This is everything you need to know about killer whales!

1. Orca’s
(Killer Whales)
By: Tiffany Pike

2. Mammal
~Breath Air
~Born with hair
~Live births
~Produce Milk
~Warm Blooded

3. Characteristics
~ An Orca is a toothed whale belonging to the Oceanic
Dolphin family.
~ Killer whales distinctively bear a black back, white
chest and sides, and a white patch above and behind
the eye.
~ Killer whales have a heavy and robust body.
~Adults reach up to 20-26 feet and can weigh up to 10
tons (20,000 pounds)

4. Characteristics
~Baby Orca’s weigh about 400 pounds at birth and are
about 8 feet long.
~They are very fast and can swim up to 56 km/h.
~Males have long and narrow dorsal fins and females
have short rounded dorsal fins.
~They have excellent eyesight in and out of the water.

5. Characteristics
~ Orca’s have above average hearing and a great sense
of touch.
~They use their hearing for feeding and
communicating.
~They produce a variety of sounds to communicate and
find food.
~They use sonar to bounce “pings” off of their prey to
determine what the prey is.

6. Family
~Orca’s travel in families called pods.
~A female leads the pod.
~Most of her children stay with the family for life.
~The average pod consists of 5 to 6 Orca’s.

7. Intelligence
~2nd heaviest brains among marine mammals.
~Very good at imitation and teaching their
young life skills.
~They are very curious and playful.
~They are very good at learning new techniques
through trial and error to catch prey.

8. Orca’s
Orca’s are very intelligent mammals. They travel in
families called pods. They have a very close family
bond. They work together to raise their young and to
catch prey. Orca’s have been studied and recorded
since the early 1800’s. They are a very complex animal
and fun to watch!
http://seaworldparks.com/en/seaworld-
sandiego/Animals/Webcams/Shamu-Cam