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Essay orca in the wild
Essay orca in the wild
Essay orca in the wild
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Facts About Orca Dolphins
· Orcas are actually the largest members of the dolphin family.
· The name "orca" means "demon from hell" in Greek. The scientific name is Orcinus Orca
· The Orca was nick named the "Killer Whale when one was seen eating another whale. It was originally called "Whale Killer" and then was later changed to "Killer Whale". There are no confirmed records of orcas killing a human.
· Orcas are estimated to live 50-60 years
· They are said to be capable of setting an impressive pace of 34 mph and covering 60- 100 miles of ocean in a day.
· Orcas have 48 sharp teeth, that are conical-shaped and three inches long and are known to eat low flying birds and attack whales over five times their own size. They also like squid, herring and some warm blooded mammals. They consume around 100 pounds of fish a day and their favorite food is salmon. The way that they attack their prey is to circle around them.
· The orca is black on the top half of it's body and white on the bottom half because their dark back blends n with the darker water and the white bellies blend in with the sunlit water above them.
· Male orcas can reach up to 32 feet, weigh over eight tons and have a dorsal fin of up to five feet tall
· Females can grow up to 22 feet tall, weigh about four tons, and have a three foot dorsal fin.
· Orcas are found in all oceans of the world and favor coastal temperate or cool waters. However, they also range into polar areas. Some orca populations remain local and travel along predictable routes and others are transient and move over great distances.
· Mating and birth take place mainly in autumn and winter. Gestation lasts over 12 months and at birth orcas are about 6-7 ft long and weigh almost 400lbs. They are born tail first.
· Females may give birth to four to six young during a lifetime.
· Orcas are very social whales and most pods consist of 5-30 individuals
· Studies have shown that each pod has its own distinctive dialect or accent, and that members of the same pod can recognize each other through this distinctive dialect
· Orcas do not migrate, but have seasonal movements, which are tied into prey movement and environmental changes.
· Capture of orcas for display has become controversial and more restricted.
Orcas should not be kept in captivity because of mistreating other orcas in captivity. For example corky killed kandu by fracturing it’s jaw
Jane Velez-MItchell says, “If you were in a bathtub for 25 years, don’t you think you would get a little irritated, maybe a little psychotic?” Orcas are usually about 23 to 32 ft long, at night they are stored in a 20x30 foot steel box. The pools are the size of a bathtub for a killer whale. The captive Orcas are constantly in small spaces. Orcas are so beautiful, the viewer can see why people would want to go to SeaWorld. However, supporting SeaWorld means you support what is happening to the Orcas there.
Imagine yourself living in a bathtub for 25 years and you could do absolutely nothing about it. Wild orcas, better known as killer whales, have been captured to entertain audiences worldwide at aquariums. The most popular location is Sea World. Growing up in Miami, I could not control my excitement when it came time to go visit Lolita, the killer whale at the Miami Seaquarium. To be able to see such an amazing creature right in front of me was mind blowing.
For 50 years SeaWorld has entertained park guests with numerous stunts involving the majestic sea creature, the orca, also referred to as the killer whale, and their human trainers. What the on-lookers don’t see at these shows is what goes on behind the scenes: how the whales got there in the first place, and the conditions in which they are housed.
An orca, more commonly known as a killer whale, is currently one of the largest marine animals held in captivity. Countless arguments are being made, supporting and opposing captivity of orcas to be exploited as circus animals in theme parks around the world. Throughout recent history, Sea World trainers have been injured and killed by the orcas and the whales, and the whales themselves have been observed as severely depressed. If Sea World releases the whales, they would undergo an immense economic downfall and the whales would be too weak to survive in the wild if they were freed. Since the first Sea World park opened in San Diego, California in 1964, common questions have arose concerning the well-being of orcas in captivity, the dangers of humans training them, the physical capability of whales theoretically being released, and the psychological differences between whales living in the wild versus whales living in Sea World's confinement.
For the lowland adult male gorilla measure up about 66.9 in. tall and weigh an average of 374 pounds, while adult female gorillas measure up about 59.1 in. height and her weigh is no more than 160 pounds. On the other hand, adult male mountain gorillas may weigh up to 484 pounds, and adult females weigh about 215 pounds. The adult male bonobos measure up to 4 feet tall and weigh an average of 85 pounds, while adult female bonobos measure up over 3 feet tall and weigh an average of 68 pounds. The adult male chimpanzees measure up to approximately 4 feet high, and weigh between 90 and 120 pounds, while the female chimpanzees weigh between 60 and 110 pounds. The adult male orangutan measure up to typically 4 ft. 6 in. tall and weigh around 165 pound, while the adult female orangutan measure up to 3 ft. 9 in. and weigh around 82 pounds. Male orangutans are approximately twice the size of the females. It is believed that the bigger size of males is because of the strong competition among males for females. The 12 species of gibbons are classified as lesser apes. They are relatively smaller, slender, and more agile than other apes. They exhibit many characteristics of primates, including flat faces, enlarged brain sizes, grasping hands and feet, arms longer than legs, no tails, and broad chests. Male gibbons are just under 3 ft. in length and weigh about 15 pounds. Furthermore, the evolution of Homo erectus showed more human examination
The issue of keeping Orcas in captivity and under the care of man has been a controversial practice ever since the first dolphins and whales were taken into aquariums for the amusement of humans. In more recent times, the documentary Blackfish (which has been recently broadcasted on popular TV stations such as CNN) that focuses on Tilikum, an orca held by SeaWorld, has brought to light the controversy over captive killer whales. Orcas are majestic, beautiful, and intelligent creatures that should not be kept in captivity for our entertainment because of the harm it causes them.
Their dorsal fin is extremely long, tampered and pointed in a triangular shape or rounded and curved towards the end. The skull is oval shaped and the beak is extremely short and rounded at the end. The killer whale’s jaw is powerful with teeth that are able to tear apart flesh of their prey. They can withstand the jolting, wiggling and hurtling movements of prey that are trying to escape. The killer whale is born with a single blow hole instead of two. Their flippers are paddle shaped with rounded ends and flukes are tapered back and pointed at the end resembling to a triangle/pyramid
Though any Ocra can mate with another, behavioral adaptation create a form of speciation. Within the pod all Orcas speak a distinct dialect. Like humans, Orcas don’t possess just one language. An Orca from one pod would not be able to understand and communicate with an Orca from another, making mating difficult between the two of them. Leigh Dayton, the curator of marine mammals at Vancouver’s Public Aquarium, discovered this phenomenon by “listening to the two main communities of killer whales that were then divided into pods, each with its own dialect” (Orca Social Structure and (Whale) Dialects, 1). Captive Killer whales live in tanks with a “fake family” that they can’t communicate with due to different imprinting and behavioral adaptations.
It is also mentioned that orcas have a lifespan of twenty-five to thirty years. In reality, that is their lifespan in captivity. In the wild, male orcas can live up to sixty to seventy years and female orcas can live anywhere from eighty to more than one hundred years. This shows how SeaWorld fails to treat their animals
Orcas, also known as killer whales, are amazingly intelligent and are a top predator, much like humans. However, when the top predator of the ocean collides with the top predator of land, the situation can become fatal for both humans and the whales. Holding these incredibly massive marine animals in captivity is not only inhumane and detrimental to the whale’s health, but also a potentially fatal activity for humans to participate in.
Orcas, commonly known as killer whales, are actually the largest member of the dolphin family. They were given the name “killer whale” by sailors who often observed them attacking and killing seals, sea lions, walruses, penguins, dolphins, polar bears and even other whales (Orcas).
This argument about Orca whales is very important. The abuse that these animals go through is unbelievable and uncalled for. They face starvation, dorsal fin damage, and withdrawals from not seeing their family if they were taken from the wild. Orca whales love to play but it is hard when they are being abused. Whales in the wild have dorsal fins that stand straight up (Killer Whales Don’t Belong In Captivity). The whales at any marine park have dorsal fins that
In terms of studies of orcas it must be noted that most of the data has been gathered fr...
...r. Even though they live in the ocean all their life and also amusement parks, dolphins are mammals, not fish. That makes them very intersting animals because of all the charactics that they have that people would have never known about. Dolphins are by far the most intelligant marine mammals in the ocean.