Killer Whales Family

Killer whales belong to a group of animals known as the cetaceans (pronounced 'set-ay-shuns'). All of the world's whales, dolphins and porpoises are cetaceans. Despite the name, killer whales are actually the largest member of the dolphin family. Perhaps, killer whales should have been called 'killer dolphins'. The common dolphins are one of killer whales' close relatives.

Killer whale calves and killer whale pods

Killer whale calves never leave home. Even a fully grown adult killer whale will spend its entire life in a special family group called a pod. Each killer whale pod may include, the killer whale, mother killer whale, grandmother killer whale, half sister killer whales, half brother killer whales, aunt killer whales, uncle killer whales, and cousin killer whales. All of the killer whale family feed together, hunt together, rest together, and travel together. We often see killer whales rest together in pods on the surface of the ocean.

Only the father killer whales and grandfather killer whales are missing from the pod. They are living with their mothers in other killer whale family groups.

On average, a killer whale pod contains about 10 - 12 killer whales, but there may be as many as 50 killer whales in a pod. Each pod has its own home range or a favorite area in which its members spend most of their time. This may extend well over a hundred square miles.

The killer whales home ranges of different pods often overlap so the killer whales often meet. Sometimes they take no notice of each other. But occasionally, they join briefly to form a big superpod. A superpod may contain 150 or more killer whales. Killer whales are always on the move and they have enormous home ranges.