Summary
Image courtesy of Canadian Parks and Wilderness Society
Home Ranges:
•Killer whales live in a home
range because the area in which they live is too big to defend
•Killer whales live in a home range because their food source is constantly
moving, so they are unable to defend it
Pods:
•Killer whales live in related
pods that include post-reproductive females (Brault,
1993; Ford 1998)
because they remember where rich food sources are located
•Killer whales live in pods, with males at the wings (Ford, 1998),
to protect the calves from predators
•Killer whales live in pods so that all members are able to cooperatively
raise
the
young and forage for food
Kin Selection:
•Killer whales have kin selection
because all members of a pod are related
•Killer whales have kin selection because all members help in rearing
the young, foraging for food and protecting one another
•Killer whales have kin selection because their actions are not based on
selfish reasons
Image courtesy of Webshots
Promiscuity:
•Killer
whales are promiscuous because they are in related pods, and monogamy
would result in inbreeding
•Killer whales are promiscuous because they have long gestation periods,
calves are dependent on mothers for a year (Anderson, 2003), and they have
a short reproductive cycle compared to their life cycle
•Killer whales are promiscuous because they want to mate when they come
across another pod, their home ranges are so large they may not encounter another
pod for several days, they want to take advantage whenever possible
•Killer whales are promiscuous because they have sex for pleasure (Animal
Planet, 2002)
Overlap Promiscuity:
•Killer whales have overlap promiscuity
because the pods are not based on dominance hierarchies
•Killer whales have overlap promiscuity because the members of the pod that
are most dominant are the post-reproductive females, and they do not need to
mate
•Killer whales have overlap promiscuity because everyone in the pod needs
to mate to help ensure reproductive success
Image courtesy of SeaWorld