Questions We Started to Answer On Our Trip 

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• Researchers are studying tooth-aging methods to estimate the age of the whale. As a killer whale ages it makes growth layers of dental material. When a section of tooth is sliced, the layers are counted and show the age (kind of like counting rings of a tree that has been sliced.)  

• The calves grow 2.6 feet in their first year and 2.2 feet in their second year.

• Killer whale calves start eating fish when they are 3-4 months old.

• Overall the  favorite foods of a killer whale are mackeral, herring, squid and salmon. 

• What an orca whale eats partially depends on whether it is a resident whale or a transient whale. Resident whales eat mainly fish but transient whales eat seals, penguins, and other whales.  

• Whales can go without eating for stretches and when food is scarce they live off their blubber. 

• They rarely eat during mating season. 

• Killer whales have to eat a lot because they need the food energy to stay warm.  

• By the time the calves turn one they eat 50-60 lbs (20 - 25 kg) of herring, smelt and squid every day