Probably one of the most beautiful animals ever to exist, the Orca, or Killer Whale is the only species of “whale” not considered to be endangered, although some local communities are under threat.

By no means deserving of its “killer” reputation, the Orca is among the friendliest of the whales and dolphin species. Holiday makers will pay to swim with wild Orcas as well as captive animals.

The Orca is not actually a whale; it is the largest member of the dolphin family, and shares many of its smaller cousin’s playful demur and intelligence.

Orcas are distinctively recognized by their black and white colorings and a “saddle” patch of grey/white behind their dorsal fin makes them almost immediately identifiable from pictures or from a distance.

Orcas live in groups called “pods”. A group may consist of a mother, all her dependant offspring (10 years or younger) as well as her adult offspring.

Male Orcas remain with their mother their whole life, only leaving briefly to mate outside their maternal group before returning.

Male Orcas are considerably larger than the females, reaching 6-8m and weighing in excess of 6 tones, whereas a female will reach between 5-7m and weigh in at 3-4 tones. Males mature at around 15 years old but will not reproduce until they are around 21 years old. Females also mature at around 15years of age. They have a gestation period between 15-18 months and give birth to a single calf every 5 years or so. A female Orca stops breeding at 40 years old, meaning a “cow” will birth only 5 young in her lifetime and with a mortality rate of nearly 50% in the first twelve months, less than 3 of those calves will reach adulthood.

Like other whales and dolphin species all members of the pod, including the males will contribute to the rearing of the calves.

Female Orcas have a typical lifespan of around 50 years old, but in certain cases, individuals have been known to live well into their 70’s and 80’s.

Males generally do not live as long as the females, their average lifespan being only 30 years, with a maximum of 50-60 in extreme cases.

One male however, dubbed “Old Tom” was reportedly sighted every winter between 1843-1932 off New South Wales, Australia, which made “Old Tom” at least 89 years old.

Though very similar, the sexes can be distinguished by their dorsal fins, the males tend to be larger and triangular, whereas a females dorsal is shorter and generally more curved.

Orcas front fins also differ from those of other dolphin species, they are large and rounded, as opposed to the slimmer and sharper fins of the smaller dolphin species; this makes them more like paddles and makes Orcas one of the fastest marine mammal, reaching cruising speeds in excess of 35MPH.

Being a “toothed” whale an Orcas diet has a wide variety, a single animal needs around 500Ibs of fresh food a day. Their diets include; Fish, namely salmon, mackerel and cod, sea lions, seals, penguins, sea birds, walrus’, sharks, sea turtles- to name just a few. A whole pod has been known to work together as a “pack” to kill a blue whale, hence their nickname; “wolves of the sea”.

Hunting techniques vary from family to family and while all may bear similar patterns, research shows each separate pod has their own particular hunting method.

A favorite among a lot of pods is “beaching” essentially throwing themselves onto a beach, snatching a seal pup or a penguin before wriggling back into the waves. It is a behavior that has to be learned however and mothers have been known to literally shove their calves onto the beach, ready to pull them back if they get stuck.

Some Orcas have been sighted returning a seal or a penguin back onto a beach or ice patch after showing the youngsters how to do it correctly, the prey, usually injured in some way making recapture easier for the young until they’ve perfected the technique.

Orcas can survive most water temperatures making them very widespread. However sightings suggest they adhere to cooler waters and Polar Regions, also preferring coastal waters rather than open sea (although they do frequent these areas also).

The first display of an Orca in captivity occurred in Vancouver in 1964, and the practice has remained controversial ever since. In the next fifteen years around 60-70 individuals were taken or this purpose – one resident pod in the north-west pacific lost 48 of its family to captivity.

In the late 70’s to early 80’s Orcas were taken from Icelandic waters, 50 in five years. Since then however, successful breeding in captivity has made wild specimens rarer.

In captivity and Orcas lifespan is severely lower than their wild counterparts, the average Orca living just 25 years or less.

Captive Orcas are also known to develop physical pathologies, the most noticeable being the collapse of the dorsal fin (seen in 60-90% of captive males.)

There are several reasons why experts think this is, two reasons are;

• The fin collapses because an Orca is forced to swim in circles in small tanks
• Fin bends due to the greater amount of time a captive Orca spends at the surface, where the fin is not supported by water pressure

There are few confirmed incidents of Orcas in reality attacking humans – only two dozen since 1970. – The majority of these cases are usually the result of mistaken identity, namely surfers or swimmers that look and sound like prey. In these instances, as soon as the Orca realized its mistake, it’s released its victim. No one (to my knowledge) has yet to lose their lives to a wild Orca.