So, last week, I shared 10 “fun facts” about orcas. I then went into detail on two of them in particular and I am here to do the same this week!
You may or may not have known this (if you read my post last week, hopefully you remember this fact!) but, orcas live in all of the world’s oceans. They live in frigid arctic waters and warm tropical oceans. Something else that may surprise you is there at different types of orcas in the different oceans. That includes Resident Orcas, Transient Orcas, and Offshore Orcas. This also includes type A, B, C, and D. I am going to break it down for you now:
Resident Orcas: most commonly sighted, feed on mostly fish, mostly in British Columbia and Washington
Transiet Orcas: diets are almost exclusively marine mammals, vocalize in complex dialects, mostly seen in southern Alaska and California
Offshore Orcas: feed primarily on schools of fishes, feed on mammals and sometimes sharks, seen by Vancouver Island and the Queen Charlotte Islands, pods can be as large as 100 orcas
They are separated mostly by what they eat, but there are other ways to separate the different types and that is by how they look. I had no idea that there were orcas that were so different from each other, and referring to the chart below I still am not sure which type of orca I have tattooed on me!
Type A: “typical” – large, black and white, and a medium sized white eye patch
Type B: smaller than type A, with a large white eye patch, some parts of the body that are “black” are actually gray and the white areas are stained yellow
Type C: the smallest type, but lives in the largest groups, technically dark gray and stained slightly yellow much like type B
Type D: extremely small white eye patch
I don’t know about you, but I was very surprised by all of this new information. I thought I knew everything there was to know about orcas! Moving on to my second fact, this one I found particularly interesting:
The word Orcus stems from the Latin language meaning “god of the underworld” and “punisher of the broken oaths”. But the term “orca” in Latin literally translates to “the shape of a barrel or cask” which can be inferred that these two things are the reason why “orca” was coined for the killer whale. Killer whale is how some scientists refer to them which originated from the Spanish whaler’s term saying “whale killer” because they were whales that hunted, killed, and ate other whales. So, scientists referred to them as whale killers, or “killer whales” and orca is an ancient Greek term that refers to the word whale. Since “Orcus” was the “god of underworld” and scientists saw whales killing other whales and sharks, it is easy to assume why the name “orca” was coined and why it sticks around today.
I hope that you enjoyed these two fun facts that I did not know about until very recently! If people enjoy the trend of me going into more detail on a few of the fun facts that I have posted about before each week, I will continue to do so, considering I am too learning more about orcas then I ever thought possible.
“Center for Whale Research – Study of Southern Resident Killer Whales.” Center for Whale Research – Study of Southern Resident Killer Whales. Web. 24 Mar. 2015. <http://www.whaleresearch.com/#!about-orcas/c1qa8>.
“Killer Whale (Orcinus Orca).” :: NOAA Fisheries. Web. 24 Mar. 2015. <http://www.nmfs.noaa.gov/pr/species/mammals/whales/killer-whale.html>.
Jodi Rafalko says
It is interesting to learn where the term “killer whale” comes from. I guess if I had thought about it more it would have made sense since they are carnivorous animals and hunt to eat, but I always just thought that people were misinformed and called them killer whales because they were afraid of them.
Ross Anthony Maietta says
I feel like there is a Greek god for just about anything. It’s funny to think that such an unnoticed animal was named after such a prominent figure in the Greek literature. Must say I definitely was able to gain some knowledge about the species and the different types this world. Very good post. I enjoyed reading!
brenmc says
This is very interesting! I didn’t know that orcas live in all oceans, and I certainly didn’t know where their name came from. It’s interesting to see that there are so many different types of orcas within the same classification. I am learning a lot from your blog, and it’s awesome that you’re so passionate about this topic!