Vocalizations and Feeding Behavior of the Killer Whale (Orcinus orca)

Steiner, William W. M.; Hain, James; Winn, Howard E.; Perkins, Paul J.

doi:10.2307/1380199

Cited by 32 publications

(17 citation statements)

References 6 publications

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“…Members of an assemblage of North Pacific populations of fish-eating killer whales referred to as residents produce distinctive pulsed calls, whistles, and trains of echolocation clicks (Schevill & Watkins, 1966;Steiner et al, 1979;Ford, 1989) and are vocally active much of the time ( BarrettLennard et al, 1996). The pulsed calls are characterized by abrupt shifts in pulse rates, which produce discrete call structures that are recognizable over great distances (Schevill & Watkins, 1966;Hoelzel & Osborne, 1986;Ford, 1989;Miller, 2006).…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sequential Habitat Use by Two Resident Killer Whale (<I>Orcinus orca</I>) Clans in Resurrection Bay, Alaska, as Determined by Remote Acoustic Monitoring

Yurk¹,

Filatova²,

Matkin³

et al. 2010

aquatic mammals

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Killer whales (Orcinus orca) are sighted regularly in coastal Alaska during the summer, but little is known about their movements through the area during the winter when weather and light limit the use of boat-based surveys. Acoustic monitoring provides a practical alternative because each extended resident killer whale family group or pod has a unique dialect that can be discerned by differences in their repertoires of stereotyped calls. The repertoires of resident killer whale pods in the northern Gulf of Alaska were updated from earlier studies, and the results used to determine the identity of pods that were recorded on remote hydrophones in Resurrection Bay, Alaska, in the fall, winter, and spring of 1999 to 2004. In total, seven pods of resident killer whales were identified acoustically, comprising four related pods from AB clan and three from AD clan. The frequencies of occurrence of the clans differed between the November to March recording period when AB clan occupied the area, and the April-May period when AD clan was predominant. The sequential use of this habitat during periods of relative prey scarcity has the effect of limiting intergroup resource competition and is consistent with earlier findings that demonstrated divergent resource specialization by sympatric killer whale populations.

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Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Sequential Habitat Use by Two Resident Killer Whale (<I>Orcinus orca</I>) Clans in Resurrection Bay, Alaska, as Determined by Remote Acoustic Monitoring

Yurk¹,

Filatova²,

Matkin³

et al. 2010

aquatic mammals

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“…Degerbøl and Freuchen (1935) also stated that killer whales in Davis Strait preyed on Greenland halibut ( Reinhardtius hippoglossoides ), and Vibe (1980a, in Jensen andChristensen 2003) stated that Greenland killer whales prey on cephalopods "a large degree". Killer whales have also been observed scavenging around longline fishing vessels of northern Newfoundland, coastal Labrador and southern Davis Strait (Sergeant and Fisher 1957 ;Mitchell and Reeves 1988 ;Lawson et al 2007) and eating herring ( Clupea harengus ) off eastern Newfoundland (Steiner et al 1979) . Bluefin tuna ( Thunnus thynnus ) have been found in the stomachs of two stranded whales in Newfoundland (Lawson et al 2007) .…”

Section: Killer Whale Prey Items and Evidence For Different Ecotypesmentioning

confidence: 99%

A Little Less Arctic

Ferguson¹,

Loseto²,

Mallory³

2010

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this work may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, microfilming, recording or otherwise, without written permission from the Publisher, with the exception of any material supplied specifically for the purpose of being entered and executed on a computer system, for exclusive use by the purchaser of the work.Printed on acid-free paper Springer is part of Springer Science+Business Media (www.springer.com) Now, visits by local people from the nearby community at Coral Harbour are rare and usually occur only to conduct tourists or to hunt walrus at the several large haulouts along the coast. We see them no more than twice a season. For weeks at a time our only reminder of the world outside Coats Island is the daily flight from LondonCalgary which passes over us about mid-day. In the past the faint radio voice emanating from the Nunavut Research Institute and its predecessor, the DIAND Iqaluit Laboratory was a daily link to the outside, but since we got a satellite phone it has been our choice to call out, rather than a daily routine. On a crowded planet, northern Hudson Bay stands out as an enduringly uncrowded place.In 1992, I sailed across the northeast corner of Hudson Bay, from Coral Harbour to Ivujivik, via Coats and Mansel islands, in an elderly Peterhead, the Terregluk, crewed by members of the Nakoolak and Alogut families. The weather as we left Coats was calm and clear, with the early morning sun lighting up the steam rising over a great herd of walrus on the Cape Pembroke haul-out. We lingered to photograph the haul-out, but within an hour of heading eastwards the wind rose out of the northeast and the sea kicked up to Beaufort 5. The non-Inuit members began to look a little green. It was at this point that I realised our only navigation aid was a rather battered looking binnacle. There was no chart. At moments such as that you become acutely conscious of how empty a place northern Hudson Bay is.Given the size of the sea that rose quickly the captain could not steer a straight course but had to continually adjust to the waves, now running with them, now taking advantage of some minor amelioration to broadside them. As I watched the needle of the compass swing backwards and forwards over 180° I wondered where on earth we were going to land up and how we would figure out where we were viii Foreword when we did. Ten hours later, after a day of grey skies and lumpen seas, we sighted a nondescript line of shingle and rock on the horizon. As we coasted agonisingly slowly eastwards I finally made out a navigation beacon near the shore and realised that our landfall was precisely as planned, at the northern tip of Mansel Island. Somehow, through that heaving grey waste, with only a gyrating compass needle as guide, Jimmy, our captain, had kept us on course: a reminder that the sea and atmosphere have their signs for those who can read them.Reading the signs is what this book is about. The Hudson Bay region is experiencing ...

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“…Kiler whales produce whistles, echolocation clicks and pulsed calls, but pulsed calls dominate their vocal repertoire Steiner et al, 1979;. In many calls, kiler whales produce both a low and a high frequency component (the 'independent tone' of ; the 'tone' of .…”

Section: Orcinus Orcamentioning

confidence: 99%

Maintaining contact : design and use of acoustic signals in killer whales, Orcinus orca

Miller¹

2000

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This thesis presents data on the structure and use of acoustic signals produced by free-ranging resident kiler whales. The analysis focuses on signal features that might be useful for animals to maintain contact and coordinate activities with preferred associates, including: distinctiveness by group or individual, call amplitude, and directionality cues that might cue the direction-of-movement of the signaler. Research was conducted in Haro and Johnstone Straits off Vancouver Island, British Columbia, where kiler whales have been the focus of a long-term photo-identification effort. Extensive previous research on this population has demonstrated stable kin-based matrilineal social groups and pod-specific calling behavior.Individually-distinctive markings and pigmentation patterns were used to identify groups or individuals from which sounds were recorded. Recordings from each of the three matrilineal groups composing pod Al were made when each subgroup was isolated from the two other subgroups. Analysis of call use and structure revealed subgroupspecificity that was qualitatively similar to previously observed differences between pods, although more subtle. This finding suggests that pod-specific callng arises primarly as a consequence of accumulated drift or divergence of calls between highly cohesive matrilineal subgroups as they gradually separate into different pods. A new towed aray beamforming system was developed to identify vocalizing killer whales concurrent with focal behavioral observations. Carefully positioning the aray relative to the animals and linking visual observations of whale position with the angle-of-arrival of sounds on the towed array allows reliable identification of signalers in many circumstances. Using this new system, a sample of 140 calls was recorded from identified individuals within W-pod to compare the call-type repertoires of individuals within a matrilineal subgroup. The three individuals composing W-pod shared at least four different call types and call-type 5 frequency did not differ by individual, suggesting each matrilineal group member uses the same call types in a similar fashion.To measure signal source levels, the range from the array to a signaler was calculated by triangulating the angles-of-arrival of the sound on two beamforming arrays towed in series. Source levels of 819 calls and 24 whistles were combined with a model of sound propagation and perception to estimate the maximum range at which another kiler whale could detect each sound in quiet conditions. The estimated maximum range of detectability of all sounds ranged from 4.5 to 26.2 km, suggesting killer whales can maintain acoustic contact with each other over long ranges. Whistles and variable calls have a smaller active space than stereotyped calls which appear to consist of two groups: long-and short-range call types with a mean estimated active space of 14.5 and 8.8 km, respectively. Directionality features of calls were described by recording sounds in front of, and behind, groups of animals a...

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Vocalizations and Feeding Behavior of the Killer Whale (Orcinus orca)

Cited by 32 publications

References 6 publications

Sequential Habitat Use by Two Resident Killer Whale (<I>Orcinus orca</I>) Clans in Resurrection Bay, Alaska, as Determined by Remote Acoustic Monitoring

Sequential Habitat Use by Two Resident Killer Whale (<I>Orcinus orca</I>) Clans in Resurrection Bay, Alaska, as Determined by Remote Acoustic Monitoring

A Little Less Arctic

Maintaining contact : design and use of acoustic signals in killer whales, Orcinus orca

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