Gioca STEMAnimals

Animals · Seas and oceans

Orca

Orcinus orca

The predator that teaches its children

An orca surfaces among Antarctic ice floes, where pods hunt seals during the summer months.
An orca surfaces among Antarctic ice floes, where pods hunt seals during the summer months.
  • Status: Unknown
  • All seas and oceans, from polar ice to tropical waters

Numbers

Weight
13200 lbmales up to 13,200 lb, females about 8,800 lb; measured record 22,000 lb
Length
26 ftmales 20-26 ft, females 16-23 ft; measured record 33 ft
Lifespan
50 yearsfrom 30 (males) to 50 (females) years, but up to 90 for females
Speed
35 mphthe fastest marine mammal
Bite force
14000 psiunit of measurement reported as such in the material
Family group
25 individualsmaximum size of a pod

Ten fun facts

  1. that the name Orcinus comes from Orcus, the Roman god of the underworld, because ancient Romans already considered it a fearsome creature?

  2. that the orca is not a whale but the largest dolphin species, belonging to the Delphinidae family which includes thirty-seven species?

  3. that transient orcas become completely silent when hunting marine mammals so that the seals they are chasing cannot hear them coming?

  4. that in South Africa some orcas kill great white sharks solely to eat their liver, which is rich in a nutrient called squalene?

  5. that a third population type called offshore was discovered only in 1988 and travels in groups of about sixty individuals?

  6. that resident and transient orcas can inhabit the exact same ocean waters without ever meeting because they systematically avoid each other?

  7. that orca gestation lasts about a year and a half, resulting in a single calf that is almost always born in shallow waters?

  8. that female orcas reach maturity at ten years old and males at sixteen, with three to eight years passing between births?

  9. that in December 2019 several orcas spotted in the Ligurian Sea were recognized as the exact same individuals photographed in Iceland in 2017?

  10. that Old Tom, an Australian orca, helped human whalers hunt large whales in exchange for receiving the tongue of the prey?

The quiz answers

The first one is the question printed in your book: here is the answer. The other four are extra.

Question 1 of 5★ this one is in your book

What is the maximum speed reached by the orca?

Question 2 of 5

What is the family group called in which the orca lives?

Question 3 of 5

Which adult animal manages to escape the orca?

Question 4 of 5

Why has the IUCN not classified the orca?

Question 5 of 5

Which part of the great white shark do South African orcas love to eat?

Try it yourself

Experiment 1

Measure twenty-six feet with a tape measure along your hallway or in your yard to see the full length of an adult male orca.

Experiment 2

Time how long it takes you to run three hundred feet, then calculate how fast an orca swimming at thirty-five miles per hour would travel that same distance.

Experiment 3

Clap your hands with your eyes closed in an empty room and then in a furnished room to hear how the echo changes just like an orca explores the sea.

Data from Wikidata (Q26843) and Wikipedia (Orca).