Temporal and Contextual Patterns of Killer Whale ( Orcinus orca) Call Type Production

• Published in: Ethology
• Main Authors: Foote, Andrew D., Osborne, Richard W., Rus Hoelzel, A.
• Format: Article in Journal/Newspaper
• Language: English
• Published: Wiley 2008
• Subjects: Pacific; Killer Whale; Orca; Orcinus orca; Killer whale
• Online Access: http://dx.doi.org/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2008.01496.x; https://api.wiley.com/onlinelibrary/tdm/v1/articles/10.1111%2Fj.1439-0310.2008.01496.x; https://onlinelibrary.wiley.com/doi/pdf/10.1111/j.1439-0310.2008.01496.x

Abstract Fish‐eating killer whales Orcinus orca in the northeastern Pacific live in highly stable matrifocal social groups called pods. Each pod produces a repertoire of seven or more stereotyped call types. We compared the relative production of call types of free‐ranging killer whale pods over time and between social contexts. The relative production of call types by each pod during directional travel was distinct over a 27‐yr period; however, both temporal stability and pod distinctiveness were strongly influenced by a subset of dominant call types within the repertoire of each pod. Some call types within the repertoires contain biphonation (two overlapping independently modulated tones) and have a higher estimated active space than call types containing just one tone. In multi‐pod aggregations the relative production of the dominant call types of each pod decreased and the relative production of a subset of call types that are rarely recorded from single‐pod groupings increased. The majority of these contained biphonation. The data suggest a distinction between a subset of dominant call types that may function to identify the pod and a subset of less common call types including several call types containing biphonation that are more commonly produced during inter‐pod affiliations.