虎鯨說：別傻了，我的任何表演其實都有目的

05-12

這一期就讓我們深度走入虎鯨，看看它們的生長環境，母系社會的它們是如何養育下代，它們又如何的聰明。

Life cycle

Orcas are normally born between October and March, the babies are born tail first andalways close to the surface to the ocean, so the baby will be able to get

oxygen, the baby will learn how to swim within 30 minuets of it being born. The

babies weigh around 400lbs and are 6.5 – 8 feet long. Babies are nursed for the first year of its life then will spend the rest of its life with its mother. The life span can be

very confusing some male killer whales will live up to 30 years but sometimes

can live up to 50 – 60 years whereas the female will live up to 50 years old

but sometimes 90-years.

Females will mature faster ，at becoming mature at 6 – 10 years

whereas the males don』t reach maturity till 12 – 16 years, the female sexuality

will mature at 10 to 13 just as the males reach maturity. The female』s orcas

mate every 3 to 7 years, what is the Polyoestrous cycle (Seasonally polyestrous animals or seasonal
breeders have more than one estrous cycle during a specific time of the year
and can be divided into short-day and long-day breeders: Short-day breeders,
such as sheep, goats, deer and elk are sexually active in fall or winter)

Behaviour

like dolphins the orcas do like to play and are highly intelligent, so the behaviour

will always have a purpose. Actions such as breaching where the orca jumps out

of the water to tail slapping, these are a sort of communication.

Breaching is when the orca jumps out of the water high this is seen in rough waters, this allows the orca the breath without water getting in the way and a way to

communicate when the water is making too much noise for them to speak to each

other.

Tail slapping is being playful, some orcas like to wrap their tail in kelp and throw

the kelp in the air with tail slapping and chase after it.

Head slap is when the orca raises it head out of the water and this is more of a lunging action then breaching.

Spyhopping is When a whale wants to see something above the water it can raise its head clear of the water and take a peak.

Usually it holds itself vertically in the water so that its eyes are clear of the water. This behavior is very common amongst Orcas when they are hunting seals that are resting on top of the sea ice. Humpbacks are also known to do this out of curiosity when they want to check out a nearby whale watching boat.

Vocalisation

orcas depend heavily on underwater sound for orientation, feeding, and communication. They produce three categories of sounds: clicks, whistles, and pulsed calls. Clicks are believed to be used primarily for navigation and discriminating prey and other objects in the surrounding environment, but are also commonly heard

during social interactions.

Intelligence

Orcas are very intelligent, they are known to be able to adapt to new conditions very

quickly. They have known to stalk fishing boats and steal the fish off the

boats, the fishermen thought of a tactic to keep the boats further apart, so

the orcas would have to swim back and forth. This would allow the fishermen to

collect fish while the orcas were at the other boat, but the orcas found a way

to solve this by splitting themselves into two groups. One of the researches that was on the boats quoted saying.

It worked really well for a while. Then the whales split into two groups. It didnt even take them an hour to figure it out. They were so thrilled when they figured out what

was going on, that we were playing games. They were breaching by the boats.

—?Craig Matkin

They have also seen playfully teasing humans by moving objects away from the humans when they try to reach for them and throwing ice at humans when the humans throws a snow ball at them. Since the orcas know the difference when to play with humans and when to avoid them shows that they have an understanding that humans are different, where as some animals might avoid humans all together after they have been hunted in the past.