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In orcas, false killer whales, short-finned pilot whales, narwhals, and belugas, there is an unusually long post-reproductive lifespan in females. Older females, though unable to have their own children, play a key role in the rearing of other calves in the pod, and in this sense, given the costs of pregnancy especially at an advanced age ...
The orca (Orcinus orca), or killer whale, is a toothed whale and the largest member of the oceanic dolphin family. It is the only extant species in the genus Orcinus and is recognizable by its black-and-white patterned body. A cosmopolitan species, it is found in diverse marine environments, from Arctic to Antarctic regions to tropical seas.
The common name was chosen because the part of the tooth that protrudes from the gums (unlike the strap-like teeth of strap-toothed whales) has a shape similar to the tip of a flensing spade as used by 19th-century whalers. Despite the rather similar dentition, the spade-toothed whale and strap-toothed whale seem to be only distantly related.
The scientists also discovered signs of orca tooth rake marks on the dorsal fin of a fin whale (Balaenoptera physalus). While there are no observations of orcas hunting fin whales, orcas are known ...
Researchers with the Center for Whale Research said they plan to conduct further assessments of the discovery.
Unlike human teeth, which are composed mostly of enamel on the portion of the tooth outside of the gum, whale teeth have cementum outside the gum. Only in larger whales, where the cementum is worn away on the tip of the tooth, does enamel show. Mysticetes have large whalebone, as opposed to teeth, made of keratin. Mysticetes have two blowholes ...
Orcas off the coast of Mexico have devised a cunning strategy to hunt and kill whale sharks, and marine scientists have documented the behavior for the first time. Images reveal how an orca pod ...
Orcinus citoniensis is an extinct species of orca identified in the Late Pliocene of Italy and the Early Pleistocene of England. It was smaller than the modern killer whale (O. orca), 4 m (13 ft) versus 7 to 10 m (23 to 33 ft), and had around 8 more teeth in its jaw.