Animal · United States, Canada, Norway
Orca
Orcinus orca — the name this animal has in the language scientists everywhere share.
The orca, or killer whale, is the ocean's top predator, found in every sea from the Arctic to the Antarctic. Despite its name, it is actually the largest member of the dolphin family.
Picture credit: H. Zell (CC BY-SA 3.0) · Syced (CC0) · Ronnie Robertson (CC BY-SA 2.0) · Wikimedia Commons
Where does the orca live?
Home: Every ocean, from the Arctic to the Antarctic.
In the wild you find it in: United States, Canada, Norway, Iceland, New Zealand, Russia.
The short profile
Fully grown it measures Up to 8 m long (males). It weighs about 5 500 kilograms. On the menu: meat.
The story behind it
Orcas live in tight-knit family groups called pods, often led by an older female, and different pods can have completely different diets and hunting styles, some specialising in fish, others in seals, sharks or even other whales. These hunting traditions and unique calls are passed down and taught within a pod, a form of culture rarely seen outside humans and a few other animals. Orcas are famous for cooperative hunting, such as creating waves to wash seals off ice floes or working together to tire out much larger whales. They are among the fastest marine mammals, able to swim at over 50 km/h in short bursts. Because different orca populations are so different from one another, scientists still cannot agree on how many distinct species or types exist, so their conservation status has not been fully assessed.
Find it on the globe
Orca is there as a tiny animated figure that breathes and looks around. From far away the planet is only a blue ball; detail arrives as you zoom in, and this one appears once you are close enough. Open it on the globe.
It sits at its real coordinates, not near them — the same numbers listed in the facts above. Switch off the layer for this kind of place and it disappears again; the buttons for that are down the right-hand edge.
Questions children ask
Are orcas really whales or dolphins?
Orcas are actually the largest species in the dolphin family, even though they are commonly called 'killer whales'. They share many dolphin traits, including living in social pods and using clicks and whistles to communicate.
How do orcas hunt in groups?
Orca pods often hunt cooperatively, using teamwork passed down through generations. Some pods create waves to wash seals off ice, while others work together to tire out prey many times their own size, including large whales.
How fast can an orca swim?
Orcas can swim at over 50 km/h in short bursts, making them one of the fastest marine mammals. This speed helps them chase down fast-swimming prey like seals, dolphins and even other whale species.
Where these numbers come from
Every figure on this page was checked against public reference sources before publication. Where sources genuinely disagree, the text says so.
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