{"id":50750,"date":"2020-05-06T14:18:57","date_gmt":"2020-05-06T14:18:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/y-a-t-il-plusieurs-especes-epaulards\/"},"modified":"2021-05-04T14:05:31","modified_gmt":"2021-05-04T14:05:31","slug":"are_there_actually_several_species_of_killer_whales","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/are_there_actually_several_species_of_killer_whales\/","title":{"rendered":"Are there actually several species of killer whales?"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Certainly you know that there are several species of whales and many species of dolphins. But did you know that killer whales, also called orcas, come in multiple varieties? Differing in their morphology and their living habits, these varieties \u2013 or \u201cecotypes\u201d \u2013 are considered by many scientists as subspecies, or even species in the making. Explanations.<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">Among cetaceans, the killer whale is the one with the most extensive range: the species is found in most of the world\u2019s seas and oceans. However, not all killer whales around the globe are alike. In the different populations studied, researchers have demonstrated a wide diversity in terms of morphology, pigmentation, behaviour and diet.<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">Some killer whales are nomadic, while others appear to be sedentary; some have shiny black skin, others have a more yellowish tint; some live close to the coasts while others are mainly found in the open sea; some feed only on fish, others on small marine mammals, some prefer a more varied diet, while others feed almost exclusively on minke whales. To designate these varieties, scientists use the term \u201cecotypes\u201d.<\/p>\n<p align=\"JUSTIFY\">The killer whale is not the only species to have several ecotypes; this phenomenon has also been identified in the <a href=\"https:\/\/www.researchgate.net\/publication\/227705097_Improving_management_of_overlapping_bottlenose_dolphin_ecotypes_through_spatial_analysis_and_genetics\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">common bottlenose dolphin<\/a> (2 ecotypes), the <a href=\"https:\/\/onlinelibrary.wiley.com\/doi\/abs\/10.1111\/mec.12817\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">harbour porpoise<\/a> (3 ecotypes) and the <a href=\"http:\/\/www2.bio.ulaval.ca\/louisbernatchez\/pdf\/(106)%20Courtois_ConsGen_03.pdf\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">caribou<\/a> (3 ecotypes), to name a few. However, the superpredator of the marine environment has the distinction of having a very wide range of ecotypes, some of which even share the same geographic region.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Certainly you know that there are several species of whales and many species of dolphins. But did you know that killer whales, also called orcas, come in multiple varieties? Differing in their morphology and their living habits, these varieties \u2013 or \u201cecotypes\u201d \u2013 are considered by many scientists as subspecies, or even species in the [&hellip;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":31,"featured_media":50579,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_monsterinsights_skip_tracking":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[29],"tags":[1555,1558,1559],"class_list":["post-50750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-whale-qa","tag-ecotype-en","tag-speciation-en","tag-taxonomie-en"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"<!-- This site is optimized with the Yoast SEO plugin v28.6 - https:\/\/yoast.com\/product\/yoast-seo-wordpress\/ -->\n<title>Are there actually several species of killer whales? - Baleines en direct<\/title>\n<meta name=\"description\" content=\"Although the killer whale is currently considered a single species, there are different &quot;ecotypes&quot; of killer whales in their morphology, behaviour, diet, etc.\" \/>\n<meta name=\"robots\" content=\"index, follow, max-snippet:-1, max-image-preview:large, max-video-preview:-1\" \/>\n<link rel=\"canonical\" href=\"https:\/\/baleinesendirect.org\/en\/are_there_actually_several_species_of_killer_whales\/\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:locale\" content=\"en_US\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:type\" content=\"article\" \/>\n<meta property=\"og:title\" content=\"Are there actually several species of killer whales? 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