Killer whale

[ ORCINUS ORCA ]

A unique social group of several hundred killer whales known as transients roam the Pacific from Alaska to Mexico hunting down sea mammals. These supersize members of the dolphin family make a news splash each spring when they launch spectacular attacks on gray whale mothers and calves migrating north across Monterey Bay, but they are reclusive and rarely studied, unlike the resident killer whales of Puget Sound. Traveling more than a hundred miles a day, the transients wander the coastline or open oceans at will, and we can only wonder where their journeys take them.

NATURAL HISTORY

With brains four times the size of humans’, killer whales have complex language and social systems that rival our own. They are one of the only animals that live decades after menopause, and their society is led by elder matriarchs that keep their cultural traditions alive.

KEY CHARACTERISTICS

Also known as orcas, these striking black and white predators may reach 30 feet long and weigh up to 12,000 pounds in the largest males; females are slightly smaller but can live more than 90 years.