Offshore killer whales / orca (Threatened)

***Proposed Recovery Strategy for the Offshore Killer Whale (Orcinus orca) in Canada https://www.canada.ca/en/environment-climate-change/services/species-risk-public-registry/recovery-strategies/offshore-killer-whale-proposed.html

Click “Offshores” at top of page at http://www.bckillerwhales.com/

***SARA Management plan (includes natural history and threats)

July 2019 CBC piece on Offshores https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/british-columbia/killers-offshore-orca-population-1.5214284.

See “Offshores” at top of page and click “Southern” http://www.bckillerwhales.com/

BC Cetacean Sightings Network species information - click “Species ID” at top of the page and see link for Killer Whale http://wildwhales.org/speciesid/

North Pacific Universities Marine Mammal Research Consortium fast facts on Killer Whales http://www.marinemammal.org/biology/killer-whale/

BC Cetacean Sightings Network; February 4, 2011; “Offshore killer whales: A diet discovery”

Vancouver Sun article and CBC News article on offshore killer whales and their diet and how Dr. John Ford’s hypotheses was confirmed that the diet includes sharks.

January 2011 Vancouver Sun article on offshore killer whales and their diet (includes sleeper sharks)

Scientific study on which the above articles are based: Ford JKB, Ellis GM, Matkin CO, Wetklo MH, Barrett-Lennard LG, Withler RE (2011)  Shark predation and tooth wear in a population of northeastern Pacific killer whales. Aquat Biol 11:213-224. Supplement with images of teeth at this link.

Another image of worn down teeth.

Dalheim, Marilyn, Alisa Schulman-Janiger, Nancy Black, Richard Tenullo, Dave Ellifrit, Kenneth C. Balcomb, III (2008) Eastern temperate North. Pacific offshore killer whales (Orcinus orca): occurrence, movements, and insights into feeding ecology. Mar Mamm. Sci 24:719–729

“The Marine Detective” blog item on a sighting of offshore killer whales off Port McNeill in late March, 2011.

COSEWIC assessment (met criterion for “Endangered” but designated “Threatened”).

SARA species profile. Be sure to scroll to the bottom of that page for possible further reports on the species.