Killer Whales, scientifically known as Orcinus orca live in the marine biome. The marine biome is the largest biome covering about three fourths of the Earth’s surface. Killer Whales, next to humans, are the most widely distributed mammal on the Earth.
Ecological Description of Organisms:
Killer Whales can be found both in warm and cold waters. Their preferred habitat would be cold waters, such as, the ones in the Arctic and the Antarctic. They have been sighted in areas with warm water like Hawaii, Australia, the Galapagos Islands, the Bahamas, and the Gulf of Mexico. They have even surprisingly enough been spotted in fresh water rivers.
These mammals fit into their ecological niche as predators; they are considered to be Apex predators because they do not have any natural predators. They eat sea lions, sharks, walruses, porpoises, fish, and they are even capable of eating other large whales.
The life history of killer whales is very limited because the information that is available was gained from researchers that were observing animals that had been captured for captivity. “Females become sexually mature when they reach about 4.6 to 4.9 m (15–16 ft.), at about 6 to 10 years. Males become sexually mature when they reach about 5.5 to 6.1 m (18–20 ft.), at about 10 to 13 years” (“Seaworld”). The gestation period for these animals is about 17 months. A female killer whale can bear a calf every 3 to 5 years. When the calves are born they typically come out fluke first. “Calves nurse below water, close to the surface. The mother glides in a horizontal position with her tail arched, and the calf swims on its side with its mouth on the right or left mammary gland” (“MarineBio”).
(“SeaWorld”)
As you can see above, a killer whale’s anatomy consists of an eyespot, eyes, ears, a rostrum, a dorsal fin, a saddle, peduncle, a pectoral flipper, and a pair of flukes. The shape of this animal is like a cylinder but each end coming to what is almost like a point. One could say that its shape is ideal for an aquatic animal, allowing it to swim to high speeds.
Summary of the Problem:
There are several factors as to why Killer Whales have become endangered. Although some may be minor, in the long run it affects them and has proven to lower their population numbers drastically.
One of the beginning reasons killer whales are endangered is that in attempts to save the animals, humans are taking them out of their natural habitats and placing them in aquarium displays. Also, humans are affecting these creatures with the contamination of the water and oil spills. When humans spill oil out into the ocean several creatures like sea otters, seals, fish, sea birds, etc. swim through it and get covered. Well, when the whale eats the oil contaminated creatures; it is slowly poisoned, and could die if it keeps on eating them. Killer whales are also losing their food sources. Humans invade their habitats and over fish, which in turn leaves them with a lesser available food source. With little to eat they are forced to swim up north where results in them getting hurt and or killed because of a higher number of fishermen in boats. Years ago these animals were continually hunted for their blubber to make oil, which drastically reduced their numbers. Now in present day it is illegal to do such an act, but there are hunters out there that still do hunt them which is slowly but surely hacking from their population numbers.
The exact population number of this species can only be estimated because no one knows where these animals spend most of their time throughout the year. Their habitat is not destroyed; the oil spills are not in all areas and can still be cleaned to a certain extent. Their endangerment is not to the point where they are facing extinction but if nothing is done to save these animals that could very well end up the ending result for these amazing mammals.
The taxonomic description for the killer whale goes as follows: Kingdom- Animalia, Phylum- Chordata, Class- Mammalia, Order- Cetacea, Family- Delphinidae, Genius- Orcinus, Species- orca (“NOAA Fisheries”).
History of the Problem:
One event that wiped out a lot the killer whale population was the 1989 Exxon Valdez oil spill. A vessel spilled 10.8 million gallons of crude oil into the sea, covering 1,300 square miles of sea (“Wikipedia”). After that came the issues regarding overfishing which leads to less food for the orcas. All in all I would say the main problem for these mammals has been human interference.
No comments:
Post a Comment