Killer Whales: Characteristics and Conservation

• Killer whales or orcas (Orcinus orca) represent the largest dolphin family member (Delphinidae).
• Orcas are apex predators known for complex hunting strategies passed down through generations within their pods.
• Over 140 killer whale prey species have been documented.
• Maximum measured weights: 6600 kg for a 7.65-m male and 4700 kg for a 6.58-m female
• Only the Orcinus orca species is currently recognized; it is believed that other subspecies (ecotypes) exist.
• Orcas are social animals traveling in pods of about 20.
• Larger groups form temporarily from smaller social units.
• At least 166 orcas have been taken from their natural habitat since 1961.
• As of November 2024, 54 orcas live in captivity; 22 were wild-captured, and 32 were captive-born.
• Stereotypes are recurring behaviors without an objective, indicating low welfare.
• Animals in smaller enclosures, separated from mothers, or with few companions are more prone to exhibit stereotypies.

Regurgitating Food

• Captive orcas have been observed playing with and regurgitating their food post-feeding.
• Regurgitation might be a coping mechanism, but obsessive regurgitation causes health issues, such as damage to the esophagus and tooth wear.
• John Hargrove, former SeaWorld senior trainer, noticed orcas regurgitating food often at SeaWorld.
• Trainers add spiny mackerel with stinging spikes to diets to discourage regurgitation
• Orcas were able to determine amount of spiny mackerel in their food and regurgitating with less pain

Logging

• Cetaceans lying still at the bottom or floating motionless at the surface are known to be logging.
• Captive orcas exhibit logging, but wild dolphins do not stop moving during sleep.
• Dolphins are conscious breathers using unihemispheric sleep and stay in close proximity to their pod members, slowly moving forward.
• Naomi Rose suggests logging in captive orcas, unlike wild orcas, is due to chronic stress, boredom, and lack of natural behaviors from inadequate living conditions.

Self-Stranding

• Captive cetaceans are trained to beach themselves on concrete slide-outs for audiences.
• There is only one group of Patagonian transients in Argentina purposefully strand themselves to hunt
• Beaching damages muscles and crushes internal organs, releasing myoglobin, which becomes toxic to the kidneys and can lead to irreversible kidney damage.
• Reentering the water escalates kidney damage.
• Cetaceans can overheat, dehydrate, and dry out when beached.
• In February 2016, Morgan, an orca at Loro Parque, intentionally beached herself for about 10 minutes and the skin around Morgan's melon dried out in 19°C heat.
• Kelly Flaherty Clark stated that she's seen orcas "slide out for 5 minutes, 10 minutes, 15 minutes, even 30 minutes, on their own.”

Aggression

• Changes in vocalizations, learning, pod structure, and aggression are abnormal social changes.
• Wild orcas have complex social groupings and maternal relationships; captivity artificially forms social groups.
• Orcas from different pods showed increased aggression due to low compatibility including biting, chasing, and tail-slapping behaviours.
• Physical confinement creates unnatural situations, increasing aggression among random individuals.
• Orcas are likely to need damaged teeth extracted from aggression.
• Among 55 aggression cases with captive orcas, 47 instances involved separation from their mothers.

Study Case: Tilikum

• Tilikum was identified by his collapsed dorsal fin as the largest male orca in captivity.
• Tilikum accounted for 3 out of 4 recorded fatality cases from captive orcas including Keltie Byrne, Daniel Dukes, and Dawn Brancheau.
• On February 24, 2010, Tilikum grabbed Dawn Brancheau, tossed her, and pulled her under water; Brancheau had a fractured neck, broken jaw, and dislocated elbow and knee.
• Tilikum was isolated from trainers and other whales after Brancheau's death.
• Tilikum died in January 2017 after a prolonged illness due to treatment-resistant bacterial infection.

Learned Helplessness

• Depression or "learned helplessness" is an abnormal stress-related behavior.
• Being deprived of autonomy is a major stressor for caged animals which affects orcas because of their high self-awareness and complexity.
• Orcas cannot avoid negative stimuli like limited space, food control, loud noises, or no temperature making them dispair
• Orcas became lethargic and disengaged from their environment due to stress.
• Orcas begin "giving up" on life, they lose the will to move and feed, and severe immune system failure.

Self-Mutilating

• Orcas in captivity exhibit self-harming stereotypies like biting metal bars and head-slamming.
• Kanduke would ram himself hard against exhibition pool features resulting in so much blood that he was kept from shows.
• Orcas jump out of tanks during feeding or shows.
• Orcas chew metal bars and concrete pool corners, causing teeth chipping and breakage.

Study Case: Hugo

• Hugo was housed in "The Celebrity Pool" before being moved to "The Whale Bowl."
• Hugo and Lolita were “tank mates" at Miami Seaquarium, although kept separate by a gate.
• In 1972, trainer Mike Jax said Hugo injured people by bumping his head.
• Hugo would bash his head against the tank walls.
• Hugo shattered acrylic plastic bubble and left a five-inch hole and severed the tip of his rostrum.
• On March 4, 1980, after 12 years of performances and self-inflicted damage, Hugo died of a brain aneurysm.

Final Words

• Orcas have helped improve welfare for captive animals.
• The Orca Protection Act, AB 2305, was signed in September 2016 and took effect in January 2017, banning orcas in captivity for entertainment in California ending captive breeding and the import/ export of orcas.
• In 2019, Bill S-203: Ending the Captivity of Whales and Dolphins Act was passed in Canada, prohibiting breeding of whales, dolphins and porpoises.
• The SWIMS Act of 2022 also addresses pilot and beluga whales and forbidding breeding for public exhibition.