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KILLER WHALE

SCIENTIFIC NAME - Orcinus orca from the greek oryx, orygos "tearing up", or from the latin orca "pot-bellied vase".
FAMILY - Delphinidae
DIMENSIONS - It's the largest dolphin, the female is smaller of the male, medium length 7 mt, maximum 10 mt, medium weight 5 t 8 t.
ASPECT - Massive Body; rounded head; melon proportioned and shortest rostrum; protruding jaw regarding the jaw; large or very large dorsal fin, arcuated (in the females), with rectilinear or arcuated apex in ahead (males); fins large and rounded.
SKIN and COLORATION - Black (back) and white (abdomen until to genital zone), temporal spot white, grey strip behind dorsal fin (called saddleback), inferior side of the tail white.
LONGEVITY - Fino a 50 anni.
REPRODUCTION - The reproduction is not easy uniformabile to outlines given to the variety of the social relationships own of the killer whales (in kind spring beginning summer). The varied gestation from 12 to 16 months. To the birth puppy measure approximately 2 mt and hung approximately 180 Kg.
TEETH - Medium 48, large and conical, 3 cm of diameter.
BREATH = Little visible.

SOUNDS - Three types of emissions: 

1° click, used emissions of short duration for the biosonar. 

2° it hisses modulated. 

3° sounds to impulses. 

The emissions of the number 2 and 3 constitute the dictionary of the killer whale, used in order to communicate and a lot different from one zone to an other.

FEEDING - The diet of the killer whale is most varied, all the eatable marine organisms are its potential preys. Fish and squids but also of cetaceans of enormous dimensions like the Finners, turtles, pinnipedi etc. All that in order to satisfy requirementses that are gone around on the 200 Kg of food the day. The predatory techniques of the killer whale are several; in shoal or alone; to great depths until -1000 mt or quite on the waves near on the beach (Vd. Feeding).
HABITAT - Cetaceo presente in tutti i mari in cui il cibo sia sufficiente, in alto mare come lungo le coste, in mari freddi come tropicali.
SWIM - It's one of the faster cetaceans it swims in fact to approximately 50 Km/h (27 nodes). Sometimes they emerge with the head for looking around (spyhopping) or slap the sea with the tail (tailslapping).
JUMPS - They carry out spectacular jumps with the total emersion of the body from the water.
MIGRATIONS - Exist stantial groups and others that complete migrations above all in polar waters.
SOCIALITY - Strongest and complex social ties that are found also in the techniques of hunting in shoal. The social organization is variable draft in fact of a cetacean socially very adaptable.
TEMPERAMENT - Very intelligent and unforeseeable one, is not documented attacks to the man to predatory fine in some cases has attacked small boats.
DANGER and PREDATORY - No predator, very rarely victim of beachings.
SPECIES DIFFUSION - Odontocet diffuse geographically in all the waters of the world guesstimates estimates in 200,000 approximately the total number. In the Mediterranean they penetrate sporadically for predatory incursions.
 
 
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