. As you approach the water, you see a whale unusually close. You begin to get nervous as it continues to approach the shore. However, you aren’t worried because you know that they are confined to the sea. As the whale comes near you can see it clearly. Just as you think that it will turn around, the whale walks out of the ocean!
“… building a tank the size of Rhode Island wouldn’t be large enough for a six-ton male killer whale such as Tilikum, an animal capable of swimming 100 miles a day,” states an anonymous whale expert. Whales have been in captivity since 1861 when P.T. Barnum displayed the first live whale that was captured in Canada. However, Barnum had no idea how to care for the mammal and it died after only a week in captivity. (Animal Legal and Historical Center, 2014) Being up close with killer whales could give us some clues about how they interact with each other, including physical behavior, their dialect, and how their pods work together as a family unit. However, what we are finding is that whales who belong in the wild are suffering in captivity. Killer whales have no record of ever harming a human being in the wild. In captivity, there have been many incidents of killer whales harming or even killing their trainers. What would cause them to do this in captivity, but not in the wild? They have been known to resort to aggression toward themselves and each other, in what scientist believe to be a stress induced behavior. (Animal Legal and Historical Center, 2014) Evidence against having these wild animals in captivity is increasing and we need reevaluate the value of capturing and holding killer whales for our educational purposes, enjoyment, and profit.
Killer whales are one of the most fascinating displays of ocean life. The killer whale has characteristics that are important to its survival in the ocean. It is interesting to know that killer whales have a plentiful diet. It is astounding to see how killer whales behave in the ocean. I plan to tell you about the killer whale, its characteristics, its diet, and its behavior in the ocean as well as the predation of the orca.
Orcas, commonly known as killer whales, are actually the largest member of the dolphin family. They were given the name “killer whale” by sailors who often observed them attacking and killing seals, sea lions, walruses, penguins, dolphins, polar bears and even other whales (Orcas).
Orcas, or killer whales are majestic giants of the sea. They are actually the largest type of dolphin. They have long black bodies with distinct white patches near their eyes. A killer whale can be up to 32 feet or more in length, and weigh up to 12,000 pounds. Females are a bit smaller, but live longer (Gorman). The name “killer whale” apparently came not because it is a vicious whale, but because it preys on whales. They do not have any natural predators, and they are considered the “top dog” of the ocean. Not even the great white shark stands a chance against these superb killers. “Unlike sharks, killer whales are cautious hunters, sometimes spending hours harassing a 1,000-pound sea lion so it can easily be drowned” (Francis). Orcas use many hunting tactics that are unique to their species, which is what makes them invincible.
Whales living in captivity become aggravated and have been known to take out anger on themselves by self harming. In the pools they live in, metal bars are placed in between the pools to prevent the killer whales from swimming to another pool. On several occurrences, the whales have attempted to bite and break the metal bars. This leaves the whales with broken teeth and a risk of infection. Infections in killer whales can lead to death in many cases. If a whale gets an infection, they have to be taken out of the pool and placed into another pool by themselves to prevent any problems with other killer whales they live with. In many cases, whales with infections need serious care from whale specialists.
The Killer Whale is a part of the toothed whale (odontoceti) suborder. The toothed whale suborder is consisted exclusively of porpoises, whales and dolphins that are born with teeth, instead of baleen plates. The Killer Whale is the largest animal in the dolphin family and is the only known to attack sharks, whales and other marine mammals.
In the front of the head is the melon. Its melon transmits sound waves that help it see at night to helping it catch its prey. Killer whales have sharp, cone-shaped teeth made for ripping and tearing prey. The Killer Whale has no sense of smell because there is a part of their brain missing that is missing. The sense of smell goes unused because they spend most of the time in the ocean. The blowhole helps the Killer Whale to breathe; the blowhole flap provides a watertight seal. To open its blowhole, a killer whale relaxes the muscle covering the hole (SeaWorld Parks & Entertainment).
The origin of modern day whales, a mystery that has puzzled paleontologists for years, may have just been solved with the discovery of an ankle bone. This discovery might sound simple and unimportant, but the bones of these ancient animals hold many unanswered questions and provide solid proof of origin and behavior. The relationship between whales and other animals has proven to be difficult because whales are warm-blooded, like humans, yet they live in the sea. The fact that they are warm-blooded suggests that they are related to some type of land animal. However, the questions of exactly which animal, and how whales evolved from land to water, have remained unanswered until now.
Looking at Figure C, we can say more than 200,000 blue whales has been killed as results of overhunting. In 1966, the International Whaling Commission banned commercial whaling for blue whales, but illegal hunting still occurs (NOAA). While blue whales are no longer being threatened by overhunting, their population is drastically depleted. Like many other marine species, blue whales are being harm by many others factors today. This include collisions of ships, chemical pollution such as oil spills, and noise pollution from vessels (Eco). The population of blue whales is known to be around “10,000 to 25,000 ” (World Wild Life).
... meat, blubber, bones and oil. Also, orcas hunt humpbacks in packs, especially when there is a newborn (Office of Protected Resources).
The morphology of whale sharks is mostly similar to aquatic fish species, but many specific traits help differentiate them from the rest. Whale sharks are the largest fish in the world and can reach a size of around 20 meters (Martins, C., and C. Knickle). This is often compared to the size of a school bus. The shark has a very large transverse mouth. They have 5 very large gill slits and have a larger first dorsal fin compared to the second one (Whale Shark). They have a distinctive spotted “checkerboard” pattern with stripes (Martins, C., and C. Knickle). It is not exactly known why they have this specific body marking. It is believed that the body markings act as a camouflage. The strange thing about whale sharks is that they have 300 rows of teeth that play no role in feeding (Martins, C., and C. Knickle).