Ad
related to: orca skeleton diagram
Search results
Results From The WOW.Com Content Network
You are free: to share – to copy, distribute and transmit the work; to remix – to adapt the work; Under the following conditions: attribution – You must give appropriate credit, provide a link to the license, and indicate if changes were made.
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.
Main page; Contents; Current events; Random article; About Wikipedia; Contact us; Pages for logged out editors learn more
Orca hunting a Weddell seal. The orca is known to prey on numerous other toothed whale species. One example is the false killer whale. [69] To subdue and kill whales, orcas continually ram them with their heads; this can sometimes kill bowhead whales, or severely injure them. Other times, they corral their prey before striking.
The most common natural predator of sperm whales is the orca (killer whale), but pilot whales and false killer whales sometimes harass them. [194] [195] Orcas prey on target groups of females with young, usually making an effort to extract and kill a calf. The females will protect their calves or an injured adult by encircling them.
Diagram featuring the typical skeletal of a toothed whale (top) and a baleen whale (bottom) The cetacean skeleton is largely made up of cortical bone , which stabilizes the animal in the water. For this reason, the usual terrestrial compact bones, which are finely woven cancellous bone , are replaced with lighter and more elastic material.
The genus Orcinus was published by Leopold Fitzinger in 1860, [4] its type species is the orca named by Linnaeus in 1758 as Delphinus orca.Taxonomic arrangements of delphinids published by workers before and after Fitzinger, such as John Edward Gray as Orca in 1846 and Orca (Gladiator) in 1870, are recognized as synonyms of Orcinus.
In comparison, the modern killer whale has teeth around 8 cm (3.1 in) in height and 2.5 cm (0.98 in) in diameter. [3] Like the modern killer whale, the tooth lacks a coat of cementum. However, unlike the modern killer whale, O. paleorca had a circular tooth root as opposed to an oval, and the pulp extended more towards the back than the front. [2]