The killer whale is a habitant of all oceans from the border of the
Arctic ice fields to the stormy glacial margin of the Antarctic
continent. So far as definitely known, there appears to be but a single
species. It attains an extreme length of approximately 30 feet and is
mainly black with well-defined white areas on the sides and underparts
of the body. Its most striking and picturesque characteristic is the
large black fin, several feet long, standing upright on the middle of
the back.
The killer usually travels and hunts in “schools” or packs of from
three to a dozen or more individuals. Unlike most whales, the members
of these schools do not travel in a straggling party, but swim side
by side, their movements as regularly timed as those of soldiers. A
regularly spaced row of advancing long black fins swiftly cutting the
undulating surface of the sea produces a singularly sinister effect.
The evil impression is well justified, since killers are the most
savage and remorseless of whales. The jaws are armed with rows of
effective teeth, with which the animals attack and devour seals and
porpoises, and even destroy some of the larger whales.
Killers are like giant wolves of the sea, and their ferocity strikes
terror to the other warmblooded inhabitants of the deep. The Eskimos of
the Alaskan coast of Bering Sea consider killers as actual wolves in
sea form. They believe that in the early days, when the world was young
and men and animals could change their forms at will, land wolves often
went to the edge of the shore ice and changed to killer whales, and
the killers returned to the edge of the ice and climbed out as wolves,
to go ravening over the land. Some of the natives assured me that even
today certain wolves and killers are still endowed with this power and,
on account of their malignant character, are much feared by hunters.
Killers are known to swallow small seals and porpoises entire and
attack large whales by tearing away their fleshy lips and tongues.
When attacking large prey they work in packs, with all the unity and
fierceness of so many wolves. The natives of the Aleutian Islands told
me that large skin boats are sometimes lost in the passes between the
islands by sea-lions leaping upon them in their frenzied efforts to
escape the pursuit of killer whales.
The killers are specially detrimental to the fur-seal industry, owing
to their habit of preying upon seals during their migrations in the
North Pacific and during the summer in Bering Sea. They also haunt the
waters about the Fur Seal Islands to continue their depredations during
the summer. It would be a wise conservation measure for the Federal
Government to have these destructive beasts persistently hunted and
destroyed each spring and summer when they congregate on the north side
of the Aleutian passes. Their destruction would not only save large
numbers of fur seals, but would undoubtedly protect the few sea otters
still remaining in those waters.