Orca Connections

Objectives

• Identify the habitat of orcas.

• Describe adaptations and needs of orcas.

• Identify orca as a “Species at Risk” and explain the term.

• List and describe human impacts on ocean environments.

• List and describe ways in which we all can be ocean stewards.

Materials

• Orca Vocalizations | Orca Research Trust

• Orca model such as a stuffed animal or photo

• replica killer whale tooth or photos  (model teeth can be purchased Bone Clones)

• scale

• slinky

• string or masking tape

Key Questions

• How are orcas like humans?
• How is the body of an orca specialized to live in the open ocean?
• How do orca communicate?
• How are orca adapted to find food without sight?

What To Do

SIZE:
Measure out and mark with tape or string the length, width, and height of an orca:

• 7 m long
• 2 m wide
• 1.75 m “tall” with a fin up to 1.8 m on top

Would it fit in the classroom? Compare to the size of a student. Compare the size of students’ teeth to the size of an orca tooth (3–4cm tall from gum to tip).

SOUNDS:

1. Ask each student to close their eyes and pretend that they are an orca.
2. Play a recording of orca vocalizations from the British Columbia Killer Whale Adoption website. Explain that these are the sounds of their family communicating with them.
3. Assign different groups of students to listen to the recordings of different pods. Can they identify “their” pod?

ECHOLOCATION:

1. Stand holding one end of the slinky while one student holds the opposite end still (about 1.5 m away).
2. A second student volunteer plays Chinook salmon (approximately 70 per cent of Southern resident orcas’ diet comes from Chinook.)
3. Have the Chinook pinch about 4 coils of slinky in the middle and hold it still.
4. While holding one end of the slinky, pretend to be an orca and explain how you are sending out a series of clicks trying to find your food. As you make clicking sounds, send pulses through the slinky. These pulses will bounce back after reaching the student in the middle, demonstrating how the sound waves produced by an orca bounce off objects in the water, and return in the form of echoes.

FOOD:

1. Using a scale, have a few students weigh their lunch.
2. To estimate the amount of food they eat in a day, multiply this amount by 4.
3. Compare the result with the amount an orca eats in a day (50–150 kg/day.)
4. What does 100 kg of food look like? If you’re collecting donations for the food bank, weigh the results.

Extensions

• What other animals communicate or find food by echolocation?
• What kinds of environments are best for using echolocation?
• How does what we do on land affect orcas?
• What makes orcas different from other whales?
• What is another example of a species at risk?

Other Resources

BC Cetacean Sightings Network | Killer Whales
Smithsonian Magazine | Understanding Orca Culture