Species: Orcinus orca pop. 3

Killer Whale - Northeast Pacific Transient Population
Species

    Science Review:

    Articles:

    Status and trends for West Coast transient (Bigg’s) killer whales in the Salish Sea

    Officially known as West Coast transients but increasingly referred to as Bigg’s killer whales, these marine mammal-eating orcas (Orcinus orca) are spending increasing time in the Salish Sea to consume their marine mammal prey including harbor seals, Steller sea lions, and harbor and Dall’s porpoise. They range from Southeast Alaska to California, but over the last 15 years more members of the population are spending increasing time in the inland waters of Washington State and British Columbia (Houghton et al. 2015, Shields et al. 2018). They have no predators (except perhaps occasionally other Bigg’s killer whales - see Towers et al. 2018), but are at risk from anthropogenic effects, including toxics and noise pollution (Ford et al. 2007).

    Bigg's killer whales. Photo: copyright Monika Shields, with permission
    Report: Washington State status report for the Killer Whale

    This 2004 report looks at the status of Washington's four killer whale populations.

    Killer whale (Orcinus orca). Photo by Joseph Gaydos.
    Killer whales in Puget Sound

    Three distinct groups of killer whales (Orcinus orca) occupy the coastal waters of the northeastern Pacific. These groups—northern and southern residents, transients, and offshores—are distinguished by diet, behavior, morphology, and other characteristics. Among these, southern resident and transient killer whales commonly are found in Puget Sound. Northern residents and offshore killer whales rarely enter Puget Sound (Wiles 2004, Kriete 2007), and therefore are not described in detail here.

    Killer whale (Orcinus orca). Photo courtesy of NOAA.
    Kingdom
    Animalia
    Phylum
    Craniata
    Class

    Mammalia

    Order

    Cetacea

    Family

    Delphinidae

    Genus

    Orcinus

    Classification
    Other Global Common Names
    Killer Whale - West Coast Transient Population
    Informal Taxonomy
    Animals, Vertebrates - Mammals - Whales and Dolphins
    Formal Taxonomy
    Animalia - Craniata - Mammalia - Cetacea - Delphinidae - Orcinus
    Habitat Type Description
    Marine
    Migration
    false - false - false
    Non-migrant
    false
    Locally Migrant
    false
    NatureServe Global Status Rank
    G4G5T3Q
    Global Status Last Reviewed
    1998-10-28
    Global Status Last Changed
    1998-10-28
    Conservation Status Map
    <img src="http://www.natureserve.org/explorer/servlet/GetMapGif?CA.BC=S2&US.AK=SNR&US.CA=SNR&US.OR=SNR&US.WA=SNR" alt="Conservation Status Map" style="width: 475px; height: auto;" />
    ELEMENT_GLOBAL.2.104977