What if killer whales went extinct

Since, they are a lot more salmon they will be feeding on a lot of food. By doing that there will be a decrease of food supply to other fish and animals who eat what they will eat. This creates a chain reaction throughout the food chain. Everything Orca! What If…. Posted 11 years ago. Hello There! I am Aleena, and i made this blog for my science class. Newborn calves are from 2 to 2. The average weight for a male killer whale is kg.

Female average body size and weight is slightly smaller than that of males. In males, the erect dorsal fin can reach up to 1. This fin curves over either to the right or left side. Killer whales are polygynandrous; both males and females have multiple mates throughout a season or a lifetime.

Mann, et al. While killer whales are difficult to study in the wild some of their reproductive habits have been recorded and studied in captive whales. Killer whales can reproduce whenever females enter estrus, which can occur mutiple times a year.

However, most breeding happens in the summer, and killer whales are typically born in the fall. Females reach sexual maturity between 6 and 10 years of age. Males reach sexual maturity between 10 and 13 years old.

Female killer whales begin to mate between 14 and 15 years of age. The youngest female whale on record to give birth was 11 years old. Females have a calf every 6 to 10 years and they stop breeding around the age of The result is 4 to 6 offspring over a 25 year span. Gestation takes about 14 months, although a gestation length in captivity was recorded at days. Killer whales have a single calf at a time, twins have only been recorded once. Newborn calves nurse for about a year before weaning.

Some studies show that almost half of all newborn calves die before their first birthday. Killer whale females invest a lot of energy in raising their offspring. They carry the calf for almost a year and a half, then give birth and nurse for another 12 months. During that time, mothers teach their calves to hunt and include their offspring in the social network of their pods. Because these animals are not monogamous, it is assumed that the fathers exhibit no parental involvement after mating.

When a killer whale calf is born into a pod, it relies on its mother for nutrition and support. Calves remain in their natal pod after independence. Killer whale mortality rate varies with the age of the animal. The reason for these high mortality rates is unknown, but predation is not considered a primary threat during this time. After six months, mortality rates steadily decline as killer whales learn how to protect and nourish themselves. Mortality rates are said to be the lowest around 12 to 13 years in males and 20 years in females.

The average lifespan for a female in the wild is around 63 years, with a maximum of 80 to 90 years. Male life expectancy is a bit shorter, with the average lifespan being around 36 years, with a maximum of 50 to 60 years.

Killer whales are highly social and social structure is complex. They travel in pods which can contain several to as many as 50 individuals. There has even been reports of hundreds of individuals in one pod, but this was a temporary association between a group of smaller pods.

Killer whales have limited dispersal from the maternal pod and young whales are always part of their mother's pod. Individuals in pods swim within meters of each other and coordinate their activities.

They may share prey and rarely leave the pod for more than a few hours. Killer whales teach pod members through apprenticeship. Skill in hunting and parenting are among the skills taught to younger whales. Home range size is unknown, but some studies have shown that killer whales live with their pods together in their home range for many years. While home range size is unknown, they have been documented to swim up to km a day.

There are 3 categories of vocalizations used by killer whales: whistles, discrete calls, and clicks. Vocalizations are used both for communication and navigation.

They use discrete calls and whistles when communicating within and among pods. Each pod has their a discrete dialect that sounds slightly different from that of other pods.

This dialect has been shown to stay the same in a pod for up to six generations. Clicks seem to be used only for echolocation. Killer whales do have good vision, but in dark water their vision is not helpful in catching prey or navigating. As in other toothed whales , killer whales use sonar to perceive their aquatic environment. The whale's ears are very small openings behind the eyes, which have no outer flap. The killer whale hears the whistles and clicks through an auditory bulla earbone complex in its lower jaw.

The sound waves enter through the jaw where they then enter into the earbone complex. In this auditory bulla, there are bones that are like the bones found in the human ear. They waves travel trough these bones, then enter into the brain via an auditory nerve. Bower, ; Deeke, et al. Killer whales are exceptionally successful predators.

Orcinus orca diet is difficult to study and is most frequently assessed through looking at stomach contents.

They eat a wide variety of large prey including: seals , sea lions , smaller whales and dolphins , fish , sharks , squid , octopi , sea turtles , sea birds, sea otters , river otters , and other animals. Killer whales eat on average 45 kg of food a day, but they can eat much more than that.

They swallow small prey whole, but tend to tear up larger prey before consumption. Killer whales are social hunters, as are wolves and lions. Likewise, the economies of Canada and the United States would suffer from a lack of tourist dollars because whale watching is very popular. World View. More From Reference. The Top Unsolved Scientific Mysteries.

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