Sunshine Reading Club
Title
26/02/16 4:28 pm
I Love Killer Whales
What Are Killer Whales?
My name is Ingrid Visser and I love killer whales. Killer whales, are found all around the world;
they are sometimes called orca.
These killer whales are swimming next to an iceberg off Antarctica in the Southern Ocean.
Whales are mammals, like humans.
They breathe air, have warm blood,
and feed their babies with milk.
They do not have gills like fish. They have lungs just like us. They must come to the surface of
the ocean to breathe.
One way to tell a whale from a fish is to see the way the tail moves.
A fish moves through the water by swinging its tail from side to side.
A whale moves its tail up and down.
Killer whales use their teeth to catch fish, seals or dolphins. They have good eyesight and can
see colors. To find their
food they use their eyes, but most often they use sound.
Killer whales have pointed teeth.
Killer whales have a good sense of hearing. They also make sounds
to communicate with each other—different noises like clicks and squeaks.
Some of these sounds are used to communicate with each other.
Other noises are used to find their way underwater.
Here I am with my killer whale friend, Miracle.
I have set up a special phone line for people to call when they see a killer whale.
It is a bit like being a doctor, always ready to go when someone calls. I have my own
boat and a small truck.
I have everything I need for finding killer whales in my truck and my boat.
The back of my truck is packed with things I might need—a life jacket,
a raincoat, overalls, boots, charts (which are maps made for the sea), and food.
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I have all my dive equipment—a wet suit, mask, snorkel, and fins,
as well as a camera, so that I can take photos underwater. I also have an underwater
microphone to record the sounds killer whales make.
I can record the sounds the whales make from my boat with this special water microphone.
Their Families
Some killer whales live with adult males,
females, and younger animals. The boss whale is often the female. The adult males are grownup sons and brothers.
A mother and her baby surface to breathe. See the air bubbles coming from the blowhole on
top of the baby’s head.
The baby is spyhopping in this picture.
Baby killer whales are called calves and they have to learn to swim. When swimming next to
their mothers, they come high out of the water to keep their blowholes clear. If they want to look
at something, they stick their heads out of the water. This is called a “spyhop.”
When killer whale moms need to have time to themselves, they solve this problem by having
baby-sitters— often young or adult males.
These baby-sitters catch food and play with the calves. You can often see the calves learning
how to breach.
This is when they jump out of the water.
Killer whale calves are taught to hunt by their mothers, and sometimes their baby-sitters.
A killer whale breaching Their Habits
When I do find killer whales, each meeting is a new experience. I might find them sleeping.
When they are asleep they have to keep breathing, so they keep their blow holes above water
or they will drown.
Sometimes killer whales sleep at the surface, and sometimes they sleep just under the surface.
Killer whales can travel great distances—about 90 miles a day.
When they travel they are often in close groups and they may surface at the same time.
Killer whales are often found in groups called “pods.”
Other times I find killer whales
when they are hunting. Depending on where they live, they eat different things.
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For instance, around Antarctica they eat seals and penguins. They sometimes
knock them off icebergs.
Off the west coast of the US and Canada they gather in large groups to catch salmon as they
head towards the rivers to breed.
A killer whale chases a shark for dinner. Off the coast of California they have been seen eating
a great white shark—the largest predator fish!
Killer whales are found all over the world.
Off Norway killer whales eat small fish called herring. The whales herd the herring into groups.
They swim past and hit the little fish with their tails,
stunning them so they can’t swim.
Then they eat the little fish.
Killer whales also like to eat stingrays.
Hunting stingrays is dangerous, not just because of the stings on their tails.
Stingrays usually live in shallow water, so the whales have to hunt in shallow water
and they might get stuck on the beach.
Stingrays have poisonous stings in their tails.
This killer whale is eating fish off a line.
Another way killer whales hunt is to wait until fishers pull their lines all the way to the surface.
Then they choose the best fish off the lines.
That way they don’t have to dive deep to get their fish.
Their Differences
Individual killer whales look different.
I take photographs to record these differences.
They all have a white patch on the side of their heads, just behind the eye, called the “eye
patch.”
The eye patch is like a fingerprint.
The eye patch is shaped differently on each animal and can even be different on each side of
the whale.
Another part I photograph is the dorsal fin—the fin on their back.
The dorsal fin can be lots of different shapes. It might have cuts out of it,
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or pieces missing.
I call this big whale, Rocky. See his broad fin.
Are Orca Friendly?
Killer whales like to surf in the waves at the beach, and sometimes in the
waves behind boats. They use the power of the wave to whiz along at great speed.
A killer whale surfing behind a boat.
Specially designed pontoons were used to refloat
Ben in the surf.
I make friends with many of the killer whales. I do not feed them, so they come to visit me
because they are interested, not for food.
Ben is a killer whale who was stranded
and we rescued him. I still see him 15 years later.
Killer Whales in Danger
Killer whales are successful predators but there are some threats to them.
They sometimes eat plastic bags.
The bags get stuck in their stomach, they can’t eat and starve to death.
We can help by recycling plastic bags,
or not using them at all.
Waste from farms, cities, and factories washes chemicals into the water.
If killer whales eat fish that have been polluted, they collect pollution in their bodies. We can
help by buying products that are “biodegradable.”
Whaling is now illegal in many countries, but some still hunt killer whales. Some whales are put
into aquariums for people to visit. This takes them away from their families and they often die
very young when they are kept in tanks.
Chemical pollution affects all sea creatures.
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