In the past, orca whales, which are actually part of the porpoise family, have been referred to as killer whales. However, research has shown that they rarely attack whales and have not been known to attack swimmers or boats. As a result, the true name of orca is now used. Some of these whales are trained to perform in marineland exhibits.
An adult male will generally be thirty feet long and weigh as much as three to ten tons. They are the largest and fastest of the porpoise family and can swim as fast as thirty miles an hour. Huge dorsal fins on the backs of males are as high as six feet and look like black sails when above water. The fins of females are about half that size. Life span for males is about fifty years and up to eighty years for females.
Their coloring is striking - black on top with a clear white underside and occasional patches of white in the black areas. Like many other things of God’s creation, no two ever look exactly alike. Some live in every ocean, usually where there are cool waters with ample supplies of food, which includes fish (especially salmon), seals and even small porpoises. When food is scarce, they may attack whales twenty times their size, biting into their soft stomachs. That is how they got the name “killer,” but this rarely happens.
You may have read of the life and ways of gray whales, with their twelve-thousand-mile migrations from Alaska to Mexico and back. But orca whales do not migrate at all, and trips are limited to searches for food. Groups of them have been known to travel as much as a hundred miles a day, chasing migrating salmon, each adult eating two to three hundred pounds of fish in the chase.
The groups that have been studied most are around Vancouver Island in Canada, in Puget Sound waters and near the islands of Washington State. Puget Sound is a busy place, and boat operators and residents along the shores see orcas frequently.
While groups may have from fifty to eighty or more orca whales, these include what are known as family pods. Each pod contains six or more females only - grandmothers, mothers, aunts and sisters. Pods travel together but do not mix. Females are about ten years old before their first calf is born and then average another one every five years. The older females help take care of the baby orcas as long as necessary.
In the following issue we will look at some of their ways of life. These are extremely interesting and bring to mind the Bible verse, “Remember [God’s] marvelous works that He hath done, His wonders, and the judgments of His mouth” (1 Chronicles 16:1212Remember his marvellous works that he hath done, his wonders, and the judgments of his mouth; (1 Chronicles 16:12)).
(to be continued)
MARCH 20, 2005
ML-03/20/2005