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Satellite tracking reveals distinct movement patterns for Type B and Type C killer whales in the southern Ross Sea, Antarctica

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Abstract

During January/February 2006, we satellite-tracked two different ecotypes of killer whales (Orcinus orca) in McMurdo Sound, Ross Sea, Antarctica, using surface-mounted tags attached with sub-dermal darts. A single Type B whale (pinniped prey specialist), tracked for 27 days, traveled an average net distance of 56.8 ± 32.8 km day−1, a maximum of 114 km day−1, and covered an estimated area of 49,351 km2. It spent several days near two large emperor penguin (Aptenodytes forsteri) colonies, a potential prey item for this form. By contrast, four Type C killer whales (fish prey specialists) tracked for 7–65 days, traveled an average net distance of 20 ± 8.3 km day−1, a maximum of 56 net km day−1, and covered an estimated area of only 5,223 km2. These movement patterns are consistent with those of killer whale ecotypes in the eastern North Pacific where mammal-eating ‘transients’ travel widely and are less predictable in their movements, and fish-eating ‘residents’ have a more localized distribution and more predictable occurrence, at least during the summer months.

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Acknowledgments

Our research was supported by grants from National Science Foundation (OPP-0338428), National Geographic Society, and US Marine Mammal Commission, was approved by the Alaska SeaLife Center Institutional Animal Care and Use Committee (03-006), and was conducted under NOAA Fisheries Office of Protected Resources permit #782–1719 and Antarctic Conservation Act permit 2004-009 M#2. We thank TJ Moore at SWFSC for GIS support and all those at NSF, Raytheon, and McMurdo Station that made this work possible, especially J Walker and the helicopter pilots and crews of Petroleum Helicopters International. Development of satellite transmitters was funded by grants from NOAA and the US Fish & Wildlife Service to the Alaska SeaLife Center and was dependent upon help from R Hill, T Rupley and others at Wildlife Computers, as well as C Matkin, B Hanson, S Norberg, B Barrie, and V Aderholt. D Ainley provided observations in McMurdo Sound.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. University of Alaska Fairbanks School of Fisheries and Ocean Sciences, and the Alaska SeaLife Center, P.O. Box 1329, Seward, AK, 99664, USA

    Russel D. Andrews

  2. NOAA Fisheries, Southwest Fisheries Science Center, 8604 La Jolla Shores Dr., La Jolla, CA, 92037, USA

    Robert L. Pitman & Lisa T. Ballance

Authors
  1. Russel D. Andrews
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  2. Robert L. Pitman
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  3. Lisa T. Ballance
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Correspondence to Russel D. Andrews.

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Andrews, R.D., Pitman, R.L. & Ballance, L.T. Satellite tracking reveals distinct movement patterns for Type B and Type C killer whales in the southern Ross Sea, Antarctica. Polar Biol 31, 1461–1468 (2008). https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-008-0487-z

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  • DOI: https://doi.org/10.1007/s00300-008-0487-z

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